Chuleta de Cordero con Salsa de Menta

This easy dish of grilled lamb cutlets is topped with mint sauce. The mint sauce is prepared in a mortar and pestal with a generous amount of chopped mint leaves, a teaspoon of sugar, extra virgin olive oil and wine vinegar to taste. I spice up the zucchini with dill pesto.

Zarzuela de Mariscos

This is a Spanish seafood stew and is very much like the French bouillabaisse. I prepare the soup base with a generous amount of sofrito, stock fishes, celery, carrot, bay leaves, garlic, saffron and white cooking wine. The Spanish tends to use at least two kinds of fishes, a firm fish such rape (monk fish), and a delicate fish such as merluza (eel). The more variety of seafood added to the stew, the better the taste. I use red snapper, squid, mussels, prawn and sleeper lobster. You get an explosion of flavour from these ingredients. Muy delicioso!

Arroz Negro

The secret to a good Arroz Negro is the stock, plenty of fresh squid ink, and not over cooking the squid and mussels. I cannot get the Spanish Calasparra or Bomba rice here, so I use the Australia short grain rice instead. It absorbs the stock well and the rice is very flavourful.

Sepia y Gambas

This is my own creation. The jumbo shrimps are cooked in the same manner as Gambas al Ajillo with lots of garlic in olive oil, bay leaves, a couple of dried chillies and a dash of sea salt and paprika. The cuttle fish is poached and served with salsa verde and lemon.

Rajasthani Lal Maas

I tasted this red lamb curry at the Ambrei, one the of best restaurants in Udaipur, India. It was so good that I set out to cook my own. While it is not quite as good as the Ambrei, I am not disappointed. At least it comes close to the same dish I had at another restaurant at the Lake Pichola Hotel.

Lenguado con Mayonesa de Wasabi y Mango

My good friend, Andy, invited me to a restaurant where they served shrimp with wasabi sauce. That gave me the inspiration for this dish. I made my own wasabi mayonnaise so that I can control its flavour and heat. Unlike Dover sole, the local variety is more delicate, so I pan fried it over a low heat. The sweet diced mango and its luscious puree temper the pungent taste of wasabi. The grilled red pepper adds texture and bite and blends well with the fish which is seasoned with Himalayan rock salt.

Swordfish with Salsa Verde and Spiced Potatoes

I like the firm texture and full flavour of the seared swordfish. Do not overcook as the fish has to be moist to taste at it best. It blends well with the salsa verde and lemon. For the vegetable, I use cumin, coriander, tumeric, green chilli and nigella seeds to give it an exotic twist.

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

This dish is the result after many failures. It is well worth the effort. I am now very pleased as it is one of the most aromatic biryani I have tasted. I use the Kohinoor basmati rice, which is my favourite. It has excellent texture and is very silky.

Initially, I tried the kachchi approach, where the marinated chicken is covered with half cooked basmati rice and cook on very low and slow heat (dum) until completely done. Even with a thick base steel casserole, it did not help as the meat was burnt at the bottom. The Pakki approach is easier to control as you cook the chicken completely, then layer the half-cooked rice and finish it on slow heat. I decided to try the middle way, where the half-cooked meat is layered with half-cooked rice, and it has worked very well with a cast iron casserole.

I have added or substituted some of the spices from the original Hyderabadi recipe, with those more commonly found in South East Asia. Who says only Indians can cook a good biryani?

Burrida alla Cabrarese

Stingray with saffron, sultanas and tomatoes

I picked up this recipe from one of Rick Stein's books. It originates from Sardinia. Most stingray dishes are spicy hot in South East Asia. This dish has an unsual flavour from the tomatoes, sultanas and capers, and I find it quite special.