Stocking your cupboards with the right spices is a great investment. It will cost you a few pounds initially, but once you have them, they will help you produce some delicious dishes and if your flatmates don’t get there first, some great leftovers.

Every curry needs the basic spices turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala, ground and whole cumin seeds, mustard seeds and ground coriander seeds.

The aromatic and flavoursome character of South East Asian cooking relies on these spices. Armed with a small sack of rice there will be no halting your culinary creations.

Asian supermarkets, even the smaller stores, are perfect for finding bags of spices and rice and they usually sell fresh and reasonably priced exotic fruit and veg. Hunt out your local market, which is also a great place to find cheap and tasty ingredients.

South East Asian cooking also offers a huge range of vegetarian meals, which include all the food groups and do not stint on protein and iron, nutrients sadly lacking in boil-in-the-bag noodles. It is important to stick to a budget, but you should try to maintain a balanced diet, which is easy to forget so many miles from that wonderful home cooking.

Here are a few dishes to get you started, but one of the great things about this kind of cooking is that you can experiment. See what is in the fridge and you will be surprised what you can create from the basic combination of spices. Adding your favourite spices and a chilli or two can jazz up even the dreaded beans on toast.

The basic method to cook perfect rice

Wash and drain half a cup of basmati rice and put in a saucepan with one cup of boiling water.

Bring to the boil then turn the heat down to simmer and cover.

Keep checking the rice and when all the water has disappeared, it’s done.

Have a taste and if it is still a little underdone add some more water and cover again.

Spiced kidney beans

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