From mochi ice cream to strawberry sandos, Japanese sweet treats are tickling UK tastebuds

If you said to a friend that you fancied Japanese food this weekend, they might be forgiven for thinking you meant sushi. But lately a new culinary export from Japan is catching up with fish and rice in the hearts and tastebuds of British foodies.Soft, sweet and full of character, Japanese-style desserts – from mochi ice cream to matcha cookies – have been steadily gaining ground on UK shelves.Such is their popularity, M&S has launched its own take on the strawberry sando, a Japanese convenience store favourite, a sandwich made with soft milk bread, whipped cream and neatly layered fruit.According to some industry commentators, British retailers are taking note of consumers’ growing appetite for “joyful” sweet treats as a simple pleasure to brighten their days

My Glastonbury food odyssey: 10 of the best dishes – whether you’re feeling hungover or healthy

From vegan katsu curry to smoked barbecue brisket, the festival has an incredible array of street food. Here are the stalls worth queueing forThe food choices at Glastonbury can feel overwhelming – a smorgasbord of street food from around the world, which can trigger terrible choice paralysis when you’re operating with a hangover, on zero sleep, or both. Fear not. Here are some guaranteed Glastonbury food wins, whether you’re looking to stave off the mother of all hangovers or simply on the hunt for something green.South of the Pyramid stageA massaman curry served on brown rice (£14), this is loaded with nutritious ingredients, including greens, kimchi pickles and new potatoes

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for bubble tea ice-cream sundaes | The sweet spot

I absolutely adore bubble tea: it’s such a fun drink. I find it impossible to be anywhere near Chinatown in London without ordering one, and the brown sugar milk tea flavour is my go-to. The “bubble” refers to the balls of tapioca that are cooked until chewy, a texture I find so pleasing; if you like mochi, this will be right up your street.You should be able to find quick-cook tapioca pearls in most large Asian supermarkets; I tend to avoid the plain white tapioca pearls because they can take more than an hour to cook.Prep 5 min Cook 20 min Serves 4150g quick-cook brown sugar tapioca 100g light brown sugar 2 English breakfast tea bags 100ml double cream ½ tsp flaky sea salt 8 scoops vanilla ice-cream Chocolate sprinkles or shavings, to serveBring a saucepan of water to a boil, add the tapioca pearls and cook for three to four minutes, until they’ve got a chew to them but are still a little firm

Summer calls for chilled red wine

Last week’s column was a casual toe-dip into the lido of summer-centric drinks writing. I write these columns just over two weeks in advance, so I need Met Office/clairvoyant weather prediction skills to work out what it is we’re likely to be drinking by the time the column comes out. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and declare that summer will be here when you read this. No, don’t look out of the window. Keep looking at your phone screen, and imagine the sun’s beating down outside

‘I don’t have rules’: cooks on making perfect porridge at home

The cookbook author Elizabeth Hewson cherishes her winter breakfast routine. She creeps downstairs before sunrise, while her husband and children are still sleeping, to make herself a bubbling pot of porridge.“It’s that small moment of peace before the day gets going,” she says. “The rhythm of standing at the stove stirring is one of those quiet rituals that I love.”She makes it with traditional oats, usually toasted dry then soaked in water overnight

How to turn the whole carrot, from leaf to root, into a Moroccan-spiced stew – recipe | Waste not

Today’s warming recipe makes a hero of the whole carrot from root to leaf, and sits somewhere between a roast and a stew. The lush green tops are turned into a punchy chermoula that is stirred into the sauce and used as a garnish.One image has stayed with me ever since a journey through a small Moroccan village near Taghazout, just west of Marrakech, all of 12 years ago. Bright orange carrots lay in vast heaps on contrasting blue tarpaulin spread across the ground. I was especially struck by how the vast majority of each pile was green with the feathery foliage that was still attached to the roots we love