this was one of the very first recipes i developed for served with rice. after reading Chris’ poetry collection ‘Super Model Minority’, themes and words that kept coming up were bones, blood, and fire. with his Hong Kong heritage, i wanted to make a dish that really encapsulated these things — and so I came to bou jai faan or claypot rice, a beloved dish in Hong Kong, eaten when the weather is cool, hugely customisable, and prized for the faan jiu (the crispy layer of rice at the bottom of the pot).

for the “bones” aspect, i made a collagen-rich duck and chicken bone broth which i used to cook the rice in place of traditional water, for the “fire”, i decided to tea-smoke duck breast with smokey lapsang souchong (another popular Chinese cooking technique) and added a fiery chilli kick to the rice (very non-traditional), and for the “blood” aspect, I went with laap cheung, a preserved Chinese sausage. i wanted to use yun cheung, a preserved sausage made with duck liver, but — unfortunately — food import laws in Aotearoa meant I couldn’t get my hands on any (sob). so, laap cheung is an homage to the blood aspect, and a slightly sweet and very fine substitute.

developing this recipe for Tigest’s episode was a lot of fun. after reading ‘Immortal Dark’ and ‘Eternal Ruin’, i knew my recipe had to involve blood (obviously) as well as pay tribute to Tigest’s Ethiopian heritage. a bit of research led me to the sambusa — the Ethiopian version of samosas — specifically ye siga sambusa, which are meat-filled (though there are also vegetarian versions made with lentils, known as ye misir sambusa). but how to make my sambusa bleed? i drew inspiration from Chinese xiao long bao — soup dumplings — which have cubes of jelly stock mixed in with the meat, so that when steamed, the jelly melts, providing the soup aspect.

the result of my experimentation are these somewhat finicky but absolutely delicious sambusa that “bleed” when you bite into them, paired with a spicy, earthy awaze dipping sauce. this recipe may require a bit of preparation and work but I promise, the sambusa are absolutely addictive and keep you coming back for more — much like how Susenyos feels about Kidan. however, unlike in Tigest’s books, no actis were harmed in the making of this recipe.

when considering what our first recipe should be, i knew it had to be rice and very quickly decided on fried rice. not only is a version of fried rice a staple across Asian cultures, it takes all the good stuff you’ve got leftover from previous meals, then combines it into a dish worthy of taking centre stage on your table — much like the three of us (lololol, sorry).

this recipe is based on my mother’s version of fried rice. she always made fried rice the day after she’d made roast pork, but I like to cook large cuts of steak (eg, bavette, skirt, or a rolled roast) and then use the leftovers later in the week for a quick meal. many variations are often a bit light on the veg, so mine is chock-full of crunchy carrot, daikon, and garlic shoots.