Rukmini says: “The peanut dressing for this quick and easy dish works so well with the aubergines and pepper – perfect to serve alongside rice or noodles. As brands of peanut butter vary, you may need to spend a little time beating it with the soy sauce and sesame oil to get a good spoonable consistency – but it’s well worth it.”

Serves 2 generously

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines, cut lengthways into eighths
• 1 red pepper, roughly sliced
• 170g baby corn
• 3 cloves of garlic, grated
• 5cm ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• Lots of freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing:

• 1 heaped tablespoon crunchy peanut butter (approx. 75g)
• 2 tablespoons good soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2–4 limes, juice only
• 1 fresh red chilli, thinly sliced

To serve:

• A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• Quick-cook rice or noodles

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6.

Tip the aubergines, red pepper and corn into a tin large enough to hold them all in one layer and mix through the garlic, ginger, salt, sesame oil and black pepper. Transfer to the oven and roast for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together all the ingredients for the dressing and set aside. (You want a good spoonable consistency, something like double cream, so you may need to add a little more water to adjust the texture depending on your brand of peanut butter.)

Once the aubergines are cooked through, pour over the dressing, taste and adjust the salt as needed, scatter over the fresh coriander and serve hot with quick-cook rice or noodles.

Rukmini says: “You may have had pork pibil at your favourite Mexican restaurant: it’s a classic Yucatán dish of pork, slow-cooked in achiote, a paste made from annatto seeds, from which the dish gets its lovely colour. Achiote paste is easily available online, and once you have it, this dish will be a staple in your repertoire – it’s so easy to put together.

This dish isn’t at all spicy, so it’s a good one for kids, and can be easily made ahead, frozen and defrosted in portions.”

Serves 4

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 3 hours

Ingredients

• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano (Mexican if you have it)
• 8 cloves
• 250ml orange juice (ideally freshly squeezed)
• 2 limes, juice only
• 50g achiote paste
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 800g free-range pork shoulder, diced

For the pickled onions:

• 1⁄2 red onion, very thinly sliced
• 1 lime, juice only

To serve:

• chopped fresh coriander
• tortillas and sour cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 140°C fan/160°C/gas 2.

Tip the onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, citrus juice, achiote paste and salt into a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth.

In a small deep roasting tin or lidded casserole dish, mix the pork shoulder with the spice paste. Cover tightly with foil or the lid, then transfer to the oven and cook for 3 hours.

Meanwhile, mix the very thinly sliced red onion with the lime juice and set aside for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. (The acid in the lime juice will turn the onions a beautiful bright pink by the time the pork is ready.)

Once cooked, remove the foil or lid and shred the pork while hot. Serve with the pink pickled onions, chopped coriander, warm tortillas and sour cream.

Rukmini says: “This is possibly my proudest creation: chocolate refrigerator cake, or tiffin, crossed with rocky road, crossed with s’mores – the American campfire classic of Graham crackers and marshmallows sandwiched with a piece of chocolate, and toasted over a fire. In this version, the marshmallows just start to catch and caramelise under a hot oven. Perfect to take over to friends’ houses, as it is rich and generously proportioned.”

Serves: many, many people

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 10 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling

Ingredients 

• 200g unsalted butter
• 300g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids, broken up
• 250g digestive biscuits or Graham crackers
• 150g mini vegetarian marshmallows (I like pink and white)
• 75g salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/gas 6.

Tip the butter and chocolate into a saucepan over a low heat and stir until both have fully melted.

Break up all but 4 of the digestive biscuits or Graham crackers and stir them into the chocolate butter, then stir in 100g of the marshmallows. Spread the mixture in a lined shallow roasting tin, then scatter with the remaining digestive biscuits, broken into larger pieces, the marshmallows and the peanuts.

Transfer the tin to the oven and bake for 5–10 minutes, until the marshmallows have just started to catch and turn golden brown.

Let the tin cool on the side before cutting the cake into squares. (I rather like a square or two while it’s still warm out of the oven, but for a proper refrigerator cake, you’ll need to pop it into the fridge to chill for a few hours before serving, so it sets properly.)