Niamh

A hollowed-out loaf of white bread filled with a rich, brown South African curry sits on a patterned plate. The removed bread “lid” rests beside it. The curry contains chunks of meat and potato in a thick gravy. On the side are two fresh salads: a bright carrot-and-herb mix and a finely chopped tomato–onion sambal. The plate rests on a wooden surface.

This week the theme for #52weeksofcooking was "oddly named", so I made Bunny Chow, an iconic South African dish featuring fiery Durban curry in a hollowed out loaf of bread. Incredible food - the curry-soaked bread is amazing.

🍜🍽️ #foodsky

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/bunny-chow

A bowl of dakbokkeumtang sits on a wooden surface, filled with chunks of chicken and soft potatoes in a glossy, bright red broth. The sauce pools around the ingredients rather than clinging, giving it a brothy, slightly translucent look. Finely sliced green onions are scattered on top, adding a fresh pop of green against the deep red. The plate has a green-and-white floral pattern around the rim. Beside it is a small bowl of white rice with an orange rim, the grains fluffy and slightly domed. The overall presentation looks warm, spicy, and inviting.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Dakbokkeumtang, spicy braised chicken from Korea. Served with rice. The sauce is delicious - full of gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce and garlic, and it's thickened a little by the potatoes. A fabulous, hearty, exciting dish. Recipe: www.maangchi.com/recipe/tradi...

#foodsky

Photos of pickled turnips on turnip toast. The pickled turnip has been cut into thick rectangles. It's a beautiful pink colour. Two of these have been placed on half a slice of toasted turnip bread. There's a really nice contrast between the vivid pickles and the rustic toast. There's eight of them arranged on a plate.

This week's #52weeksofcooking challenge was turnips and radishes. I went completely turnip with turnip pickles (beautifully pink from beetroot) sserved on toasted slices of turnip bread. Loved the look; surprised by how good it tasted!

🍜🍽️ #foodsky

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/turnip-pic...

A deep white bowl holds a thick, rustic farinata di cavolo nero e borlotti. Tender borlotti beans and wilted cavolo nero leaves sit in a glossy, amber‑brown broth. The bowl rests on a richly grained wooden chopping board with a carved groove, giving the scene a warm, homely, freshly‑cooked feel.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Farinata di cavolo nero e borlotti, a rustic Tuscan soup with cabbage and beans, thickened with polenta. Like many Tuscan soups, the appeal is about taste (delicious) rather than looks (charmingly drab). Recipe from: ricette.giallozafferano.it/Farinata-di-...

#foodsky

Photo of a small bowl of red-braised pork belly. The pieces of pork are covered in a rich, sticky glaze that's almost mahogany in colour. Behind there are two more bowls, one with rice, another with stir-fried choy sum.

This week's #52weeksofcooking theme was "braising", so I returned to a dish I made three years ago: Red-braised pork belly. Silky, unctuous pork with a sweet, salty, deeply savory glaze. So good!

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/chairman-m...

🍜🍽️ #foofsky

Oh, there's definitely a time and place for a meal deal!

A colourful plate of food arranged in three sections: basmati rice speckled with nigella seeds on the left, a neat vertical row of five tomato slices in the centre, and creamy coronation chicken garnished with toasted almonds and fresh cilantro on the right. The plate has a multicoloured rim and sits on a wooden board.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Coronation chicken with rice and tomato. Poached chicken in a creamy spiced sauce. A modernised version of the 50s Anglo-Indian dish. It's a whole lot better than the sad version found in meal-deal sandwiches! Recipe from: www.theguardian.com/food/2022/ju...

A patterned ceramic bowl filled with coconut fish sits on a wooden cutting board. The dish features raw tuna pieces coated in a creamy white coconut milk dressing. Thinly sliced red onion curls across the surface, alongside halved cherry tomatoes and small slices of red chilli. The garnish includes finely chopped spring onion and rings of bright red bird’s eye chilli, adding pops of colour against the pale sauce.

Tonight's dinner 🍜🍽️: Coconut fish from Nauru, a tiny Pacific island state. Raw tuna in coconut milk with lime, onion, tomato and chilli. Simple, but very tasty. I served this with rice. Recipe from: web.archive.org/web/20240121...

