I am finally getting around to cooking with ingredients I got from Australia's Sunshine Coast where I was on assignment a couple of weeks ago. The day after I got home from the trip, it was straight back to work (which included working on the weekend), and so I have had to wait for my days off to get back into the kitchen.

I got some fresh ginger and naked ginger, among other things, from The Ginger Factory. Naked ginger is candied ginger coated with a very fine sugar. It is delicious eaten straight from the packet but I will be putting it into a confection I am planning to make.

The fresh ginger was young and tender. The guide at The Ginger Factory explained that this is the best type to make candy with. It still has a lot of zing though. I made a jam with it ~ although it's more like a relish, as can be seen in the picture right at the top of the post. It was 168g after peeling and I simply used 75% of that weight to measure out the sugar and water (126g each) for a simple syrup. The three ingredients, plus a pinch of salt ~ always! ~ were simmered for about 35 minutes until thick and jammy. I can imagine how good this would be stirred into ice cream or a bowl of muesli, but I have other plans for it...

In Malaysian kitchens, tinned sardines in tomato sauce are a store-cupboard staple. Not in mine though, I'm not even a bit of a fan although I did grow up eating the stuff. My mother used to make sardine curry with peas and potatoes to eat with chappati, and would also fry it with rice. I guess my childhood taste for tinned sardines has waned. But fresh sardines? Gimme. And tinned sardines in oil. Oh yes. I saw this recipe on The Guardian website and made the dish with a few tweaks. The onions are sliced, not finely chopped; had run out of fennel seeds so used a spice mix from Turkey; and no pine nuts but never mind. I used craisins instead of sultanas because I had a huge bag of them from my US trip, but I don't think they added much to the dish.

A can of chilli tuna is fit for a meal. This dish is like a taco, only I used homemade chappati instead of tortilla for the wrap. One of the things my sister asked for from Malaysia when I visited her in the US recently was Ayam brand chilli tuna. This is the best of all the flavours in the range, we think. At first I got the full-fat variety but she wanted the one with 33% less fat, which meant it was down to me to use up the unwanted cans. Oh, how troublesome... Not! She likes to have her chilli tuna this way, so I followed her cue. This one has roasted red pepper sauce, fresh avocado, cucumber and basil leaves, and a squeeze of lime along with the tuna. Simple and delicious.

I'm looking forward to eating a lot more fish ~ the fresh variety ~ over the next few days. I'll be covering the Noosa Food Festival in Queensland, Australia, and will probably return home 5kg heavier!