What To Cook With This Month
by Holly Thomson
"Salted lemon or lime is a Cantonese preserve, particularly favoured in the Chiuchow region. It adds a captivating salt-citrus note to stews, steamed dishes and various drinks. This recipe is a homage to the steamed fish jaws with Cantonese salted lemon that seduced me on a recent visit to the Chairman restaurant in Hong Kong."
Fuchsia Dunlop's recipes are an invitation to explore regional dishes, flavours and ingredients of China. Her new book Five Tastes is out now.
Here are three recipes to cook from it this month.
Plus, buy any 10 bestsellers from our Store Cupboard Fillers collection, enjoy 10% off your order.
Recipes to try this month
Steamed Sea Bass with Preserved Lemon
Poached Chicken with Sichuan Pepper Oil
Lime and Sichuan Pepper Posset Recipe
10 amazing ingredients to try this month
Shaoxing wine - often labelled Shaoxing Rice Wine, or Chinese Cooking Wine - is a heady, sweet wine that has reputedly been produced for over 2000 years in the canal city of Shaoxing, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. It is just one of a celebrated group of sweet rice wines known collectively as ‘yellow’ wines, or huang jiu.
This type of wine also goes by the Chinese name of Huadiao Wine. Made from wheat and brown glutinous rice that has been fermented, for centuries it has been sold in large, white-painted terracotta jars. While some drink it at the start of a meal, in China it is typically favoured for use at official banquets for toasting, where custom demands it is drunk in a single shot.
Toasted black sesame seeds, or umami irigoma kuro, are used widely in Japanese, Chinese and Korean cooking to bring colour, texture and flavour to dishes. They still have their husks on, giving them a dark colour, crunchier texture and stronger flavour than white sesame seeds. The seeds are pre-toasted to enhance the flavours, meaning they can be used straight from the packet without having to dry-roast them first.
Mill & Mortar seven pepper crush is complex and aromatic. It’s coarsely ground and looks fantastic on your table. Serve it in pinch pots so guests can season steaks and seafood.
Made with organic ingredients, this seasoning blend transforms simple recipes. Add a pinch to soups, salad dressings and peppercorn sauce.
- Black and White Thysmada - pungent peppers from Sri Lanka
- Green Malabar Pepper from India - freeze-dried to preserve its fresh, bright flavour
- Pink Pepper from Madagascar - bursting with fruity sweetness
- Szechuan Pepper - for tingling, citrusy heat
- Long Pepper from Indonesia - sweet-spicy notes with lingering heat
- Allspice - warm and fragrant with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove
Grette makes small-batch salad dressings with one aim: bigger salad energy! The brand began at home in South London, where the team spent months blending, bottling and selling their dressings. These are bold, all-natural vinaigrettes made with best-quality ingredients and no preservatives.
Grette Tahini & Miso Dressing is a ready-made tahini miso vinaigrette with creamy sesame nuttiness. Miso and soy sauce bring the savoury depth. Rice vinegar and white wine vinegar cut through with brightness, while maple syrup softens the edges.
Ñora peppers are a staple ingredient in Spanish cooking, particularly along the Mediterranean coast, where they're prized for their fruity, almost sun-dried tomato flavour. Unlike hotter chillies, they're mild and aromatic, adding colour, depth and complexity without overwhelming heat.
They're the secret ingredient in dishes like romesco sauce, but they work just as beautifully blended into houmous, where their natural sweetness balances the nutty tahini and bright lemon juice.
Slow cook in a frying pan with garlic, as a delicious accompaniment to roast lamb, or simply rinse and toss with olive oil and lemon for a healthy and heartening summer salad.
These white Judion large butter beans - also known as garrofo or garrofón - are called the "Rolls Royce" of beans, and have a silky smooth, unctuous creamy texture, with a mild mineral taste. Hailing from Navarra in Northern Spain, bordering the Basque country, they are a popular ingredient in pinxtos or eaten as part of a main meal.
Lamiri harissa brings the bold, smoky flavours of Tunisia straight to your kitchen. Imported from La Marsa, this family recipe has been passed down through generations of the Lamiri family, using Baklouti chillies dried in traditional wood-burning ovens for a deep, aromatic heat. Stir the paste into soups and stews, spread it over flatbreads or whisk it into tomato sauce to serve with lamb meatballs and a cooling spoonful of yoghurt. It’s also a classic way to bring richness and warmth to couscous dishes across North Africa.
Flavoured with tabil - a Tunisian blend of caraway and coriander - Lamiri harissa has warm, earthy undertones beneath its gentle smokiness. The family sources ingredients directly from local farmers, ensuring the freshest spices and fullest flavour. For a quick marinade, mix the harissa with yoghurt, lemon and crushed garlic; it’s fantastic with lamb, chicken thighs or monkfish. A little goes a long way, delivering instant depth wherever you use it.
Sous Chef urfa pepper - or isot biber - is a deeply aromatic Turkish chilli with a flavour unlike any other. The peppers ripen on the plant until they turn a deep purple, then undergo a traditional two-stage drying process: sun-dried by day and tightly wrapped at night to “sweat”. This slow curing concentrates their natural oils, giving the flakes a warm, rounded heat with smoky, almost raisin-like sweetness and a subtle citrus note.
Urfa pepper is essential in dishes like çiğ köfte and lahmacun, where its gentle warmth and complexity shine. But it’s just as good used simply - fry a pinch in butter and drizzle it over breakfast eggs, swirl it into yoghurt for a quick dip, or scatter it over roasted aubergines and grilled meats. Rich, savoury and versatile, it’s an easy way to bring authentic Turkish depth to everyday cooking.
The seeds are already roasted, saving you time in the kitchen. The roasting process intensifies their rich, nutty flavour. They’re a great way to add extra protein and fibre to your dish.
Roasted sesame seeds are a tasty topping for baked goods. Scatter them over pretzels and burger buns.
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Black fungus, also known as wood ear mushroom, is a staple of Chinese cooking. The dried mushrooms must be soaked in warm water before use, where they rehydrate into springy, jet-black curls. Mild in flavour but fantastic at absorbing seasoning, they take on whatever you cook them with - soy sauce, garlic, chilli and aromatic oils all cling beautifully to their surface.
These versatile mushrooms are used in soups, braised dishes and Chinese hot pot, adding texture rather than overt flavour. They’re also delicious served cold in salads or tossed through fried rice. Try them in Pippa Middlehurst’s miso chicken claypot rice, where the black fungus soaks up the savoury, umami-rich sauce and adds gentle crunch to each bite.
