EDITORS’ RECOMMENDATIONS

chanel’s pick

My favourite recipe is beef stroganoff because my partner makes it for me in winter. When it’s ready, we always sit close together at the dinner table, a blanket wrapped around us, and we bask in the silence of good food and good company. Content with the delicious meal, and the warmth of the bowl…the comfort of the blanket and his love. It’s moments… and good food like that, which makes me feel happy.

As a vegetarian-adjacent (long story) person living with meat-eating parents, I’ve been making my own meals since school. Naturally, I’ve made a lot of recipes but my go-to, cheap, easy, cozy dinner especially for a cold night is minestrone. I made this for my partner and he loved it - he’s a real picky eater and an honest man so that meant a lot to me. All you need are diced tomatoes, some fresh root veg (carrots, zucchini etc), herbs, and a small type of pasta. It’s a one pot dish - pretty much just cook all the veg, chuck some vegan chicken stock in there, top with parsley, parmesan and fresh chilli, and you’re done! Minimal cost, minimal dishes, minimal prep time, but maximum love and yum.

jenny’s pick

habibah’s pick

There is nothing better than Middle Easten food. Each dish has a history to it and each dish serves a different purpose in social gatherings. Food is love and let me tell you Kibbeh has my heart. I first discovered Kibbeh when I was a fresh highschooler in Sydney and ever since then my friends mum who was the canteen lady would put kibbeh she made from home in my lunch order.

Bless her. Because that's what Middle Eastern food is about. COMMUNITY, GENEROSITY AND

LOVE. What is Kibbeh you are wondering? Well, it’s hard to describe but it’s basically meat and wheat being made into a paste first and then into balls with spices and pine nuts. You can have it on it’s own, with salad, with dips or with rice. You can’t go wrong with Kibbeh. Kibbeh is my childhood and adolescent experience of community.

grace’s pick

A comfort food for me, which I rediscovered this year in a desire to get more passionate about cooking, is Koshari. It is an Egyptian staple, and a dish that reminds me of the many warm holidays I spent in my birth country. Ingredients include pasta, rice, lentils, a tomato sauce (not to be confused with Aussie, Heinz type tomato sauce), chickpeas, all topped with crispy crunchy fried onions. Not to mention, it’s easier to cook this meal in a big batch, and because it keeps well, it makes great leftovers.