Ants on Trees

When I was growing up in Malawi, we used to go to a Chinese restaurant and this was one of the items we used to always have. I don't know why it has this name but I guess that is part of the novelty of having this fun snack / starter / side dish. After...

Vegetarian stir fry

When we first used to make stir fry or Chinese sweet & sour stir fry in Malawi, we would use specific vegetables (cabbage, french beans, carrots etc.) and make the sauce at home. We would have it either with plain rice or fried rice. Then when we came here we saw the supermarkets with pre...

Vegetable & Multi grain Soup

I had a version of this soup at a friends house, when I was pregnant, it was so tasty and different to what I normally make, i.e. plain tomato or with pasta & vegetables (carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash etc.) In the past I have tried cauliflower soup and found it to be very bland,...

Courgette (Zucchini) Bread

In the past I have made many different kinds of bread. A few years back I found a wonderful recipe book from the library on breads, cakes and biscuits. I tried out quite a few recipes from it. This is one of the recipes from the book but I added the mixed seeds and lemon...

Vegetarian Bean Burgers

As we were growing up in Malawi, we rarely used to have the western fast foods, i.e. burgers, chips, onion rings etc. Then when we moved over here to England, we tried a few of these fast food places, but were always sceptical because we never really knew what the ingredients were and how it...

Undhiu (green vegetable curry)

As we were growing up I remember my mother telling us that on the 14th of January, India celebrates the end of winter and start of spring, the change in seasons and wind directions. They celebrate with the festival of Uttarayan also know as Sankrant, Lohri or Pongal. In Gujarat, in particular, they celebrate by...

Chora nu shaak (black-eyed bean curry)

Part of everyday cooking is great simple food. Being vegetarian, pulses and beans are the main form of protein so we try to have them either with every meal or as often as we can in a week. The addition of the basic Indian spices and herbs, makes this a simple yet substantial meal. Chora...

Cheese Tomato & Mushroom Toasted Sandwich

When I was growing up in Malawi we used to have cheese and tomato toasted sandwiches with white bread for breakfast on Sunday mornings. We really enjoyed them. I remember my father would cut 2 cm square pieces for us as we didn't know how to use a fork & knife back then. The flat...