We’re back in the kitchen with the legends at Tamil Feasts (விருந்து), a social enterprise is supporting recently-settled asylum seekers through the celebration of food and culture. 

For the second dish, Nigethan shares his Korma Lamb Curry – a hearty recipe perfect for these chilly winter months!

Throughout July we’re sharing a series of incredible Sri Lankan recipes by Tamil Feasts (விருந்து). This brilliant Melbourne-based social enterprise is supporting recently-settled asylum seekers through the celebration of food and culture.

The feasts, held at The Merri Table, are all prepared by Tamil men currently seeking asylum in Australia. Established in May 2015, the initiative provides an opportunity for the chefs to share the food heritage of their homeland with the wider community, who can, in turn, show their support while enjoying some deliciously authentic fare!

Chefs Niro, Nirma and Nigethan became friends while they were living in detention in Broadmeadows. Following six-and-a-half years in detention, Nirma was released, but struggled to find work. Encouraged by CERES hospitality teacher Dori Ellington and the community, he decided to cook a feast. This event was a huge success and the initiative evolved into weekly, vegetarian feasts. These quickly began to book up, and so, when Niro was released, they started catering more frequently (plus playing more Tamil love songs!). When Nigethan were released, the menu expanded to include seafood and meat, and increased to the current three nights per week!

Today, Nigethan shares his spectacular Crab Curry with us. As show-stopping as this dish looks, he assures us it’s pretty simple to make!

In 2013, which feels like approximately 200 years ago, we featured the stunning North Fitzroy home of real estate agent Peter Stephens, and metalworker Anna Charlesworth.

Today, we venture back for a closer look at the couple’s beautiful and insanely lush inner city garden, created by landscape designer Amanda Oliver.

This week we say ‘arigatou gozaimasu!’ to Meg and Zenta Tanaka of CIBI, the Japanese-inspired cafe and concept store, who have nurtured our minds and tums with their simple, nutritious fare. With a core philosophy of ‘head, hands, heart’, these recipes taken from their recently released cookbook allow you to recreate a bit of CIBI magic, wherever you are!

Be sure to take a look at the other recipes from this series: the famous CIBI soba salad; a gluten-free, vegetarian cabbage and corn okonomi-yaki; and a hearty winter miso gratin with cauliflower and mushrooms. For this final recipe, Meg shares a baked salmon dish she used to help her mother prepare when she was little.

Okonomi-yaki is derived from two Japanese words that literally translate to ‘grilled as you like it’. And we have a feeling you’re really going to like this take on this classic Japanese dish. Gluten-free and vegetarian, this savory pancake recipe is lighter than most, with grated cabbage and plenty of corn fried up to crunchy perfection.

Following on from last week’s miso gratin with cauliflower, tofu and mushrooms and before that, CIBI’s famous soba salad, this is the third part in our winter series with the beloved Collingwood cafe/concept store.  The recipes featured come from their recently released cookbook, which pretty much reveals ALL their tastiest secrets!

Jenny Rose-Innes is a ‘serial renovator and garden maker’. She’s been building houses and gardens for over 40 years.

Her latest creation in the Southern Highland town of Bowral is a testament to her many years of experience and vast gardening know-how. It’s full and voluptuous, and only four years old!

There’s no more denying we’re well and truly into winter on this side of the equator. With colder temperatures comes the temptation for something warm + more-ish, preferably with some sort of cheese involved.

This winter miso gratin from Meg and Zenta Tanaka, the team behind CIBI, hits the mark – and YES, has a cheese element. Their new cookbook, CIBI, is packed with nutritious Japanese-inspired dishes that have filled the tummies and hearts of customers to their Collingwood cafe for the past 10 years.

CIBI is one of those spaces that make a neighbourhood. Much more than just a cafe, CIBI is a meeting place for the community. Tucked away in a quiet backstreet of Collingwood, the loyal cast of regulars working and living in the surrounding streets have been coming to CIBI since 2008 for its humble, nurturing Japanese food in a space that cares for its community and fosters relationships.

With a core philosophy of ‘head, hands, heart’, founders Meg and Zenta Tanaka’s entire ethos is based around making the little, everyday things beautiful.

In their 10th year of operation, they have finally released a long-wished-for cookbook for people to recreate signature CIBI dishes in their own homes. We’re lucky enough to have them with us for the next month to share some of their simple, Japanese-inspired meals.

Any Australian worth their Vegemite on toast knows that part of our national identity is staunchly defending our right to ownership of the humble pavlova. Who would have thought that a sweet treat could cause a long-standing rivalry between our closest neighbours?!

With its chewy, nutty texture and unexpected hint of coffee, this version takes the classic Aussie pav into new territory. Whether you’re on team Australia or team New Zealand, if there’s one thing we can all agree upon, it’s that nothing pleases a crowd quite like a great pavlova.

Florist Sean Cook, of Mr Cook, has lived a long love affair with plants!

Only two years ago, Sean’s Sydney garden was a trashed construction site. Transformed by famed landscape designer Richard Unsworth, today we tour the lush oasis!