Always exciting to cook something from a new country!

#foodsky

A golden, spiral-shaped burek made from thin, flaky layers of pastry sits on a blue-and-white floral plate atop a wooden surface.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Burek, a filled pastry from across the Balkans. This version is in a spiral and filled with cheese, spinach and herbs. Really nice! A bit like a portable spanakopita.

Recipe from: www.awaywithmaja.com/recipe-burek...

I haven't, but that does look interesting!

A plate of Flying Jacob served with white rice and a fresh salad. The dish includes creamy chicken topped with chicken and peanuts, arranged beside a mound of rice and a salad of cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes and dill. Everything is presented on a colourful patterned paste set on a wooden board.

This week the theme for #52weeksofcooking was "flying", so I made a Swedish chicken/banana casserole from the 1970s called the Flying Jacob. It's surprisingly good!

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/flygande-j...

🍜🍽️ #foodsky

A green‑and‑white floral plate holds five pork meatballs in a glossy red tomato sauce, garnished with fresh cilantro leaves.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Xíu mại, Vietnamese pork and shrimp meatballs in a tomato sauce. Delicious! Steaming gives them a wonderful texture. The rest of the batch will hopefully be a filling in a bánh mì tomorrow if I can get the bread right. Recipe from: bunbobae.com/vietnamese-m...

#foodsky

Photo of four slices of fairy bread. Each slice is decorated with sprinkles in the form of a pride flag, trans pride, the classic six colour rainbow pride flag, the bisexual pride flag, and the pansexual pride flag.

For this week's #52weeksofcooking theme 'sugar' I made some very fancy fairy bread. Shokupan with miso caramel compound butter and homemade sprinkles. As good as they look!

Full write-up including links to all the recipes I used on my Substack: niamhhallam.substack.com/p/fairy-brea...

🍜🍽️ #foodsky

Untangling Spaghetti Bolognese Identity, authenticity, and two big bowls of pasta

"From the British perspective, tagliatelle con ragù alla Bolognese is a type of spag bol."

I wrote about pasta this week: the Italian classic, the British version I grew up with and what they can tell us about authenticity.

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/untangling...

🍽️🍜 #foodsky

Photo of a tortilla de patatas which is a thick omelette filled with sliced potato. The top of nicely browned and you can make it the shape of the potato slices.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Tortilla de patatas (also known as a Spanish omelette). An omelette with lots of potato. I included onions but some people are sincebollistas and prefer it without. Rich, delicious, a little decadent. Recipe from spanishsabores.com/best-spanish...

#foodsky

Plus you get a little glass of super fresh buttermilk to enjoy.

These recipes from Serious Eats were helpful:

www.seriouseats.com/how-to-make-...

www.seriouseats.com/how-to-make-...

Genuinely can't believe how easy it was to make. Why don't I do this all the time?

Photo of a log of pale yellow butter on a wooden chopping board.

Why did nobody tell me how easy it is to make cultured butter? Cream and buttermilk on the counter for about 16 hours until thick. A minute with an electric mixer. Rinse and knead in cold water. Mix in a bit of salt. Incredible tasting butter. So little work for something that tastes amazing! 🍜🍽️

A blue‑and‑white floral plate holds two halves of a rieslingspaschteit pastries. One is sideways, showing off the golden-brown pastry, and the other shows a dense, finely ground meat filling surrounded by a transparent aspic.

A single rieslingspaschteit sits on a blue‑and‑white floral plate placed on a wooden cutting board. The pastry is golden and domed, with a small circular opening on top revealing the browned meat filling inside.

Plus, as a bonus, here's the rieslingspaschteit I made for yesterday's lunch and forgot to post. This is a luxembourgish meat pie with a Riesling aspic. Super delicious, although my success rate for these was pretty low.

Recipe from: www.milly.at/de/vorspeise...

A warm, creamy bowl of French garlic soup sits on a wooden board, topped with tiny golden pieces of fried garlic. Beside it rests a torn piece of crusty baguette, its interior soft and airy against the darker grain of the board.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Soupe à l'ail, French garlic soup. Simple, delicious, robustly garlicky in the best way. I opted to use duck fat and I very much recommend it. The savory flavor of the fat just works here. Recipe from: www.undejeunerdesoleil.com/2020/01/soup...

