This is relatively simple and very tasty dish from Israel. The Middle East has been a melting pot of different cuisines with unique flavour sensations.

Bourekasare a popular Israeli pastry of Sephardi Jewish origin. It is understood that the Turkic tribes migrated from Central Asia to what is now Turkey to form the Ottoman Empire. They brought with them their cuisine. This included a dumpling called bureg. The name of this dish may have contributed to the name of bourekas. Bureg later evolved into a pastry called börek and was similar to the empanadas, a Sephardic Jewish pastry.

As a child of the 60s and 70s I was there when the 1st wave of vegetarianism come into play. While I always enjoy some meat I’m not adverse to enjoying the many and varied forms of vegetarian cooking. In the 70s Molly Katzsen published the “Enchanted Broccoli Forest” and the “Moosewood” cookbook which adorns many student and in hippie houses of the of the 70s. Cuisine comes from her famous Moosewood restaurant in Ithaca NY. The ideas of these recipes originated in the homes and imagination have many people who cook and have cooked there over the years.

This is a Middle Eastern dish inspired by the new master chef Ottolenghi. It has a Moroccan/Israeli style flavour to it and can be used both for a salad and a main course. Yotam Assaf Ottolenghi is an Israeli-English chef, restaurateur, and food writer. He is the co-owner of six delis and restaurants in London, as well as the author of several bestselling cookbooks, including Ottolenghi, Plenty, Jerusalem and Simple. Simple is for beginners; the others are complicated to say the least. This is my adaption of one of his Simple recipes.

Thai Red Chicken Coconut Curry

I was first introduced to Thai cooking by a friend in Melbourne in the early 1970’s. The cuisine was amazing and different with its emphasis on fresh food, coconut milk, Thai basil, and coriander. The first Thai restaurant in Australia was the Bahn Thai, in Melbourne’s St Kilda Road in June 1976. It was closely followed by the ‘Siam’ in Sydney, and another Thai restaurant in Perth. The Patee Thai restaurant, in Fitzroy, is the oldest Thai Restaurant still operating in Melbourne. It opened in 1983. By the end of the 1980s, Thai cuisine began to rival Chinese as a casual dining choice.

In the 70s there were a few Greek restaurants in Adelaide and cafes. One of my favourite cafes served red and white wine on Sunday in coffee cups before Don Dunstan liberalised the liquor laws and opening hours. It was extremely popular with young people and it introduced Greek foods to a new generation. Tess Mallos 1979 “The Complete Middle East Cookbook’ inspired me to cook Greek Food as did Kate who had run one of the first restaurant in suburban Canberra in early 1970s at the height of the Whitlam revolution. Again, unique tastes that were a far cry from the meat and three veg regime of 1960s Australia. Enjoy!

I am drawn to Moroccan cuisine. My mother was an avid fan of American-born Robert Carrier, a leading food writer who was prominent on the food revolution in UK in the 1960s. He was one of the first Europeans to take on an in-depth look at the cuisine of Morocco and the culture that has inspired the Taste of Morocco in 1987. He also produced his Moroccan cookbook well before its popularity.

This Greek style dish is a meal in itself with a hint of lemon. Very tasty and filling. Lentils are a popular legume in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. They are high in fibre and protein and low in fat. Lentils are very versatile and are used for soups, salads, and entrees. Lentil and spinach soup combines healthy lentils with the leafy green spinach, but any leaf green will do or you can use a combination of greens.

Mujadara is served across the Middle East in various forms and goes by differing names, depending on where you are. It has many spelling variations: mujadarra, mujadarah, majadra, mejadra, moujadara, mudardara, and megadarra. It is a humble, hearty dish packed with protein and works perfectly as a side or vegetarian main dish.

I have great joy in cooking Indian food. It is spicy and hot and can have superb tastes. It is also good ecologically as it has a low carbon footprint with its minimum meat and vegetables. When I started to cook, I first started learning to cook Indian food and it has been a constant and rewarding companion.

Chinese cooking has been with us longer than Italian cuisine. Many Chinese came out with the gold rush and in Victoria avoided the head levy by coming through SA and Robe. Many were killed at Chinaman’s well on the way by earlier versions of our home-grown racists. Most country town’s had a Chinese restaurant. Not necessarily great Chinese, but something different. Chinese food can be brilliant and as good as any high quality European cuisine.

My repertoire of cakes is minimal. I or should I say she who must be obeyed outsourced main courses predominantly to me. This one is fantastic and I have shared it with many friends. It is equally simple and appealing and rewarding. One of my male friends now uses it with is very young granddaughter as an exercise in cooking. (About $6 2020 or 50c a slice) Time about 20 minute to prepare.

Indian is a very unique cuisine with a melding of colonial cultures, British, Italian Dutch, Portuguese and French combined with strong regional influences across India itself. Traditionally like most cultures, recipes were not written down but handed down as a part of oral tradition.

A slightly modified version of the famous SA Premiers’, Don Dunstan’s Cookbook 1976 recipe for Osso Bucco. A classic cookbook in a barren culinary era. Don was a flamboyant and brilliant politician with his penchant for pink short pants and safari suits in parliament and his pre poll driven visionary leadership years ahead of his time. His electorate in Norwood was a hotspot of Italian and Greek migrants, cultures and new culinary adventures. I fondly remember going through the old antique (junk) shops on the parade with my older sisters and being introduced to real coffee. What an adventure!

This is an adaptation of a recipe in Charmaine Solomon’s classic “The Complete Asian Cookbook”

Moroccan cuisine is influenced by interactions and exchanges with other cultures and nations over the