Ingredients gathered – tamarind paste, lemon grass, pineapple chunks, galangal, chillies, shallots, bay leaves, noodles plus chicken, mackerel and coconut milk – but confusion reigns over which dishes I had decided to create! A cheap book picked up from Amazon (Singaporean, Malaysian & Indonesian Cuisine by Christina Sjahir Hwang) provided more than enough inspiration and nicely covered the theme of this months Waiter – Vaguely Indonesian. But of course I neglected to note which dishes I would try.

Several recipes fitted the mass of ingredients – I picked on one and even went as far as defrosting the fish, only to find that I was bereft of fish stock. That one, Penang Noodle Soup, will have to wait until tomorrow. First up will be Braised Chicken in White Gravy (Opor Ayam) and damn tasty it was too.