1,2 kg chicken pieces, skin removed

250 g cashew nuts

15 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

4 cm fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

2 large onions

2 tblsp coriander seeds

1 tblsp cumin seeds

5 whole red chillies

10 cloves

2 cassia bark (genuine cinnamon) sticks

100 g grated coconut

1 dl olive oil (or a lighter vegetable oil if you prefer)

Blitz 100 g of the cashew nuts with a bit of water to a thick, smooth paste. Set aside.

In a large frying pan, dry-roast the garlic, ginger, onion, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies, cloves, cinnamon, and 75 g of the cashew nuts over a low heat for five minutes.

Add the coconut and roast, stirring, till the coconut starts to brown. Leave to cool.

Blend this mixture with 2-3 dl water to a very smooth paste.

Heat the oil in a wide cooking pot, add the blended spice mixture and fry for ten minutes over a low heat.

Add the ground cashew nut paste with some salt and fry for another two to three minutes.

At this point, the mixture can be frozen till the day you are serving the chicken.

Or you can proceed to increase the heat, add water to the desired thickness, bring to the boil, add the chicken, turn to medium heat, add the rest of the cashew nuts, and simmer till the chicken meat is done.

250 g black-eyed peas

A good knob of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

8 garlic cloves, chopped

2 fresh chilies, e.g. jalapeño, deseeded and chopped

6 cl oil (I always use a good olive oil, but others prefer lighter vegetable oils)

3 onions, chopped

2 tblsp ground cumin

1 tblsp ground coriander

1 tsp cayenne pepper

4 dl chopped tomato

Salt

Black pepper

Juice of 1 lime (or 2, if you bought it in Denmark where the quality is most often abysmal and getting juice from a lime is much like drawing water from a stone …..).

2 tblsp chopped fresh coriander leaves and 1 small thinly sliced red onion for garnish

Rinse the black-eyed peas and soak them in plenty of water for about 8 hours or overnight. Discard the soaking water. Cook the peas in plenty of water for 45-50 minutes.

Grind the ginger, chili pepper and garlic to a paste.

Heat the oil and sizzle the onions at medium heat for at least ten minutes, till they start to caramellise.

Add the garlic paste and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes.

Add the cumin, coriander and cayenne, stir and cook for another minute.

Add the tomato and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

This sauce can now be frozen until the day you need to serve it.

Or you can add the black-eyed beans straightaway and cook for another 15 minutes.

Season with salt and black pepper, add the lime juice, and garnish.

Serves four

60ml olive oil
2-3 banana shallots, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
4 whole cardamom pods, crushed to release the seeds, pods discarded
Salt and black pepper
2½ tbsp harissa paste
½ tsp rose water
500ml vegetable stock
1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 4cm dice (800g)
400g tinned cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
7 dried apricots, thinly sliced
20g preserved lemon skin, roughly chopped
10g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
150g Greek yoghurt

Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. In a large saute pan for which you have a lid, heat two tablespoons of oil on a medium-high flame. Add the shallots and fry for seven to eight minutes, stirring every so often, until soft and caramelised, then stir in the garlic, spices, half a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper, and fry for two minutes longer. Add the harissa, rose water, stock and 200ml water, bring to a boil, then lay in the squash pieces in a single flat layer. Turn down the heat to medium, cover and leave to simmer for 10 minutes, until almost cooked through.

Take the pan off the heat and transfer the squash to a medium bowl, using a slotted spoon. Add two tablespoons of oil, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and some pepper to the bowl, mix to coat, then spread out the squash on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Roast for 20 minutes, until golden-brown and cooked through, then leave to cool.

While the squash is roasting, tip the chickpeas, apricots and preserved lemon into the stock left in the pan, bring to a boil on a medium-high heat and cook for about 12 minutes, until the sauce reduces a little and becomes thick and rich. While they’re cooking, crush a few chickpeas with the back of a spoon, to thicken the mix further.

To serve, divide three-quarters of the squash between individual bowls and spoon over the chickpea sauce. Top with the rest of the squash, sprinkle with the chopped coriander and serve at once with some yoghurt alongside.