Nadine Abensur, the author of several vegetarian cookbooks, shares four hot and spicy recipes from India, Morocco and Algeria

Chana Saag Aloo
A delicious dish from Southern India.

Serves 4

150ml sunflower oil
1 medium onion
curry powder
500g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
400g tinned chickpeas
225g baby spinach
2 tomatoes, cut into quarters
bunch fresh coriander

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion till transparent.
2. Then add the curry powder, stir for a few minutes adding some of the water to form a paste.
3. Add the potatoes and cook for a few minutes, stirring all the time.
4. Add about 350ml water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook till the potatoes are all but tender.
5. Now add the chickpeas, reserving the liquid and only adding it in if the whole thing begins to dry out. Add the spinach and stir till wilted.
6. Finally add the tomato quarters, and cook for just long enough for them to yield.
7. Finish with a handful of fresh coriander and serve with basmati rice and a bowl of plain yoghurt.

Sautéed Courgettes with Creamed Tomato and Almond Sauce
A creamy curry from northern India.

Serves 6

4 medium tomatoes, quartered
4–6 hot green chillis
4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, grated and juice squeezed out
100ml sunflower oil
2 tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp turmeric
2 tbsp ground almonds
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp garam masala
6 large courgettes, roughly diced
1 tbsp flaked almonds, lightly toasted
basmati rice, to serve

1. First make the sauce and set it aside. Place the tomatoes, chillies and ginger juice in a food processor and blend till smooth.
2. Heat 70ml of the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pan and add the tomato mix as well as the cumin, turmeric, ground almonds, paprika and garam masala. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for twenty minutes. Set aside while you prepare the courgettes.
3. Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan. Add the courgettes and fry till softened and beginning to catch in places. Warm the tomato sauce through once more and add the courgettes.
4. Scatter over the flaked almonds and serve at once with basmati rice.

Grilled Vegetables

1. Allow half a red pepper per person, half an aubergine, half a courgette, a quarter to half a bulb of fennel, and 1 red onion, quartered.
2. Char, peel and cut the pepper into strips. Slice the aubergine into rounds, brush with olive oil and grill on both sides till brown.
3. Cut the courgette lengthways, oil and grill it. Thickly slice the fennel, oil and grill it, as before. Douse the red onions in oil and blast under a hot grill. Place on a large platter with a bowl of Moroccan chermoula by the side, a bowl of olives and some warm pitta bread.

1 medium onion
5 tbsp light olive oil
500g carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
500g new potatoes, peeled and cut in half, if necessary
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground paprika
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400g tin of tomatoes (organic if possible)
400g tin of chickpeas (do not drain)
3 large courgettes, thickly sliced
200g chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
dash of soy sauce
water or vegetable stock
bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
couscous, to serve
harissa, to serve salt and pepper

1. Fry the onion until transparent in 2–3 tbsp light olive oil.
2. Add the carrots and potatoes. Fry together for a few minutes, stirring continuously. Add the cumin, paprika and garlic. Keep stirring. Then add the tomatoes. Stir again, breaking up the tomatoes as you do so. Drain the liquid from the tin of chickpeas into this keeping the heat at a moderate simmer. Reserve the chickpeas till later.
3. Now in a separate large frying pan, heat another tbsp or two of light olive oil. Fry the courgette slices till brown. Set aside.
4. In the same pan and with no extra oil, add the chestnut mushrooms. Fry them till softened and slightly shrivelled. Add a dash of soy sauce.
5. When the potatoes are tender, add the reserved chickpeas, then the courgettes and mushrooms and stir together for a few minutes. You may need to add more liquid - water or a light vegetable stock will do so that the sauce, while not in the least watery, is thin enough to act as a kind of thick broth. Season with salt and pepper. Just before serving, add the chopped coriander.
6. Serve with couscous reconstituted in its own volume of boiling water, with a tablespoon of Marigold vegetable Bouillon powder.
7. Serve a bowl of harissa with the couscous and vegetables and use in small and measured fiery doses.