The Honeyed Kumara makes an excellent contrast side dish for the chickpea stew. This combo is very simple to make - simmer the kumara with the honey, some butter or spread and some water; saute onion and the whole spices then add tomato and ground spices, then add the chopped chard and the chickpeas...thats pretty much it really. Serve these with flatbread; a simple dhal if you want to add more flavours and textures to the table, some plain rice...Both dishes are dairy and gluten free, and the whole lot is vegan.

This is a pleasingly linear food to make: char the cauliflower, pop it in a large bowl. Char the broccoli, pop it in with the cauliflower. Toast the hazelnuts, add those in. The dressing is light and zingy - peanut butter, dijon, lime juice, tamari and sesame oil... the creamy dressing and slices of avocado really make the perfect finish for this, is very good. The Charred brassica and hazelnut salad is Vegan, dairy and gluten free.

More cauliflower here! This is Kung Pao Cauliflower, which we have had before - i had someone tell me they had made it three times in a week 'cos their family liked it so much... The sauce is deliciously savoury, there are roasted cashews in at the end and spring onions - it's accessible and quick, and small people quite like saying the name loudly and unexpectedly behind you (Health and Safety warning...) The Kung Pao Cauliflower is vegan, dairy and gluten free.

I think the combo of crisp texture and mild flavour in water chestnuts is very good. Here they are sauteed with button mushooms (similar shape, colour and size but different texture) and then sauced with oyster sauce, tamari, some garlic, ginger and chilli, splash of vinegar, sprinkle of parsley... This is super quick and would be good over baked potato or rice...  The mushroom and water chestnut stir fry is Vegan, dairy and gluten free.(I will be extremely careful in selecting oyster sauce - some are not GF)

The Cumin lamb recipe includes a really interesting technique for tenderising meat - involves washing it vigorously in cold water and draining, then massaging baking soda (small amount) through the meat and leaving it to rest for a bit. I don't always remember this technique when i'm cooking other things but i really wish i did, because it works very well. The Cumin lamb has sichuan pepper which numbs your mouth a bit (can feel a bit weird if you're not expecting it!), it has onion crescents, celery batons and narrow wedges of capsicum... only takes about three quarters of an hour and it's really tasty! Also dairy and gluten free...

Smoked fish chowder is a real comfort food for me, and this one worked so well i thought i would share... i used frozen hoki chunks from the supermarket, boiled them in milk until they were only just cooked and then they flaked into big curvy flakes, perfect! Had some little purple Maori potatoes, some broccoli and some pumpkin, made a creamy sauce with the milk i cooked the fish in and added creamed corn, then folded it all together. This would work absolutely fine with a plant based mylk (oat would be a good shout) and chickpea flour to thicken the sauce - in which case it would be dairy and gluten free.