A spicy dish based on coconut milk, chillies and spices, the flavors of this curry will be familiar to those who have experienced Sri Lankan and South Indian food.

Each country has its own special method of cooking rice. In North India, the most prized rice is basmati, a fragrant, long-grain rice that is cooked on its own (namkin chawal), or with lentils (kitchri), or in spicy stock (yakhni pilau).

Featuring the same main ingredient as the recipe for dhal, but the result is sufficiently different and worth a try so you can decide which is your favorite.

This is a cross between a curry and a pickle, and high in acidity. Cook it in a non-reactive pan. In India this would be an earthenware pot, but enamel or heavy stainless steel would be a suitable substitute.

Remove the skin and any excess fat from the lamb. With the point of a small knife make deep slits all over the lamb.

One of my favorite Indian dishes, since there is so much flavors in every bite. Minced lamb is combined with onion, garlic, ginger, chillies and fresh coriander or mint, formed into koftas (balls), browned and simmered in a spicy gravy that echoes similar flavors.

Here we have the traditional recipe, which is fairly labour intensive if you make it from start to finish. A much easier modern way to achieve the same result is to make the Korma Paste beforehand and store it in the refrigerator in a clean glass jar, or to use my Charmaine Solomon's Korma Curry Paste.

For this dish, you are supposed to first prepare tandoori chicken and make sure there is enough left over for this equally popular chicken cooked in a saffron scented creamy sauce. This is a simple method and just as good.

Simple to prepare and with such superb flavor, this is one of my favorite chicken dishes. It is typical of North Indian cooking.

In Indian restaurants the chicken comes out bright orange-red. No artificial coloring is used in my recipe.

If clams are not available, use mussels. Discard any mussels that are not tightly closed when purchased, and any that do not open during cooking.

Fillets of fish are coated with green chutney and wrapped in banana leaves before cooking. Served in the banana leaf parcel, it is featured at Parsi weddings and is an impressive way to serve fish at a dinner party.

Beat the eggs until well mixed. Stir in the milk, salt and pepper. Heat the ghee or butter in a large frying pan and cook the spring onions, chillies and ginger until soft.

Learn the most perfect recipe for cooking delicious Chutneys, Sambals and Raitas.

Heat the ghee or oil in a saucepan and on gentle heat fry the garlic, ginger and half the chopped onions until the onion is soft.

Soak the chickpeas overnight in enough cold water to cover. Drain, rinse and put the chickpeas with just enough water to cover in a pressure cooker or heavy saucepan.

Slice the cauliflower, keeping some of the stem on each floret. Heat the oil or ghee in a wok or deep saucepan and add the panch phora,frying on medium heat for 1 minute. Add the garlic and ginger and stir over low heat until the garlic is golden.

Heat the ghee or oil in a heavy saucepan and fry the panch phora until the mustard seeds pop. Add the onion and stir over a medium low heat until soft and starting to colour.

One of India's favorite vegetarian curries. I have found from experience that the best substitute for home-made fresh cheese is baked ricotta.

Rice is cooked in stock and layered with savory meat or chicken, making this a truly wonderful party dish's a meal in one course.

If you go to an Indian vegetarian restaurant, chances are you will be served a small bowl of this vegetable and lentil soup with whatever you order - steamed lentil dumplings, crisp lentil pancakes or simply with rice and vegetable curries

The ever-present lentil pure served with rice or chapatis may be made with many different kinds of lentils, but the common and easily available red lentil is perhaps the most popular because it is quick to cook.

"Kedgeree" is the perfect example of British' Indian food. It appears on breakfast tables, with flaked smoked fish and hard-boiled eggs added.

Who has not heard of mulligatawny, that derivation of a simple South Indian digestive soup that has been adapted to become something far richer and more robust? Mulligatawny, as Europeans know it, is a hybrid dish. It is the Anglo-Indian version of a very simple soup known as "pepper water".

Sipped at the end of a meal or spooned over rice, this soup is a digestive, much prized by those who enjoy South Indian food.

A favorite sweet in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, served warm like porridge, with a splash of coconut milk.

People either love sago or hate it, but even the most reluctant person with memories of "nursery food" will agree that when served like this, with coconut milk and palm honey, it is a dessert that finishes off a hot, spicy meal to perfection.

A useful recipe for any vegetable in season. Pumpkin, beans, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini and snow peas may be used singly or in combination, adding them according to the time required for them to become tender.

The favorite green vegetable throughout Asia is probably water convolvulus, probably better known in Malay as kangkung or in Chinese as oong choy.

I have used this recipe so often that the page in my kitchen copy of the Complete Asian Cookbook is bespattered and stained. Now, however, I simply use my Rendang Curry Paste since it contains all the ingredients that contribute to the spicy flavor.

Cut the spatchcock into quarters and dry well on paper towels. Heat the peanut oil in a wok or heavy frying pan and fry a few pieces of chicken at a time until nicely browned. Remove from the pan as they are done, and drain on absorbent paper.

Put the chicken pieces into a bowl. Make a mixture of the garlic, ginger, galangal, nuts, coriander, cumin, fennel, salt and pepper.

There is a well-patronized restaurant in Singapore that offers only three specialties. This is one of them. All the ingredients may be prepared ahead of time, leaving only the quick cooking to be done just before serving.

Learn this incredible recipe for cooking delicious Prawn Sambal [Sambal Udang Asam].

Malaysia and Singapore vie with each other for the best crab dishes, and often import live crabs from Sri Lanka, a fact they proudly advertise outside the restaurants.

Bright yellow with turmeric and subtly flavored with whole spices, this rich rice cooked in coconut milk is usually served when entertaining. This recipe does not work in a rice cooker.

