Nothing cookin': Japanese hiyayakko

his simple dish takes no cooking at all. It is a variation of hiyayakko (冷奴)- a classic Japanese beer snack.

Raw silken tofu is simply garnished with wakame seaweed and ever so lightly poached enokitake mushrooms.

I make the dressing out of equal parts of:

• soya sauce
• sake
• katsuobushi extract and
• lime juice (because I can't find yuzu that the original recipe requires).

An itsy drop of wasabi adds a pleasant zesty tone. That's it. Nothing cookin', really.

Veg(etari)ans: skip the katsuobushi extract, use konbu or shiitake.

My nostalgic grub: ham and cucumber sandwich

hen I was growing up, sandwich was a piece of bread with butter and a slice of sausage. While my peers gleefully munched on theirs, I was always appalled at such lowliness and lack of finesse. I always knew there is more to sandwiches than slabs of unadulterated cholesterol and meat of dubious provenance stuffed in pig's intestines. But I seemed to be the only one around with that opinion.

Paper-thin salty ham and fresh-smelling cucumber slices on earthy rye bread (sumuštinis su kumpiu ir agurku) washed down with powerfully aromatic espresso in a café at the Vilnius Railway Station - this is my strongest memory of my first parents-free vacation at 15. These days I know more far-fetched ways to fancify a peace of bread but I still keep trying to recreate that feeling of a newly found freedom in a vaguely foreign city. I just use better ingredients.

Swedish knäckerbröd bread with sesame seeds, smoked Schwartzwälder ham, French mustard with unripe black peppers and - it's never the same without them - slices of cucumber and three umlauts!

Thai durian does not smell!

he king of fruit, durian (ทุเรียน), is my favourite ever. Thanks to globalisation now you can buy it in many ethnic groceries even in the West. In Amsterdam it's to be found in Chinatown, in London - at Brixton Market.

It's got a bad rep because of its alleged pungent odour but that is so not true. The real culprit is the cheaper yellow-fleshed variety common in Malaysia in Indonesia. In Thailand it is known as Chani and generally looked down upon. It smells indeed rank and does not taste as good as the superior type, the more expensive Mong Thong, the Golden Pillow.

Its creamy flesh reminds of fruity custard but, really, is just incomparable to anything else. It is delightfully sweet but the Thais can't seem to have enough, they eat it with sweetened sticky rice boiled in coconut milk!

Recently I have seen writings by gormless individuals trying to bust the "myth" that combining durian with alcohol is dangerous. Whatever your "research" may say, I myself have had a near-death experience when I gulped down a can of beer half an hour after gorging on a durian. That was one of the most unpleasant physical experiences. Despite it was 30 degrees in the street, I was covered in sticky cold sweat. I felt sudden weakness like I was about to faint and there was nothing to do about it because both the fruit and alcohol had already been in the system. Creepy. So NEVER mix alcohol and durian!

Breton cotriade: poor French fisherman's delight

Breton cotriade is basically the same as Russian ukha: white sea fish stewed with potatoes and onions. In Russia most of time it is made of fresh water fish, while in Brittany, naturally, of the catch from the brine.

The only condiments being sea salt and coarsely ground pepper, this dish brings out the best of the flavour in fish. It is very simple yet exquisitely delicious.

The recipe couldn't be simpler:

1. Peel and cut potatoes, let them dry a bit (this way they will less likley crumble).
2. Peel and chop an onion.
   
3. (Skip this part for the Russian ukha!) Fry a few stripes of bacon in a pot. Add the onion and cook until soft.
   
4. Add cold water and put the potatoes (and raw onions for ukha), bring to boil, then add fish.
   
5. Keep skimming the froth that comes up to the surface.
   
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. This comes out even better when you use the heads of big fish.

Venison sausages with juniper sauce

cooked the venison sausages I bought at the Southwark Slow Food Festival the best way I know how: with juniper sauce. It is a variation of the classic bourguignonne for game dishes. Juniper berries give that foresty, coniferous fragrance that goes well with the powerful flavour of venison, boar or pheasant. Potatoes boiled in jackets are there just to soak in the juices and aid the enjoyment of two major flavours.

Simplest, quickest and yet great spaghetti dinner

All best things in life are free, they say. Well, some may not be free but they can still be very cheap.

Like this amazing spaghetti recipe: a family dinner for under a pound, how about that? I learnt it from my Italian friend Luisa. Once we were stuck late at night at home with a few mouths to feed and a virtually empty fridge. The kitchen cupboard was not exactly full too (see, this was not my home!) Luisa came to rescue and everyone was full and happy in just 20 minutes.

