Sometimes a soup brings out the vegetable's freshness and flavour. This is the soup that pushes boring zucchini to a masterful vegetable. For this recipe, use only young zucchini, not older ones, and red, ripe tomatoes with a beautiful flavour. This is a simple soup, and ingredients matter so much. The soup can be left chunky, but I find that folks are put off by the soft vegetables and end up focusing on the flavours rather than the beautiful soup. So I puree the soup to a t

I have always believed that vegetables can be delicious, and this dish proves it. Whenever I have it on the table, I ask the hardcore carnivores to at least try it, and then I notice they almost always go back for seconds. This is a beautiful dish; the vegetables add a splash of colour, studded with mustard seeds and glazed with caramelised maple syrup. There is spice, sweetness and different textures. I sometimes make this as a main course and enjoy the vegetables for their

Our first day in Sri Lanka was the Katina Poojava, also known as Katina Pinkama, one of the most important Buddhist festivals. The entire community participates, organising, cooking dishes and preparing for this event. Our host, Yasassri, was contributing by making a few dishes. Together we cooked three dishes, see recipes below: Boiled manioc with grated coconut (Kaha manioc) Pumpkin curry with blackened coconut (Wattakka kalu pol maluwa) Pennywort sambols (Gotukola sambol)