Vindaloo (original style)

Amazingly brilliant. I've not changed anything from this recipe:

75ml cider vinegar
700g pork shoulder, cut into 3cm chunks
4 tbsp ghee, neutral or coconut oil
500g onions, finely sliced (about 4 medium onions)
60g tamarind pulp
10 garlic cloves, finely sliced
5cm thick length of ginger, cut into slim matchsticks
4 ripe tomatoes, diced
2-4 small green chillies
10 curry leaves (optional)
1 tbsp jaggery or soft brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black mustard seeds

For the masala
2 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder or paprika
Seeds of 8 cardamom pods
1 tsp black peppercorns
8 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp turmeric
5cm cinnamon stick

Grind masala ingredients, then add in the vinegar. Rub into the pork and leave to marinade for 3 to 4 hours. 

Heat the ghee in a large pot, then fry the onions over a medium-low heat until soft and golden. Meanwhile, soak tamarind pulp in 120ml of hot water for 15 minutes, then gently rub off pulp from seeds, then strain off the liquid and set aside, and discard the solids. 

Add garlic and ginger to the onions and stir in, cook for another 5 minutes, then add tomatoes, chillies and curry leaves and cook until tomatoes start to break down.

Add the pork and marinade, turn up heat to medium-high, mix in jaggery (sugar), salt and mustard seeds, and then add tamarind liquid. Bring to simmer, turn heat down, cover and cook for an hour. 

After an hour, remove the lid and thicken on a low heat for another 30 minutes. Serve with rice, naan or whatever.

Beetroot and cherry soup

Despite the odd combination, this is actually very good. Allegedly, it's meant to be an effective anti-inflammatory, but even if it doesn't work as the original recipe intended, it is very tasty.

500 g beetroot (raw, not pre-cooked)
4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped into halves or thirds
2-3 cloves garlic (not in the original recipe, but I thought it worked well)
1-2 onions
2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, roughly chopped
1 thumb-sized piece turmeric root (or 1 tbsp dried, powdered turmeric, which is what I used)
1 tbsp cinnamon
250 g tart/sour cherries (you can probably buy them frozen; they should be depitted in advance)
400ml tin coconut milk (or to taste)
750ml - 1l stock (vegetable or chicken)
salt, pepper, cayenne or chilli to taste
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Wrap the beetroot in foil (if you like, you can peel it first, which is what I did, although I understand it cooks better in its skin and then you can peel it). Put the beetroot and carrots on a baking tray and cook for about 45-60 minutes (the carrots might be ready before the beetroots, depending on the size). When ready, take the beetroots and carrots out of the oven, and, if applicable, peel the beetroots. Chop the vegetables up into smaller pieces.

While the root vegetables are cooking, gently cook the onion, ginger, garlic, and turmeric in a large pot. When ready, add in the beetroot and carrots, cinnamon, cherries, coconut milk, and about a cup or 2 of stock, plus the seasoning and olive oil, and blend it all together using a hand-held blender. Add in more stock as desired to thin the soup.

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5-10 minutes or so. Serve with some bread on the side.

It's very good. Really.