1. Boil a pack of good quality spaghetti al dente.
2. Peel and slice a head of garlic.
   
3. Toast garlic golden brown in generous amount of olive oil.
4. Mix the garlic and oil into the cooked spaghetti.
5. Serve with grated parmiggiano or cheddar.

I serve it with some chopped sun-dried tomatoes and salted anchovies if I have those, but that is optional. Here the best of Italian cooking comes forward: simplicity, healthiness, taste based on the quality of ingredients and time-proven combinations.

I am really tempted to predicts that this recipe, if ever noticed, may come in vogue in the forthcoming months.

Huevos rancheros: South American scrambled eggs with vegetables

Well, this is entirely my own enhanced version of the highly popular huevos rancheros. First I sauté smoked bacon and chopped red onions in olive oil. This is followed by a dash of aceto balsamico bianco, a glug of oyster sauce and a generous grind of black pepper - these tastes should be incorporated into the oils and juices that later will spread across the dish.

Then I add chopped bell pepper, garden eggs, okra and tomatoes. When all the veggies are still crunchy there go 3 free-range eggs. It comes out smoky, peppery, filled with the flavours of all the veggies.

For a complete breakfast: a cup of hot coffee, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice (spremuta) and some whole grain bread with sunflower seeds.

Met mamuang thod: toasted cashew nuts with chilies, red onion and lime juice (เม็ดมะม่วงหิมพานต์ทอด)

Met mamuang himmaphan thod (เม็ดมะมวงหิมพานต์ทอด) is a beer snack. I first tried it when I went out with my first boss for the very first time. I did not feel like a virgin but I surely liked this combination a lot. For some reason, it is not awfully common and sometimes you need to explain the waiter or even the cook what you want from them.

It could not be easier:

• Chop one red onion and 2-3 chilies.
• Heat a wok, add half a tablespoonful of odourless vegetable oil.
• Lightly toast cashew nuts. Add salt if you use raw nuts.
  
• Mix with onions and chilies, sprinkled with lime juice.

Quick, tasty, savoury, healthy, very Thai, indeed.

Dashi: Japanese stock bases

n Western cuisines cooks use chicken, veal or beef broth for the base of many dishes. In Buddhist Japan meat consumption was banned so people had to look elsewhere. This is how in Japanese cuisine we now have three basic stocks, dashi (出汁):

1. shiitake (mushroom, しいたけ)
   
2. kombu (kelp, 昆布)
   
3. katsuobushi (fish, 鰹節)

They give Japanese food that unmistakable flavour, just a refined hint of natural decay, inherently connected to the aesthetic concept of wabi-sabi, transience of all creation.

All these basic stocks naturally contain glutamic acid that is responsible for the taste we associate with savoury foods like meat, cheese or mushrooms. In Oriental cuisines this constitutes the seventh taste (umami, xianwei) in addition to sweet, sour, salty, spicy, tart and bitter.

When isolated, a derivative of glutamic acid, the naturally occurring monosodium glutamate, aka MSG, is used to enhance tastes of food. In the late 80s, it was demonized in the US media as causing the so-called "Chinese restaurant syndrome". In fact, no evidence but anecdotal has ever been found to back that claim. In fact, at the time America found itself in the midst of the Yellow Peril hysteria, searching for a new enemy to replace the Red Peril of the Soviets. Before the extremely convenient myth of War on Terror emerged, Japan and China became the "enemies du jour". In line with this, ubiquitous Chinese takeaways were chosen for a smear campaign. Despite scientific research that disavowed this myth it has persisted in public opinion to this day.

There is one secret however to correct usage of ajinomoto as MSG is commercially known: add it at the very end of cooking and try to avoid rewarming. Actually the same applied to preparing all Japanese dashi from scratch: the broth never reaches the boiling point! Glutamic acid is a natural amino acid and gets destroyed by high heat: this is how overcooking actually kills taste.

These days hardly anyone prepare dashi from scratch though. Imagine having to make broth every time before you start cooking a meal! Katsuobushi stock is sold in granules as in the picture but I make kombu and shiitake stocks myself. I just bring water with a few pieces of kombu to about 90 degrees or soak dried shiitake in water overnight. I use both to cook Western food too as it adds a whole dimension to the taste!

Liquid aphrodisiac: Jamaican mannish water (goat soup)

Or should it rather be afrodisiac with an 'f'?

