Stir - Tapa blanda

Featuring beautiful photographs by Ashley Barber, this easy-to-use cookbook teaches you how to make fourteen basic preparations - including laksa paste, chilli jam, satay spice paste, spiced tomato chilli pickle, preserved lemons, harissa, green curry paste, red curry paste and massaman curry paste - and then gives over 100 recipes for dishes that use them as a basic.

Whether it's fast, hot cooking such as stir-fying or barbecuing, or long, slow methods that don't require constant attention, such as braising, these recipes deliver maximum flavour for minimum effort.

Christine Manfield is one of Australia's most celebrated chefs - a perfectionist inspired by strong flavours, and a writer whose successful books Spice, Christine Manfield Originals and Christine Manfield Desserts have encouraged keen cooks from Melbourne to Manchester to Manhatten.

After working with some of Australia's best restaurateurs, in the early nineties Christine opened the Paramount Restaurant in Sydney, regarded as one of the finest in Australia by critics and the dining public alike. Since its closure at the end of 2000, Christine has broadened her global food interests, working alonside respected chefs around the world and hosting gastronic tours to exotic destinations including Morocco, India, Spain and Turkey.