Cooking for people with different dietary needs, whether by allergy or by choice.

The simplest pasta there is, and one of the hardest to do well. Just spaghetti, garlic, chilli and good olive oil, where the technique is everything and the olive oil is used exactly as it should be, gently, never at high heat.

Baby potatoes boiled until just tender, then stir-fried with a three-layer coating of pepper, coriander and turmeric on top of the usual chilli and salt. The layered spicing is what lifts this above a plain potato fry, giving each one a savoury, earthy crust.

Basmati rice tempered with cumin seeds and whole spices, cooked until every grain stays separate. The plain, fragrant rice that belongs beside a bowl of dal, and the dish that shows off why basmati is worth buying well.

Indonesian fried rice, built around kecap manis, the sweet soy sauce that caramelises the grains and gives the dish its dark, glossy colour. This is a plant-based take on the version you find across Bali, using crisp tofu and skipping the non-vegan bits the classic usually includes.

Soft wholewheat flatbread stuffed with spiced mashed potato and griddled until it blisters. The trick is a well-rested dough and sealing the filling in without it bursting.

Charred sweetcorn and ripe avocado tossed with lime and coriander. Fifteen minutes, no cooking beyond blistering the corn, and it holds together as a light lunch or a side.