Learn the best recipe for making Coconut Rice. This recipe does not work in a rice cooker.

Another recipe for fried rice, a dish as flexible as you want it to be, mostly depending on what you find in the refrigerator, so long as one of the finds is cold cooked rice. From there on, the possibilities are endless.

A poplar dish that definitely tells of the Chinese influence in South-east Asia. Fresh rice noodles are sold at Chinese shops as sa hor fun and Vietnamese shops as banh pho. Sometimes, they are sold already cut into strips.

Learn the best way to cook incredibly tasty Rice Noodles in Spicy Gravy (Mee Siam). Mee Siam is a dish reminiscent of the famous laksa , but the noodles and gravy are served separately.

There are many recipes for fried noodles, varying from region to region. I chose one that illustrates the mixture of cultures found in south-east Asia.

A bowl of noodles swimming in a rich, spicy, coconut milk soup featuring whole prawns, slices of fried bean curd, snapping fresh bean sprouts . . . this would have to be Singapore's signature dish.

A delicious appetizer of spiced fish enclosed in banana leaves and cooked over coals, often sold at street stalls in Indonesia and Malaysia.

There are many recipes for peanut sauce, but this is my favorite. If you have some crisp-fried shallots, sprinkle a couple of tablespoons on the sauce just before serving.

This popular salad of lightly cooked and raw vegetables served with Peanut Sauce is ideal for vegetarians if the shrimp paste is omitted. Adjust the quantities of vegetables as needed.

These little skewers of barbecued meat may be made using various kinds of meat and different kinds of marinade, but the marinade is always spicy and the sauce is always pea nutty winning combination.

Learn the incredible receipt for making Spicy Chicken Soup which is otherwise know as Soto Ayam.

Learn the award winning Recipe for cooking super quality Vietnamese Dipping Sauce .There are many dipping sauces served with Vietnamese food. This is a favorite, and is always used with spring rolls.

Here is the national dish of Vietnam, served and eaten at any time from breakfast to supper, in fancy restaurants or little take-away places, as well as in homes. The basis is a strong, well-flavored beef stock simmered for hours.

A friend who lived in Vietnam gave me this recipe. It is the most refreshing salad and we make it often for summer lunches.

A simply made Vietnamese dish. If you will follow the below given instructions and cook accordingly then you will have extraordinarily delicious Chicken with Bean Thread Vermicelli.

Fresh sugar cane is sold in some Asian shops, and if you find some, it is worth trying this delectable snack.

A traditional Vietnamese snack, these are becoming very popular with health conscious. Westerners as a low-fat version of fried spring rolls.

Learn the best receipt for cooking tasty Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls (Cha Gio).

This delicious curry no doubt owes much to the large quantity of garlic and ginger used, but also to the long, slow cooking that develops the unique flavor.

Not just a way of stretching a meal to feed more people, the effect of vegetables cooked in spices is very pleasing. If preferred, diced pumpkin may be substituted for potatoes.

In Burmese cuisine, it is quite in order for guests to adjust the flavor of their food to taste, say, by squeezing over a little lemon juice if they want more piquancy, adding a sprinkling of chilli powder for heat, a scattering of fresh coriander and spring onions or some slices of fried garlic.

A soup just as central to Burmese cuisine as Tom Yum Goong and Tom Kha Gai (see page 4) are to Thai cuisine. This one-dish meal is considered by many to be the national dish of Burma.

In Thailand, many kinds of eggplant are used and in Australia we are also being offered a variety. The most common kind, however, are large purple eggplants, and they are superb in this dish, though you may use other types if available.

Masaman is the Thai term for Muslim, and this is one of the most popular curries of Thailand. The dish is a complex blend of traditional flavors and the fragrant spices of India introduced by Muslim traders. It is rather a sweet curry.

This salad has such a following among westerners because its flavors are so refreshing. The tang of lime juice, the fragrance of fresh herbs and the nutty aroma of roasted rice make it unlike any other salad.

Despite its simplicity this has proved to be one of the most popular Thai recipes. Chicken is marinated in a mixture of garlic, pepper and coriander, then barbecued.

Pandan leaves (long, flat and strap-like) are used in many ways in Asian cooking. Until recently they were only exported in dried form

Cooks in Thailand usually leave the shells on the prawns, and there is no denying that they do have a more intense flavor. If you are worried things could get messy at the table, split the shell down the back and remove the vein before cooking.

Wipe the fish fillets with a damp paper towel in case there are stray scales on them. Cut into serving size pieces. Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously before opening it.

Because their red stripes are so pretty, I am specifying tiger prawns to contrast with the snowy whiteness of the squid.

Leftover rice is a very useful thing to have in the refrigerator-it makes the beginnings of a one-dish meal such as fried rice.

While bean starch noodles may appear in cold dishes such as salads, they are also served hot and highly seasoned.

Another noodle dish featuring many of the same flavors that go into Pad Thai (see page 8), but the texture is different because of the noodles used.

One of the most popular street-side snacks of Thailand, this dish of rice noodles is quickly stir-fried with seasonings, most of which are pantry basics.

A nice way to ring the changes on ever-popular raw vegetables with dips is to use a Thai dip. It livens up bland vegetables like you would not believe. Here are recipes for two dips, one a vegetarian version.

There are different versions of Thai fish cakes. The commonest fish cakes are fried, resulting in a bouncy, rubbery texture that some people accept but others dislike.

I have taken a classic Thai recipe and modernized it, reducing the preparationtime dramatically.

Creamy and mild with plenty of aroma and flavour from the galangal, lime leaves, lemongrass and green chillies.

It would be difficult to say which is the more popular soup of Thailand-this or Chicken and Coconut Soup with Galangal, Tom Kha Gai.