This is one of those brilliant I-can’t-believe-it-was-so-quick dishes that comes together in under an hour,” says chef and Great British Menu host Andi Oliver. “The fragrant broth is packed with succulent prawns.” Aromatic shrimp curry Serves: 4 Ingredients: 450g king prawns, peeled and deveined For the green seasoning marinade: 2 jalapeños, or other chillies of your choice, finely chopped 2 tbsp chopped chives 1 tbsp green seasoning (see below) Pinch each of salt and freshly ground black pepper For the curry sauce: 1 tbsp rapeseed oil 2 onions, very thinly sliced 2 garlic cloves, grated 1 red chilli, chopped 2 tsp ground cumin 2 tsp ground coriander 2 tsp ground turmeric 2 tbsp Caribbean curry powder 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tbsp tamarind chutney (see below) 1 tomato, finely chopped 1 x 400ml can of coconut milk Chopped coriander and/or fresh chilli, to serve For the green seasoning: 2 sprigs of thyme 10g fresh bay leaves 1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley 1 small bunch of coriander 4 spring onions 10 garlic cloves, peeled 1 green chilli or 1 Scotch bonnet, depending on how much heat you like 6 little Caribbean seasoning peppers (about 20g), or a mix of red, yellow, and/or green mini sweet peppers ½ white onion 400ml cold pressed rapeseed oil or any neutral oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper For the tamarind chutney: 4 tbsp tamarind paste 2 tbsp sugar (demerara or dark soft brown sugar work best) 2 tsp coriander seeds 2 tsp ground allspice 2 tbsp green seasoning Airtight jar or container Method: 1. To make the green seasoning, add all the ingredients to a food processor and season to taste with salt and pepper. Whizz to the consistency of a salsa verde and keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to two to three weeks. 2. To make the tamarind chutney, put all the ingredients into a small saucepan with 80 millilitres of water. Set over a medium–low heat and warm through, stirring now and again, until everything is melted and combined. Leave to cool, then transfer to a sealed jar or container and store in the fridge to use as needed. The chutney should keep well for three to four weeks. 2. Put the prawns in a medium bowl and add all the marinade ingredients. Mix well and rub the marinade into the prawns with your hands so that all the prawns are well coated. Refrigerate and leave to marinate for about 20 minutes. 3. Meanwhile, to make the curry sauce, get a medium, high sided frying pan over a low–medium heat and pour in the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions and cook down for 10–15 minutes until soft and fragrant. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further three minutes. 4. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, curry powder, and cinnamon to the pan and cook, stirring, for one minute. Add the tamarind chutney, chopped tomato, coconut milk and 350 millilitres of water. Bring to a steady simmer for five minutes. 5. Heat a griddle pan or a heavy-based frying pan until red hot, then chuck on the marinated prawns, cooking on each side for around two minutes until nicely charred all over. Transfer the prawns to the curry sauce and simmer for around four minutes to bring it all together. Finish the curry with a sprinkling of some freshly chopped coriander and/or chillies. Serve with roti or plain or coconut rice. Recipe from ‘The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table’ by Andi Oliver (published by DK, £27; photography by Robert Billington). Read More What is coronation chicken? The story of the royal recipe and how to make it Easy coronation chicken pie recipe chosen by Mary Berry Andi Oliver on turning 60 and channeling her anger into power Andi Oliver: Earl Grey tea bags are a gamechanger for barbecue chicken Caribbean-inspired coconut and lime cheesecake Three one-pot recipes for washing up hater

The first sweet things I ever made were cheesecakes – they provide endless opportunities to explore flavour and are easy peasy!” says chef and Great British Menu host Andi Oliver. “This particular iteration brings together the creaminess of white chocolate with toasty coconut and vibrant lime to sublime effect. Not too sweet, just right.” Coconut and lime cheesecake Serves: 12 For the base: 100g gingernut biscuits 100g oat biscuits, such as Hobnobs 50g desiccated coconut 120g melted unsalted butter Pinch of salt For the filling: 280g full-fat cream cheese 4 tbsp coconut condensed milk 200ml coconut milk 150ml cream Grated zest and juice of 2 limes 100g white chocolate, melted For the topping: 1 fresh coconut 1 tbsp maple syrup Grated zest of 1 lime 1 fresh mango, peeled, cored, and diced 22-24cm fluted tart tin, base lined with baking parchment Method: 1. Put all the biscuits in a sealable food bag and bash them up to fine crumbs using a rolling pin or similar. Tip the crumbs into a bowl and mix with the toasted coconut, melted butter, and salt. Press into the bottom and sides of the tart tin and chill in the fridge for one hour or until set. 2. Combine all the filling ingredients, apart from the chocolate, in a large mixing bowl. Beat together using an electric hand whisk until smooth and slightly thickened. Mix through the melted white chocolate. Spoon the filling on top of the set base and chill for a couple of hours in the fridge until set (do note that this cheesecake has quite a soft-set finish). 3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C fan. 4. Crack open the fresh coconut and peel off flakes of the flesh using a vegetable peeler. You want about two handfuls in total. Toss the flakes in the maple syrup and half of the lime zest on a baking tray, then toast in the preheated oven for around 10 minutes until crisp. Leave to cool, then top the cheesecake with the toasted coconut. 5. Mix together the diced mango and remaining lime zest and serve a little spoon of this alongside slices of cheesecake, or pile it on top of the cheesecake as well. Recipe from ‘The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table’ by Andi Oliver (published by DK, £27; photography by Robert Billington). Read More What is coronation chicken? The story of the royal recipe and how to make it Easy coronation chicken pie recipe chosen by Mary Berry Andi Oliver on turning 60 and channeling her anger into power Andi Oliver: Earl Grey tea bags are a gamechanger for barbecue chicken Three one-pot recipes for washing up hater A coronation sherry cherry trifle recipe fit for a king

