Discover - Soul Spoon

In season

May produce

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Asparagus 4 Rhubarb 2 Peas 136 Broad beans 3 Radish 20 Lettuce 22 New potato 12 Spring onion 207 Watercress 2 Sorrel 2

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Aroog

Fine bulgur (#1 grade) soaks in hot water until soft and fluffy. Lamb or beef mince mixes with the bulgur, grated onion, lots of chopped parsley and coriander, ground baharat, cumin and a pinch of cinnamon. The mixture should be soft enough to spread, if it's too dry the aroog crumble. Small portions press onto a hot oiled pan and flatten to 1 cm thick discs; cook for 4-5 minutes per side over medium heat until deeply browned and the meat is just cooked through. Lift, drain briefly, eat hot with lemon and yoghurt.

Snacks 1 hour 20 minutes Serves4

Bobotie

Bread is soaked in milk; mince is browned with onions; curry powder, turmeric and Cape Malay spices bloom. Apricot jam, mango chutney, vinegar and lemon balance the spice with sweet-sour notes. Raisins, toasted almonds and the soaked bread are folded through. The mixture is pressed into a baking dish; eggs are whisked with the leftover milk and poured over; bay leaves are stuck into the surface; the lot is baked until the topping is just-set with a faint wobble.

South African 1 hour 25 minutes Serves6

Briouat Bil Lahm (Meat Briouats)

Onion is softened slowly in olive oil 15 minutes. Lamb mince browns with the onion; ras-el-hanout, cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper season. Stock or a splash of water; simmered for 8-10 minutes till dry-fragrant. Off heat: parsley, coriander, beaten egg, finely chopped preserved lemon. Left to cool. Warka strips lay flat; a teaspoon of filling at one end; flag-folded up the strip into a triangle. Sealed with egg-wash. Deep-fried for 3 minutes till deep gold.

Snacks 55 minutes Serves18

Chapli Kebab

Chapli kebabs are the spiced beef patties sizzling on a wide flat tawa at any roadside grill from Peshawar to Kabul, big enough to wrap a hand around and seasoned with the unusual punch of dried pomegranate seeds and coriander. The mince mixes with grated onion, chopped fresh tomato, ginger, garlic, beaten egg and a little gram flour to bind, plus the signature Afghan spice blend (coriander seed, pomegranate seeds, chilli flakes, cumin and garam masala). A thirty-minute rest lets the gram flour absorb the moisture and the spices marry. Pat thin and wide (the word chapli means "flat" or "slipper-shaped"), then fry hard in oil three or four minutes a side until darkly crusted. Eat hot from the pan, wrapped in fresh naan with sliced raw onion and a green chutney.

Afghanistan 1 hour 10 minutes Serves4

Fried Börek with Meat Filling

Fried börek are Turkish-influenced pastries that combine simple pastry (made from water, oil, and flour) with a seasoned ground meat filling. The meat is cooked in aromatics, bound together with egg, and enriched with fresh parsley. The pastry is thin and tender, becoming shatteringly crisp when deep-fried. The key to success is ensuring the filling is completely cold before assembling (otherwise it creates soggy pastry), rolling the pastry thin (for crispness rather than doughiness), and maintaining proper oil temperature during frying. These are best consumed immediately, while still warm and crispy.

Snacks 1 hour 35 minutes Serves30

Hawawshi

Mince mixes raw with finely chopped onion, garlic, parsley, chilli and Egyptian spices. The mixture spreads onto flatbread and folds shut; an egg-and-oil wash glazes the surface; a hot oven (or skillet) crisps the bread while the filling cooks through. The spice blend, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, allspice, sumac, paprika, is the dish's signature.

Egyptian 40 minutes Serves4

Kefta Tagine

Beef or lamb mince is mixed with grated onion, garlic, fresh parsley and coriander, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, salt and pepper; shaped into small (3 cm) balls. A tomato sauce is built in the tagine: onion sweats in olive oil, garlic, cumin and paprika join, tomato passata and a stock cube simmer for 10 minutes. The meatballs are nestled in; cooked for 12 minutes turning once. Eggs are cracked into wells; lid on; 4 minutes more until the whites are just set. Scattered with parsley and served hot.

