Side dishes

Green papaya salad

Peel a large green papaya and shred the flesh. Add to a bowl with 1 large shredded carrot and dress with a few tablespoons of ginger and lime dipping sauce. Toss through a couple of spoonfuls of Thai basil leaves, and top with chopped, toasted peanuts or cashews.

Greens dressed with walnut tarator

Plunge some seasonal greens into salted water and simmer until just tender. Use any type of kale or cabbage, broccoli, silverbeet (Swiss chard) or bok choy. Drain and dress the vegetables with walnut tarator.

Asparagus with brioche crumbs

Cook trimmed green asparagus spears in salted water until just tender. Melt a generous knob of butter in a frying pan and add finely whizzed brioche crumbs with the grated zest of ½ lemon. Stir and toast until golden. Season and scatter over the drained asparagus. You could also serve the cooked asparagus with blender hollandaise or gorgonzola sauce.

Red cabbage slaw with gomashio

Slice ½ medium red cabbage very thinly and thinly slice a quartered, cored red apple. Dress with a little toasted sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Toss through a few coriander (cilantro) leaves and sprinkle with some gomashio. This also goes well with barbecued corn or shredded carrot.

Beetroot and fig carpaccio

Peel 4 raw beetroot and slice into paper-thin slices. Slice 3 ripe figs as thinly as you can without breaking the flesh. Arrange on a plate and scatter with lemon thyme leaves. Combine 2 tablespoons fig tapenade with 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon water. Spoon over the beetroot and figs and season lightly to finish.

Spiced sweet potato wedges

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Peel 600g (1lb5oz) orange sweet potatoes, or leave the skin on if you wish, and slice into wedges. Toss the wedges in 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon each crushed cumin, coriander and fennel seeds and a pinch of chilli flakes. Season and spread out on a baking tray. Bake for 35 minutes or so, turning halfway. Serve the wedges as they are or with parsley or rocket pesto.