This soup is very gently spiced - just enough to warm up the flavours. You could add more spice or chilli to give it a greater kick if you like, but I quite enjoy it this way. It's very comforting on a chilly day, and makes the kitchen smell good with very little effort.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, then add the onions and cook for about 8 minutes, until they are softened.

While they are cooking, toast the cumin, coriander, mustard seeds and cloves in a small dry frypan until they are aromatic and the mustard seeds start popping. Remove from the heat and grind to a coarse powder in a mortar and pestle. Add these spices, and the chilli powder and garlic, to the pan with the onions and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add the crushed tomatoes, kumara, stock and lentils. Bring the soup to the boil, then cover and simmer for about an hour, until the lentils are very soft and much of the kumara has broken apart to thicken the soup. Stir several times during cooking, adding more water if needed. Season with salt to taste, then serve with chopped coriander and a spoonful of yoghurt, with warm bread if you like.

Serves 6.

Finally, summer is really making itself felt - the last week or so has been pretty warm, and the air has been still and muggy. I have been craving cold soba noodles, the ideal summer food. Tonight I cooked them, dressed with a combination of soy sauce, mirin and dashi, and also poached some tofu in a diluted version of this sauce to eat alongside.

I used firm silken-style tofu, which is lovely and smooth like silken tofu, but slightly less likely to fall apart as soon as it is touched. This kind of tofu is delicious cooked in this way - it loses its slightly raw flavour, but does not become tough with overcooking, and the golden colour from the sauce penetrates only a little way into the tofu, leaving it a gorgeous creamy white inside.

I also steamed some broccoli and tossed it with sesame oil and lighly toasted sesame seeds, before leaving it to cool - this was not bad, but I think broccolini, or some asian greens, would have been better. Still, this was a very satisfying dinner for a summer night.

Cook the soba noodles in boiling water until al dente. Drain in a colander, and rinse well with running water until the water runs clear and the noodles are no longer warm. Place in a bowl.

Mix together the mirin, soy sauce, sugar and dashi granules. Tip half this mixture over the noodles and set the rest aside. Toss the noodles well with the sauce, and place in the fridge to cool.

Add about a half of a cup of water to the remaining soy sauce mixture and stir well. Heat a frypan over low-medium heat, then add the soy sauce mixture. Gently place the slices of tofu in the pan, and let them poach in the liquid for about 5-6 minutes, spooning the sauce over the tops of the tofu pieces now and then during cooking. Remove from the heat and let cool a little.

Take the noodles out of the fridge, and toss with the chopped nori and spring onions. Using tongs, divide the noodles between two plates, leaving any extra sauce sitting in the bottom of the bowl - you only want what clings to the noodles. Gently lift the tofu out of the pan with a slotted spatula and place half on each plate. Serve with cool greens on the side if desired.

Serves 2.

I emailed Chillipepper Pete last night to ask about ordering some more chillies, and in his reply he mentioned an annual event, coming up this weeked, which has somehow (and tragically) escaped my notice for the last three years: West Dean Gardens Chilli Fiesta. I know where I'm going to be this Saturday!

West Dean Gardens grow almost 250 species of chilli, all housed in restored Victorian glasshouses. These will be on display at the Fiesta, and there will also be Latin dancing, tours of the gardens, cooking demonstrations, and stalls selling chilli plants, dried and fresh chillis, spicy food, and local beers and ciders.

The Fiesta is open on the 7th and 8th of August, 10.30 am to 5 pm, admission £5.50 for adults. West Dean Gardens is located about 6 miles north of Chichester, West Sussex. Click on the link above for the West Dean site, or click here for photos from the 8th fiesta.

If you live too far away to make it to the Fiesta, but are after some chillies, here's a list of UK mail-order chilli suppliers, put together by Chillis Galore.