North African 45 minutes Serves4

Kibbeh Bil Laban

Fine bulgur soaks; lamb mince blends with bulgur, grated onion, allspice and salt to a smooth paste; small torpedoes are shaped around a separately-cooked lamb-onion-pine-nut filling. Torpedoes deep-fry briefly until golden, then slip into the warm stabilised yogurt sauce (whisked with egg white, cornflour and garlic), simmer for 4 minutes to warm through. Garlic-mint butter on top.

Syria 2 hours 15 minutes Serves4

Kofta Bil Roz

Mixed beef-lamb mince combines with grated onion, garlic, cumin, allspice, parsley, breadcrumbs and an egg into walnut-sized meatballs. Pan-brown briefly. A tomato sauce cooks: onion, garlic, tomato, cumin, stock. Layer in a baking dish: rice on the bottom, meatballs on top, sauce over the lot, hot stock to cover. Bake covered 35 minutes; uncover 10 minutes more.

Egyptian 1 hour 15 minutes Serves4

Kotlet

A medium potato grates fine (on a box grater); a small onion grates the same way. The grated potato and onion squeeze in a clean tea towel to extract excess water. They combine with mince, egg, turmeric, salt, pepper and a touch of cinnamon into a paste. The paste rests for 30 minutes (firms up; the salt seasons through). Shaped into 12 oval patties, about 8 cm long, 1 cm thick. Shallow-fried in sunflower oil 3 minutes per side until deep gold.

Persian 1 hour 20 minutes Serves4

Lamb Pasties

A Cornish-inspired pastry parcel filled with seasoned lamb, tender vegetables, and a rich, savory gravy. These hand-held pastries are perfect for portable meals, picnics, or as a sophisticated starter. The flaky shortcrust pastry encloses a deeply flavorful filling, a British classic that's remarkably easy to prepare at home.

Snacks 18 minutes Serves8

Lamb Seekh Kebab

Seekh kebab is restaurant-quality barbecue. Unlike simple meatballs, seekh kebab is defined by its fine, dense, bound texture achieved through vigorous kneading. The spice profile is warm and aromatic without aggression. When charred over hot coals, the exterior develops a smoky, charred, visible "lace" pattern while the interior stays succulent. This is elegant Indian street food made at home, served with yoghurt and lemon.

Sides 20 minutes Serves4

Manti

A simple egg-pasta dough rolls thin. Minced lamb, finely-chopped onion, parsley and spices form the filling, uncooked. Each dumpling is 1 ½ cm square: a teaspoon of filling, four corners pinched up to form a star/parcel. They boil briefly. Yogurt-garlic sauce ladles into bowls; dumplings pile in; melted butter with sumac and paprika pours over hot.

Turkish 1 hour 30 minutes Serves4

Moussaka

Aubergines and potatoes pan-fry or roast separately. Lamb mince cooks down with onion, garlic, cinnamon and tomato into a rich ragù. The layers go into a deep dish, topped with a cheese-rich béchamel that sets golden in the oven.

Greek 2 hours Serves6-8

Mutabbaq

The Saudi street snack that almost every food court and roadside griddle in the kingdom has running through service. You make a stretchy oil-rich dough and let it rest for a full hour so it develops the pliability that mutabbaq depends on (the trick is that the dough has to stretch translucent without tearing). While it rests you cook a filling of ground beef or lamb with onion, leek, garlic and baharat, cool it, then mix in beaten eggs and chopped parsley just before folding. The eggs go in raw and cook inside the pastry as it griddles. Each dough ball gets oiled heavily and pulled by hand on an oiled surface into a 35 cm square thin enough to see through, with the filling spread in a 15 cm square in the centre. The edges fold in to enclose, and the whole parcel griddles on a hot pan with a glug of oil for two or three minutes per side until it's amber-crisp on the outside and the egg has set inside. Cut into quarters, eaten warm at the counter or carried home wrapped in paper.

Snacks 1 hour 55 minutes Serves4

Ojja with Merguez

Merguez sausages are browned in a wide deep pan, lifted out and roughly cut into bite pieces. Sliced onion and red pepper sweat in the merguez fat; garlic, caraway, cumin, ground coriander and harissa go in; tinned tomatoes follow and simmer for 12 minutes until thick. The merguez returns; 4 eggs are cracked into wells in the sauce; lid on; gentle 5-minute cook until the whites are set. Sprinkled with parsley and served hot from the pan.