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• Kaffir lime leaves

  They are leaves from a kaffir lime tree. Their taste is very specific, thats why it is impossible to substitute them in the dish. They are very common in Thai cuisine, but you will find them in Indonesian cuisine or others too.

• Limes

  Lime is a citrus fruit, similar to lemon, but smaller and less sour. It is used unripe, green. Thai and Vietnamese cuisine can not do without it. It is used in soups, sauces, vegetable salads or in mixed alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks.

• Bedum - Fried noodles with peanuts

  I have always thought, eating instant curly noodles is just an instant fast food, that we buy in supermarkets and that people in Asia have no idea this kind of food even exists. In Sri Lanka I realized I was wrong. They cook with these instant noodles quite often, just different way than us. Bedum is prepared for special occasions only. New Year, Almsgiving and other holidays.

• Dadar jagung - Corn cakes

  One of my most favorite Indonesian dishes. Great combination of sweet corn with garlic and kaffir lime leaves.

• Duck noodle soup Bun Mang Vit

  When imagining Vietnamese cuisine, most probably it is gonna be around the great noodle soups. The most known is probably Pho, which means wide noodles in Vietnamese. This recipe is about soup made of thin noodles, called vermicelli, in Vietnamese Bun. It is an amazing combination of duck meat, bamboo shoots and radish.

• Fish satay - Saté ikan laut

  One of my favourite specials of Bali in Indonesia. Satay made of various kinds of minced fish and shrimps with coconut and a pleasant combination of spices. Usually grilled by the road on bamboo skewers, sometimes on lemon grass stalks, which give to satays amazing aroma.

• Gai sabb - Fried chicken salad

  If you get a salad with meat in the "west", it is usually loads of vegetables just topped with a few bits of meat. In Thai salads it is the other way. Meat is the main ingredient and vegetable plays a supporting role. In spite of the loads of meat, this salad is very refreshing and suitable for summer heats too.

• Larb moo - Minced pork meat salad

  When one says refreshing salad, the last thing to imagine would be a salad made of pork minced meat. But with a lime juice, fresh herbs, spring onions ...... I was able to get it even in the biggest heats.

• Latok - Grape seaweed salad

  May be it is daring to call this a recipe, as it is as simple as it gets. Still, when I got it for the first time in Borneo, I was really impressed. It is refreshing, has nice chewy consistency, is full of minerals, iodine and magnesium and it is not slimy at all. You can serve it as an appetizer, salad or as a side dish with a fish for instance. If the salad like this seem too lean for you, add tomatoes and onion. But then the taste of latok will not excel that much.

• Nuoc Cham - Basic Vietnamese dipping sauce

  Vietnamese cuisine is based on emphasizing the real taste of prepared dish. Meaning they do not add many ingredients into when cooking it. The taste is gained from side sauces, where you dip each bite just before putting into your mounh (both meat and fresh vegetables). Nuoc Cham is the sauce you will find nearly everywhere in Vietnam. It is a combination of sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavour. If you are not a big fan of fish sauce or you try it for the first time, be careful about using it as its taste is quite special.

• Onion sambal (salad)

  If someone offers to me a salad made of onions, I usually would refuse with thanks. But I made an exception and tried the one in Sri Lanka and it was a good choice. Salad is great and spicy. Not only because of the onions, but because of the heap of chili flakes too. But it is worth it. And not recommended when going for a date ;)

• Pelecing kangkung - Water spinach with mung sprouts

  This traditional light vegetarian dish you will find nearly everywhere on Indonesian island Lombok. It is a great combination of flavors of fresh coconut and hot sambal, perfect for summer days.

• Picant carrot salad - Sambal

  Simple, refreshing, picant. Perfectly balanced taste with sweet carrots. What else to add? :)

• Pineapple cucumber salad

  If you ask for a salad in Sri Lanka, most probably you will get this one. When you see strange light circles in the video recipe, it is not hallucination, it is my headlamp, which I had to use to strengthen the poor kitchen light in the evening.

• Plamuk pat phet - Squid stir fry red curry

  If you are passing by some Thai restaurant and a scent coming from a wok makes you caugh, very probably some red curry is being prepared. Yes, it is super spicy. Of course you can use less chilies than Thais, as they use 5 of them into one portion easily ;)

• Potato cake - Perkedel kentang

  When in Indonesia, there are days, when you have a feeling it would be great to have something else than rice as a side dish for a change. How about these potato cakes? The truth is locals eat them with rice too, but you do not have to :) The recipe is easy, with just a few ingredients and yummy of course.

• Pumpkin with spinach Malay style

  Simple and tasty recipe I learned in a small restaurant above a fish market on Borneo. It is a great combination of a tender sweet pumpkin with fibrous spinach and spicy chilies.

• Sate ayam - Chicken satay with peanut sauce

  This is Indonesian classic. This is literally a meal, that you do not have to go for, it simply "comes" to you itself :) In other words, it is a very common meal sold from "meals on wheels" restaurants. On motorbikes (yes, ardent charcoal included) or manually driven.

• Snails cooked in ginger, lemongrass and chili

  Once in a fisherman village, Nam `O in Vietnam, I was offered a seat by a table with a plastic bag full of snails, got a few thorns to get them out of their shells ..... and like this I was introduced to one of the most frequent seafood street food in Vietnam. It doesn't have to be seafood actually as you can use fresh water snails too.

• Som Tum - Green papaya salad

  This Thai salad is a perfection itself. Firstly it was prepared by a really nice couple by the road, who were passing by with their mobile kitchen on a sidecar. You just wave on them, they stop and prepare straight in front of you what you choose from their offer. The combination of flavours of lime, palm sugar, peanuts, shrimps, chilies ..... do I really need to add more?

• Sugar cane juice

  Looking for a natural energy drink? Pure, refreshing, tasty and healthy? One of the best solutions is sugar cane juice, Nuoc mia. Juice you can get in the streets and markets all over Vietnam.

• Tom yum gai - Sour and spicy soup with chicken

  Tom yum means sour and spicy. So if you do not know this soup, you probably already got the hint what to expect. The soup is not just a little bit sour and spicy. At least not if you get it in Thailand. Where they definitely are not moderate when using chilies and all various ingredients bringing sourness into the soup. This traditional Thai soup is amazing and very refreshing.

• Yum woon sen - Glass noodle salad with minced pork

  Glass noodle salad belonged to my favourites. Like in majority of Thai salads, it is a great mix of flavours like spicy, sweet and sour. All topped with amazing fresh herbs. Do I need to add more?

• Yum woon sen - Thai glass noodle salad with squid and prawns

  The last meal I had in Thailand before I left. I nearly dropped a tear. This time surprisingly not because of the spiciness, the late afternoon simply felt so good. The sun was setting slowly and its rays were getting through the window of a small street restaurant. A very peaceful place. Thailand knows how to say good bye. And this amazing refreshing salad was another proof of it too :)