Never mind that mannish water, the Jamaican goat soup, looks a bit like chunky Thames water, it tastes quite alright! I fixed it with potatoes, okra and garden eggs (which are, in fact, eggplants) but as the recipe varies from household to household any other veggies are fine too.

It is supposed to increase male sexual drive (women are excluded from this) but I don't know if it had much effect on me. It is hard to notice with my depressed serotonin levels. At any rate, mannish water, hearty and spicy, proved great comfort food on a gloomy February afternoon.

So there you go:

1. Wash well a goat's head or an equal amount of goat's meat.
2. Put in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add a few cloves of garlic, bring to boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for a couple of hours.
   
3. Add all or a few of the following, chopped into bite-size chunks: green plantains, yams, taro root (a.k.a. cocoyam), carrot, seeded and peeled chayotes, garden eggs, okra.
4. Add some chopped habanero pepper to taste, a few sprigs of thyme and salt. Simmer another 20 minutes.

A bowl of goodness: Taiwanese seafood and mushroom noodles (海鮮麺)

o, they are going to have JUST noodles?" thought I watching Taipei's smart office crowd going down on their lunch. For an Asian outsider, noodles may not sound like a meal. In Russia noodles are considered lowest grade junk food popular amongst trumps, students and washed-up bachelors.

That is all because nobody cares to fix them properly relying solely on whatever they find in the instant packages. However, with a bit of imagination it is very easy to recreate the kind of gorgeous meal I saw in Taiwan. It is healthy, filling and delicious, a little constellation of delightful chunks and pieces. The recipe couldn't be more simple: put everything in a bowl, pour boiling water, microwave for 3 minutes. Below are the ingredients I usually use.

Seafood:

• two types of shrimp,
  
• squid,
  
• baby octopuses,
  
• clams,
  
• mussels.
  

Seaweed:

• konbu,
• wakame.

Mushrooms:

• shiitake,
• cloud ear,
• jelly ear,
• yamabushitake,
• oyster mushroom,
• snow ear.

Veggies:

• kamjam (daylily buds),
• lotus root,
• pak choy,
• kang kong.
  

A smidgen of toasted black and white sesame seeds livens up an already vibrant mix even further.

I made this one Korean style, flavoured with kimchi, but I also make it, with the help of some herbs and condiments, in a variety of other styles:

• Japanese miso (miso paste and katsuobushi extract),
• Thai tom yam (galangal root, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves, chilies and fried chili paste),
  
• spicy Szechuan (doubanjiang, Szechuan pepper and sesame oil) or
• Korean gochujang-flavoured udon.
  

Dim sum : touch my heart! (點心)

Dim sum is supposed to be lunch food only, something you grab in between business appointments. At dinner you are expected to take your time with your family. Since I am not burdened with either, I can do as I please. So when I'm lazy I just fix me dim sum.

I line a bamboo sieve with a banana leave. Its gentle scent transfers to the dough with hot steam and make simple lowly buns a culinary delight.

While the pot is steaming away, I make my own Thai-style dip:

• a glub of Thai chili sauce;
• juice of one lime;
• a clove of garlic, crushed (NOT chopped!);
  
• a sprinkle of fish sauce;
• a wee splash of Kikkoman soya sauce;
  
• chopped fresh coriander.

Twelve minutes and, voilà, lazy bachelor's dinner is ready!

Stuffed Russian bell peppers

Russian food is much influenced by the cuisines of Russia's own Near East, which consists of Caucasus, Central Asia and the Muslim nations of the Volga basin.

Stuffed bell peppers are one of such Oriental goodies that quite commonly appear on the Russian table. It is a festive dish and takes some time to prepare but the result is totally worth the fuss.

Equal quarters of mince, cooked rice, chopped onions and a pre-stirfried and pre-seasoned vegetable mix go into the stuffing. I gentrify the original recipe with a few sophisticated touches:

1. I use tartare mince which is low-fat;
2. Rice is cooked with quarter less water than necessary, thus it helps trap the juices inside the peppers;
3. I add shiitake and Iranian spices in the veggie mix;
   
4. I steam the peppers in a glass of white wine added at the bottom of the pot.

I have found that Chilean white wine from the Pedro Jiménez variety of grapes, it goes perfect with my stuffed peppers. It is dry with just one tone of passion fruit that rings like an A sharp. It is slightly gassy and tastes the best when left in the glass to warm up and oxidise a bit.

Jamaican cerassie/corilla herbal tea

Regular tea or coffee after 3PM gives me insomnia for the next night. That is why I am very big on herbal teas and infusions.