#foodsky

Málà xiāng guō - Spicy dry pot 52weeksofcooking 2026 - Week 6 - Hotpot

For this week's "hotpot" theme on #52weeksofcooking I made málà xiāng guō, spicy dry pot (like hotpot but without the soup base). Incredible, spicy-numbing Sichuan goodness.

🍜🍽️ #foodsky

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/mala-xiang...

Tteokbokki from Scratch Making Korea’s favourite comfort food in my home kitchen

Is tteokbokki the perfect comfort food? I think so! And I've been busy learning how to make garae-tteok and eomuk so that I could make it from scratch. Check out my new article all about this iconic Korean dish.

🍽️🍜 #foodsky

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/tteokbokki...

Photo of a bowl of podvarak. Sauerkraut with some pieces of bacon.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Podvarak, Balkan-style baked sauerkraut. I'm a big fan of sauerkraut in all its forms and I really enjoyed this. Recipe from thebalkanhostess.com/podvarak/

#foodsky

Kikomando and Rolex on the Streets of Uganda What two dishes reveal about the politics of hunger

I wrote about Ugandan street food this week. Kikomando is a new favorite of mine and its history is fascinating!

🍜🍽️ #foodsky

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/kikomando-...

Photo of a bowl of mullah ahmar, a meat sauce. Next to the bowl is a rolled flatbread called gurasa.

Tonight's dinner 🍽️🍜: Mullah ahmar, a Sudanese stew with minced beef and tomato, served with gurasa, a wholewheat flatbread. I love this! The bread is perfect for scooping up the sauce. Recipes: www.sudanese.kitchen/recipe/red-s... and www.sudanese.kitchen/recipe/gurasa

#foodsky

Photo of a rectangle of ladenia on a wire rack on a cutting board. The edges look crisp and it's topped with slices of tomato and slices of red onion.

Tonight's dinner 🍜🍽️: Greek ladenia, flatbread topped with tomato and onion, with plenty of olive oil. Really delicious - crispy edges, soft middle, concentrated sweetness from the vegetables. Like a cross between pizza and focaccia. Recipe from: miakouppa.com/recipe-laden...

#foodsky

Photo of a bowl of adobong baboy with pineapple. Half the bowl is the adobo and half is plain jasmine rice. Garnished with chopped scallions.

Photo of a small bowl of pineapple chutney. Orange/gold pineapple with small pieces of onion and chili visible.

This week for #52weeksofcooking I made adobong baboy (Filipino pork adobo) for the "vinegar" theme, plus bonus pineapple chutney. I love adobo, so very happy to have an excuse to make this.

🍽️🍜 #foodsky

See my Substack for all the details! niamhhallam.substack.com/p/adobong-ba...

Photo of a bowl of Kewa Datshi, a Bhutanese stew of potatoes, chilli and cheese. Topped with chopped chives.

Tonight's dinner 🍜🍽️: Kewa Datshi, a Bhutanese stew of potatoes, chilli and cheese. This is a simple, one pot meal and it's absolutely delicious. Cheesy, filling and spicy. Since Bhutanese cheese isn't easily found, I used feta. Recipe from: backpackandwhisk.wordpress.com/2017/04/02/k...

#foodsky

Why We Stopped Eating Porridge For Dinner And why we should start again

Porridge for dinner is an awesome Idea. Why did we ever stop? 🍽️🍜 #foodsky

niamhhallam.substack.com/p/why-we-sto...

Boil 400ml of milk and a splash of cream. Add grated nutmeg and a few threads of saffron. Add 100g of bulgar wheat, cover and reduce to lowest heat. 40 minutes later add a tablespoon of honey, pinch of salt and ~1tsp rose water to taste. Top with toasted almond slivers. Makes about 3 small servings.

Photo of a small bowl of sweet frumenty, a wheat porridge. The frumenty is a nice creamy pale yellow and it's topped with slivers of toasted almonds.

I got interested in porridge recently, so I made a little frumenty, a medieval porridge made from wheat. I flavoured mine with saffron, nutmeg, honey and rose water. It's a lovely little dessert and makes me feel like I should be sat in a castle wearing a wimple.

Recipe below!

🍜🍽️ #foodsky