My nephew Lawrence Tan and his wife Marion who live in the UK had a bumper crop of chillies last summer and I promised to send them recipes using chillies. Here's one especially for Marion and I hope she cooks it for Lawrence soon.

Perhaps one day she'll cook it for me!

Prawn sambal for Marion

6-8 large raw prawns, remove feelers and rinse

½ large onion, sliced thickly

1 clove garlic crushed

1 ½ cups diced or crushed canned tomatoes

½ cup diced pineapple, fresh or canned (optional)

Father's Day 2020

Father, Dad, Papa, Pere, Padre, Otosan.

How you address your father depends on the language you speak.

My father was Daddy to me, a larger than life personality in every way.

He was my role model, my protector and the first man in my life.

I felt safe and loved when he cradled me in his arms.

He was in his 50s when I was born. He and mum were widowed and had children from their first marriages.

I always explained that I was the “ours” in the “yours, mine and ours” arrangement that was our blended family.

Laksa lockdown 2

Marvellous Muffins

As the pandemic turns us all into culinary creatives or kitchen tragics, here are two marvellous muffin recipes from my cheffing pals.

Felix Heng from Singapore is a versatile chef who makes fabulous Peranakan (Straits Chinese) dishes, as well as delicious desserts, cakes and cookies.

I met Felix at a sad occasion, my beloved brother-in-law Alan's memorial.

Felix was Alan's classmate from primary school all through high school and he credits Alan with inspiring him to learn drawing.

If you're looking for a delicious meal at Easter, and I don't mean chocolate eggs, try this delicious recipe from Australian Pork.

Foolproof roast pork belly

1kg Australian pork belly

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp flaked salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Remove roast from the packaging and pat dry with paper towel.

With a small sharp knife, deeply score the rind at 1cm intervals, being careful to not cut into the meat.

Cumquat jam

My friend Julie Walker recently gave me a bunch of cumquats (also known as kumquats), fresh from her tree.

I thought the intense citrus flavour would be best enjoyed by making the fruit into a jam, so here is my own recipe for cumquat jam.

Some recipes involve boiling and then straining the fruit, squeezing the pulp in a piece of muslin and then adding sugar.

It sounded all too fiddly for me and I prefer my jam with more body, anyway, so here's my take, jam-packed with pulp and all.

Thanks, Julie!

1 cup cumquats, washed