In Russia, herbal teas are a part of daily life. Mint, linden blossoms, rose hip, nettles, St. John's wort and willowherb are both commonly self-administered for medicinal purposes and enjoyed just for their flavour.

I get excited every time I discover a new type of caffeine-free beverage. This time I stumbled upon Jamaican cerassie or corilla at Brixton Market. The tea comes out rather bitter but it is purported to cleanse blood and purge pimples. But for those alleged properties I don't see why anyone would drink this willingly.

Thank God for globalisation and mass migration: ethnic groceries in London

"Sesame oil, almonds in slices,
Dried lotus leaves and Indian spices,
Bunches of French herbs tied up with strings
Those are a few of my favourite things."

This is the kind of sight that makes my head spin from excitement: stacks and rows exotic foodstuffs whose names and uses I don't know. I can spend days exploring stores like this.

More stuff to make me fall over myself: exotic recipes from Brixton Market.

Phat phak ruam mit: Thai stir-fried vegetables (ผัดผักรวมมิตร)

Time to take a break from carnivory: phat phak ruam mit are traditional Thai stir-fried vegetables, spicy, delicious and aromatic.

Cooking takes about 5 minutes but you need the right ingredients in the correct succession to achieve the right taste and flavour.

1. Chop finely half a head of garlic and Thai chilies: 1 for bland, 2 for lightly spicy, 3 for moderately spicy (pretty much the limit for Westerners).
2. Wash very well a pound of pak soi (Chinese cabbage) and a pound of kang kong (water spniach). Cut into 4-5-cm pieces. Actually, any robust green leafy veggies will do, like mustard greens, spinach or kale. Lettuce and ruccola will not.
   
3. Cut 6-8 button mushrooms (champignons) and a couple of tomatoes. If the mushrooms are small, leave them whole. If you use cherry tomatoes, cut them in halves.
   
4. Put the wok on the highest heat, wait for it to get piping hot, then add 2-3 tablespoonfuls of odourless vegetable oil (olive oil WON'T do!)
5. When the oil starts smoking, tip the garlic and chillies with a tablespoon of dried Thai anchovies (optional). This may end up in a spectacular semi-explosion of pungent smoke and even flames, fear not! Make sure to keep the kitchen door closed though.
   
6. When the garlic is golden brown, tip the mushrooms, tomatoes and veggies starting from the bigger chunks, e.g., the whites of pak choy.
7. Stir vigorously for a minute or so to make sure all the bits get exposed to the heat thoroughly.
   
8. When everything is still crunchy, add some fish sauce and oyster sauce - soya sauce for veg(etari)ans - to taste, turn down the heat and stir once again.
   

In my vegan days in Thailand, the superbly hunky cook I befriended in my soi's neighbourhood restaurant would add a pack of silky tofu to my veggies about at the same time as fish and oyster sauce. I do it these days too, for the good memories' sake.

One thing you really need to keep in mind: DO NOT OVERCOOK, everything should be just lightly cooked and stay crunchy. 5. to 8. really takes under 2 minutes.

Phat phak ruam mit in Thailand is featured nearly in every dinner to balance animal protein intake with vegetable fibre. Well, it is never worded so but the principle is just that.

Let my people have some beef: Jewish bagels in London

Before Brick Lane became Little Bangladesh it was a Jewish territory. Little remains from that time but two bagel shops. They both are extremely popular. I went today to Beigel Bake where authentic Jewish mommas dispense plain and stuffed bagels at very attractive prices.


Bagel with smoked salmon is just £1.30 while when stuffed with salty beef it will set you back to the tune of £3.30. Add extra 20p for a slice of gherkin. Mustard comes free.




I find these bagels taste more British than Jewish, that is like they have been boiled for a couple of days with no salt or spices. Hundred and fifty years of catering to Cockney tastes do rub off on you. I really missed the smokiness of Jewish bagels in Montreal.

Simple lunch pleasure: grilled goat cheese sandwich

Culinary delights don't have to be complicated. It is mostly down to quality ingredients and right combinations.

This grilled goat cheese sandwich takes 5 minutes to fix. First, I sprinkle delicious sesame bread I buy from a Brazilian grocer with a few drops of aceto balsamico bianco and olive oil. I cut the cheese (no puns here) into thin circles and line them on the bread. Three minutes under grill is enough to turn the dry and sharp mass into drippy flavour-oozing deliciousness.

Now tomato wedges and some Italian lettuce mix and your lunch is ready!

This is the French goat cheese I use: crottins de chèvre, "goat drops". What a poetic name.