Meanwhile, to make the curry sauce, get a medium, high sided frying pan over a low–medium heat and pour in the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and cook down for 10–15 minutes until soft and fragrant. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further 3 minutes. The first sweet things I ever made were cheesecakes. This iteration brings together the creaminess of white chocolate with toasty coconut and vibrant lime to sublime effect. Not too sweet, just right. little Caribbean seasoning peppers (about 20g/¾ oz), or a mix of red, yellow, and/or green mini sweet peppers

For the sweet pastry, place the butter, flour, sugar, ground almonds and salt in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture looks a bit like breadcrumbs. Tip in the eggs, one by one, pulsing with each addition until the dough has just formed. Once the liquid is cool, add the spring onions, coriander stalks, and most of the diced cucumber, reserving about 2 tablespoon.

Hobbies

Put the prawns in a medium bowl and add all the marinade ingredients. Mix well and rub the marinade into the prawns with your hands so that all the prawns are well coated. Refrigerate and leave to marinate for about 20 minutes. Andi Oliver’s deeply personal exploration of Caribbean food showcasing both traditional and new recipes, cherished ingredients, and vibrant flavors from across the region Andi Oliver is a regular face on our TV screens, as the much-loved host of the BBC's Great British Menu, Sky Arts Book Club Live, Channel 4's Beat the Chef, Food Unwrapped, and contributing chef and host on BBC's Saturday Kitchen. To make the Green Seasoning, add all the ingredients into to a food processor and season to taste with salt and pepper. Whizz to the consistency of a salsa verde and keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to 2–3 weeks. Getting old is not for sissies,’ she sighs, ‘but what’s the alternative? It’s not a good one. I’m always amazed to have survived another year…’ And then she starts to laugh because, right now, in the run-up to her 60th birthday (‘my jubilee as I like to think of it’), she is having the time of her life.

You can also use the external lift near the Artists' Entrance on Southbank Centre Square to reach Mandela Walk, Level 2. Award-winning TV chef and broadcaster Andi Oliver has written her first ever cookbook The Pepperpot Diaries for DK. Join the award-winning chef and broadcaster for a celebratory night out filled with storytelling, music and incredible flavours, as she introduces her long-awaited first cookbook The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table. Add the vinegar, sugar, cumin seeds, peppercorns, bay leaf, and 3 1/2 tablespoons of water to a medium saucepan. Warm through over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool. Combine both the milks and the cream in a jug or cup and keep to one side of the hob. Gently melt the butter in a deep saucepan over a low heat. Add the flour and beat it into the butter with a wooden spoon. When the flour and butter are fully combined, keep stirring for around 4 minutes, then gradually add the milk and cream mixture, bit by bit, beating it in each time to keep the sauce smooth. Next, beat in just over half of the cheese mixture and all the mustard. Set aside off the heat.Remove from the oven, remove the beans and paper and let cool slightly. Leave the oven on at the same temperature. Meanwhile, make the frangipane by beating the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy either in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or using an electric hand whisk. Beat in the eggs one by one. Add the almond essence, then beat in the ground almonds. Finally, fold in the flour. Showcasing both traditional and new recipes, cherished ingredients and vibrant flavours from across the Caribbean, let Andi Oliver take you on an exploration of identity and heritage as she shows you how to create simple yet sensational dishes that will bring the unbeatable flavours of Caribbean cooking to your table. The story of food captured in this book will take readers on a journey around the melting pot of cultural influences, history and heritage that has uniquely shaped traditional and contemporary Caribbean cuisine. I so love the unique sour nature of tamarind. It’s almost like a connector between sweet, salty, and savoury – somehow it seems to sing to all of those sensations. A spoonful of tamarind chutney will bring any dish to life.

She’s already working on another cookbook and at the time of writing is about to announce a joint project with Miquita and a mum-daughter podcast following on from the success of her own Radio 4 podcast, One Dish. Professionally, she is truly in her prime – despite having had major surgery, a hysterectomy, last July. On the inside covers of her first cookbook, The Pepperpot Diaries, is a tapestry of photos of her sprawling extended family. She traces them with a finger. Here is her daughter Miquita, the TV presenter, with whom she’s made several shows; her Antiguan mother, now in her mid-80s, who lives upstairs, pictured with her father over the years: “Can you see she’s looking progressively more pissed off in each photo?” There are friends as close as family: the singer Neneh Cherry, with whom Oliver fronted the post-punk band Rip Rig + Panic. And what’s this? A photo of the Kanneh-Mason clan, the piano- and string-playing musical prodigies? “They’re my cousins!” The book is her origin story as well as a guide to a vibrant but under-represented cuisine: Caribbean cooking is the cooking of 700 islands, with India, China, France, Spain and Portugal all finding their way into the food. This dish really came into being because mMy father-in-law, Lloyd, keeps asking me for rum and raisin everything, so this is for Lloyd. The gorgeous short pastry is from the mind of she who rules all baking, my niece, Phoebe Oliver. Came out right nice.Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open. Toss the fried aubergine in half of the orange, ginger, and chilli syrup (keeping the rest in a sealed container in the fridge for other recipes) and serve it up. Put all the biscuits (ginger snaps and Hobnobs) in a sealable food bag and bash them up to fine crumbs using a rolling pin or similar. I love a second-day pot of curry, and this recipe is no exception – if you make a big enough pot it will see you through a couple of dinners in the middle of the week. This is also one of those many moments when you’ll be glad you took my advice to keep a big jar of green seasoning in the fridge. Leave to cool, then transfer to a sealed jar or container and store in the fridge to use as needed. The chutney should keep well for 3–4 weeks.

In conversation with her daughter, TV presenter Miquita Oliver, Andi reveals the deeply personal journey of writing her first cookbook, reconnecting with the food she grew up eating, and the vibrant flavours and cherished ingredients that speak to her Antiguan British and broader Caribbean heritage and run through her heart and soul. In a food processor, blitz together the onion, garlic, chilli, ground cumin, coriander, turmeric and curry powder, and 2 tablespoons of the oil to a rough paste. For Andi Oliver, food is about so much more than just the sum of its parts. Throughout my conversation with the TV host, chef, writer and musician we end up on multiple tangents talking about the origins of how a particular dish came about. Did you know barbecue was invented by indigenous Caribbeans? I didn’t. Oliver does. She fills me in on how it’s a Taíno word, and the fact that it was taken to Latin America which is how we got the word – and the dish – barbacoa. Oliver commented: “I am beyond thrilled to be embarking upon this project with the dynamic team at DK, the moment we started talking about this project I felt that we had an instinctive and immediate connection. Stephanie and her team are hugely creative, experienced and supportive and I feel that I could not have found a better home for my first book.”Give the mixture a stir to combine, then pour into a blender and blitz briefly to a rough consistency. Transfer to a bowl and stir through the reserved diced cucumber. Add a pinch of salt and serve as you like. Tamarind chutney Tip the crumbs into a bowl and mix with the toasted coconut, melted butter, and salt. Press into the bottom and sides of the tart tin and chill in the fridge for 1 hour or until set.