Thi s meal from The Indolent Cook looks so very good. Chunks of tofu are marinated in a mixture of chilli, tamarind, kaffir lime leaf, fish sauce and palm sugar. The tofu is then cooked quickly, in a small amount of oil. Serve with rice and a green salad for a delicious meal.

 

 

 

The third recipe on this page, by Yotam Ottolenghi, is a wonderful looking soup. Carrots and pumpkin are mixed with cumin and fennel seeds, fresh ginger, lemongrass, lime juice, fresh coriander and coconut milk. It's a delicious and flavour filled soup.

 

 

Another soup, although this one from Nourish Me is a more wintery recipe. It has similar flavours to the last soup, with the addition of oven roasted onions. I've made this several times and love it.

 

 

 

Photo by Andrea Nguyen.

 

 

 

Bring a pot of water to the boil and add 400g of spaghetti. While this is cooking, tear up eight fresh, really ripe tomatoes, into a large bowl - just do this with your hands, scrunching them up as you go. Shred the meat off half a barbecued chicken. Add this to the tomatoes, together with four big handfuls of baby spinach, the juice of half a lemon, two tablespoons of olive oil and some fresh basil. Drain the pasta and then add to the tomatoes. Toss quickly to combine and then serve immediately.

 

 

Empty a large tin of salmon into a bowl. Add in two tablespoons of capers, a punnet of cherry tomatoes, half a bunch of fresh dill, four cucumbers and two large handfuls of rocket. Tear up four slices of rye bread, into chunks and add these to the salad. Squeeze over the juice of half a lemon and two tablespoons of natural yoghurt and add some chopped fresh chilli if you like a bit of heat. Toss to combine and serve immediately.

 

 

 

Fritters make lovely, vegetable filled finger food, but try to avoid the deep fried recipes. For something different try these spiced up beetroot fritters. Make them smaller than the recipe and serve cold, topped with some natural yoghurt and a sprinkling of fresh coriander, or a dollop of mango chutney.

 

 

Make a delicious vegetable filled salad and then serve spoonfuls of it in lettuce cups, or wrapped up in Vietnamese rice papers. Th is parsley, lemon and bean salad would be delicious served in lettuce cups.

 

 

Instead of using the standard red meat for kebabs, why not use fish. These Indian spiced fish kebabs can be marinated in advance and then cooked at the last minute on the barbecue or under a hot grill.

 

 

Make a lovely vegetable filled spread, like this broad bean and dill version from Nigel Slater, and serve with a platter of vegetable sticks instead of crackers.

 

 

Try something lighter for dessert, like these carrot and ginger cakes. To make them a bit more festive, you could spread the top with some cream cheese mixed with lemon juice and then dust over a mixture of icing sugar and ground ginger, or sprinkle over some silver cachous.