Andi Oliver was already whipping up cauliflower cheese at the age of seven, and could make a full roast dinner by the time she turned nine. So when she witnessed a home economics teacher pouring a packet of rice into a big, bubbling pan of water, leaving it to simmer then straining and rinsing it, she was puzzled to say the least. “I was like, ‘That’s not how you cook rice’. And I got kicked out of the lesson,” she says, chuckling at the memory. “I had to stand in the hallway. I was like, ‘What is she doing to the rice?'” Not that this incident derailed the culinary career of the 59-year-old chef, restauranteur and Great British Menu host, who was born in Kent and has lived in east London for 25 years. Oliver was taught to cook by her mother, who was born on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts (her father hails from Antigua – the pair met in Leicester). Soon, she was in charge of dishing up dinner for herself and older brother Sean, who died of sickle cell anaemia in 1990, aged 27. “My mum was a teacher and my dad was off working and having philandering affairs, so when I came home from school I would make the tea for me and my brother.” Describing herself as a “latchkey kid”, Oliver doesn’t think she had a difficult childhood. “That’s just how it was,” she says, as warm and jovial during our chat as she is on TV. “I didn’t feel bad about it. I didn’t sit around wondering where my mummy was. It was just, that was life, that’s what you did, you got on with it.” Nor was she devastated when her parents eventually separated: “I was thrilled! I was delighted. They didn’t get on, they used to fight all the time. It was awful, so they were both much better when they weren’t together.” Oliver and her partner – restauranteur Garfield Hackett, with whom she shares daughter – the TV presenter – are still going strong after more than 27 years together. “The kindest man I know and my partner in life and all things” is how she describes Hackett in her inaugural cookbook, The Pepperpot Diaries. An ode to Caribbean cookery, as well as detailing essential eats, the book also chronicles three months Oliver spent in Antigua – a trip which started at Christmas 2019 and had to be extended (“the best luck in the world”) when lockdown began. How would the chef – known for her colourful outfits and infectious grin – describe the region’s cusine to the uninitiated? “The legacy in each island is very different,” she says. “But there are basic things like rice and peas, curry chicken and fried plantain, curry goat or goat water [a type of stew], fried fish. “One of the things I really hope [with this book] is that people start to think about that difference and celebrate it.” Even the classic titular dish – a slow cooked stew made with smoked beef and pork, veggies and beans – varies from island to island: “There’s a Guyanese pepperpot that’s a completely different dish to the Antiguan dish. And then they don’t really make pepperpot in Jamaica.” In her diary entries, the author doesn’t shy away from discussing the tragic history of the Caribbean, explaining how slavery influenced the islands’ food heritage. “You can’t really be in the Caribbean without thinking about those things,” Oliver says. “The legacy of that past, dark though it may be, is right there in your face.” And she’s keen to talk: “I think if you bring those things out into the light and discuss them we can divest ourselves of the pain of them and try to move forward in our lives.” Having experienced racism from a young age (“I’ve been told by people in England my whole life to ‘go home’, even though I was born here”), Oliver went through a “big angry phase” in her 20s. “When I was younger, my anger and my fury used to work against me quite a lot,” she reflects. “But now, as an adult woman who’s about to turn 60 I understand who I am and my power and where I come from and where I belong – where I have the right to be and where I want to be.” How did that angry youngster harness those emotions and channel them into a more positive outcome? “Age! Age helps enormously because you have so many different experiences. You start to learn that unbridled fury is in fact giving away your power,” she says. “You need to redirect it so that it becomes your strength, becomes the fuel and the fire that drives you – not the storm that wearies you.” ‘The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table’ by Andi Oliver (published by DK, £27; photography by Robert Billington). Read More What is coronation chicken? The story of the royal recipe and how to make it Easy coronation chicken pie recipe chosen by Mary Berry Three one-pot recipes for washing up hater A coronation sherry cherry trifle recipe fit for a king Ainsley Harriott: Forget coronation chicken – make coronation kebabs instead Angela Hartnett: Mutton curry should be the new coronation chicken