"I can cook curry! Curry rice...and I can make very easy cake... Noodles, noodle soup..."

Ming

Curry rice

This sweet and spicy "curry rice" is from Japan, but has become popular in Taiwan as well. I used a recipe from a blog called Taiwanxifu, with only a few changes made. It was a different way of preparing curry than I'd made before; by making a tomato and curry based roux and thickening it with chicken stock.

This is such a delicious dish, and it goes a long way!

1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 large clove garlic, chopped
4-5 cups chicken stock
4 tbsp flour
2 tbsp Japanese curry powder
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and in chunks

3 small potatoes, in cubes

1 lb chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 red apple, peeled and grated

1 tbsp soy sauce (or sweet soy)

Rice, to serve

1. In a large, heavy bottomed pan, heat a knob of butter with a good splash of oil. Add the ginger and garlic and cook briefly, until aromatic.  Meanwhile, bring a pot of your  chicken stock to boil.

2. Add flour and cook for a bit, stirring frequently. Once it's gotten a bit of colour, add curry and tomato paste. Heat through.

3. Add a small amount of hot stock and stir to incorporate. Ladle by ladle, add hot stock to the pot, stirring constantly. 

4. Add remaining ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for about a half hour, stirring occasionally.

5. Serve with rice.

What do you eat in winter?

"Chunky soup."

Justin, Texas, USA

This soup is so simple yet so packed with flavour and texture. It is smokey, spicy, savoury, crunchy, soft and soothing. Here, I serve it with toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), tortilla chips, and chopped cabbage. Normally, I also top my bowl of soup with avocado and lime juice, which I absolutely recommend.  

I think this dish really lends itself to experimentation;  you could try using another legume of instead of chickpeas, or even add a bit of chicken or chorizo if you're feeling a bit more carnivorous. The possibilities really are endless with soup....

Smokey tomato soup with chickpeas and rice

1 onion, chopped

2 small dried chipotle peppers

2 carrots, cut into rounds

10 cups of vegetable or chicken broth

1 cup crushed tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 cup rice

1 cup cooked chickpeas

2 tsp finely chopped cilantro

Avocado, tortilla chips, chopped cabbage, lime juice and toasted pepitas, to serve.

1.   In a large pot, heat a bit of oil and add onions, chipotles and carrots. Sautee until the vegetables are fragrant and a little soft.

2.   Add broth, tomatoes and spices.  Season with salt and pepper. Bring mixture to boil.

3.   Add rice, reduce heat to a steady simmer, and cook until rice is soft; about 20 minutes.

4.   Add chickpeas and stir through chopped cilantro. Re-season with salt and pepper.

5.   Serve hot with toppings! 

What do you eat in the winter?

"Lots of food. Different sauces. Egg and lemon sauce...it's only good in the winter. Too heavy in the summer."

Athina, Rhodes, Greece

Avgolemono soup became a staple in my apartment last year when my best friend Chloe got obsessed with it. She called it lemon drop soup and made it about three times a week. It has Greek origins and is excellent in winter, especially if you’re not feeling so great (which unfortunately is the case for me today)

Soup is not avgolemono’s only claim to fame. This rich marriage of egg and lemon is often used as a sauce or condiment in Greece. I had it spooned over dolmades when I was there, and my inspiration for this dish comes from a photo I saw in a Greek cooking magazine, where it was served over meatballs.

This soup is so simple, it’s fun to play around with! Give it a try with some shredded chicken instead of meatballs, or omit the meat altogether for a filling vegetarian soup.  

Avgolemono soup with lamb meatballs

For the meatballs:

1 lb lamb mince

1 onion, grated

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup rice

For the soup:

1 quart chicken broth

1/4 cup rice

2 eggs, thoroughly whisked

The juice of two lemons

1 cup of boiling water

1.   In a large bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients with your hands. Season with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Form into balls about the size of walnuts.

2.   Heat a bit of oil in a large pan. Brown the meatballs in batches. Do not overcrowd them! Set aside on a covered plate.

3.   Prepare the soup. In a large pot, bring your broth to a boil.

4.   Add rice and simmer, uncovered, until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. At about 15 minutes, add meatballs to the soup.

5.   In a medium bowl, whisk lemon juice into the eggs. Whisking constantly, add the boiling water.

6.   Remove the soup from heat. Add the egg-lemon mixture to the soup and stir to combine.

7.   Season and serve.