I've had this recipe sitting on my desktop for a few weeks now, and finally made it... the Mushroom Pilaf was as delicious as i expected it to be! Also easy to make, which is a good feature in the school holidays. Toasted pine nuts to finish it off, a bit special! This one is Vegan, dairy free, and can be gluten free with a sub of rice vermicelli rather than angel hair pasta...

The curried kumara and coconut soup is soothing and heart-warming and simple, and the turmeric pepitas on top are Very Good!  Is a great combo for a cold and somewhat dismal day... not that we're planning on having any of those any time soon... The soup has kumara, red onion, some garlic and coconut milk. The pumpkin seeds are tossed with turmeric, sea salt, curry powder and some oil then roasted. Very easy and delicious! This recipe is vegan, dairy and gluten free.

Red Lentil fritters? They may not sound exciting, but they're worth a shout, honestly! Crispy, flavoursome and kind (Vegan, dairy and gluten free).  Frying these in coconut oil  makes them even crispier... as previously noted, the fritters are vegan, dairy and gluten free. A good option for sharing if you're taking a plate somewhere! 

Tofu cakes! These wee treats are called Dooboo Jeon in Korean; they're vegetarian rather than vegan, although i will include vegan substitutions in the recipe notes. The tofu requires 15-30 minutes pressing to squeeze out excess moisture, and while that's hapening there's some fine chopping of carrot, mushroom and onionweed tops... The firm tofu from Jia He worked really well, the flavours are good, and once you have the tofu pressed it really does only take another 10 minutes! The tofu cakes are dairy and gluten free, and vegetarian or vegan. Would be good with a sweet chilli sauce or maybe chinese plum, or apricot sauce... these pack perfectly for a picnic or lunch on the move. 

A very long time ago my extremely food-careful daughter went to South-East Asia with a group of fellow high schoolers, and came back with this as her favourite meal: Massamen Chicken. Using the classic MaePloy curry paste this is ridiculously easy to make, full of flavour rather than spicy hot, and actually doesn't need anything else with it (unless you're a stickler for eating the colours, in which case you need a red/orange/purple). The Massamen Chicken is dairy and gluten free.

This rather elegant gingered salmon with stir-fried greens take 20 minutes from start to finish! The salmon grills (with aromatics sprinkled over- ginger, garlic, chilli, tamari ), and while that's happening you simmer/saute the greens, add aromatics to the greens - tamari, rice wine, orange juice - then compile: wilted greens underneath, flaked flavoursome salmon on top. Voila! Also dairy and gluten free. Just sayin'