Garlic and ginger paste is a staple in Indian cuisine and is used in all kinds of dishes from curries to biryanis to sabzis. These two ingredients mixed together are like magic, especially when it comes to immunity and weight-management and you will find this paste in most Indian households ready to be used for the next dish. It’s hard to describe the smell the paste makes when it hits the fire - the paste is usually added to the recipe right after you sauté the onions or even together with the onions. Even though garlic and ginger paste is originally Indian it can be used for many western dishes or even just as a marinade for vegetables and meats. It’s literally the simplest thing to make and will hold in the fridge for around 3 weeks.

Aloo Gobi literally means Potatoes and Cauliflower in Indian and it’s a delicious and easy dish made with these two star components and a lot of yummy and healthy spices. It’s not only healthy and easy, it’s also vegan and low in calories. Another great thing about Aloo Gobi is that you can pre-make the cauliflowers/potatoes and then cook them with the spices later on which is great when you don’t have much time.

Dahi Baigan is an eggplant based dish, the eggplants are fried in vegetable oil and then cooked in yogurt with spices. It’s not only extremely delicious but also much lighter than I thought it would be. I also tried the vegan version with coconut vegan yogurt and was surprised at how the flavours really mixed well together.