I LOVE... SEEING IT COMING

Matt Preston peers into his culinary crystal ball to predict the trends of 2022 – you saw it here first.

IT’S THE TIME OF YEAR when we draw a long bow and try and predict what ingredients will trend for the next 11 months while labouring in the vain belief that you won’t remember we got it all wrong last year – that we should have predicted the boom in microwave quesadilla makers, chokos and neenish tarts in 2021. Taking the plunge, here are my jolly good ideas for 2022.

NACHO EVERYTHING Expect the social media desire to load everything with melted cheese to explode in the everyday with nacho tater tots, nacho roast potatoes and nacho fries.

TARAMA SAUCE We saw taramasalata dip everywhere pre-Covid, but it’s back in sauces for anything from pan-fried fish and scallops, to crunchy roasties or oven-warmed salt and vinegar chips.

ROSELLA The crimson glow this flower adds to jams and drinks is only half the attraction. Known as hibiscus in the Caribbean and gongura in India, its floral lemony flavour will assure its success. Here’s hoping we see the leaves make an appearance, too – a gongura curry is one of the best reasons to visit Hyderabad.

AJVAR This red capsicum dip, loaded with eggplant and garlic, is set to boom. Sitting between romesco and caponata, the Balkan beauty goes with snags, grilled meat, potato salad or warm bread.

PEPPERBERRY Another ingredient that is increasingly popping up in our chef’s recipes, expect this eye-opening Indigenous joy to achieve far broader acceptance, and even love, this year.

INDIAN INGREDIENTS Also going mainstream this year will be a whole host of ingredients more regularly seen in Indian cuisine, such as ghee for ‘buttering’ filo and frying, that fresh cheese paneer and nigella seeds used increasingly not just in bread but (wonderfully) with chicken.

NEW VINEGARS Vinegar is the new citrus, but forget balsamics and aged sherry vinegars: now it’s all about kombucha, coconut and pandan vinegars, as well as expensive Japanese rice wine vinegars and vinegars flavoured with Indigenous ingredients.

ALL HAIL THE POTATO Already used in a compostable plastic wrap alternative, thanks to Australian innovators Great Wrap, next up we can expect potatoes to star in a new milk alternative, set to challenge booming milks like oat and barley.

TOUM Forget aioli, this egg-free cloud of garlicky goodness is set to grace our summer barbecues. It’s good with roast lamb, too!

URBAN PRODUCE Greening our cities with vegie plots and roof gardens is something that cities like Sydney and Brooklyn are already dabbling in but – along with the subject of soil health – expect the debate to intensify and lead to more action.

SUNFLOWER SEEDS Whether used as a butter or for texture, sunflower looks set to burst out from the shadow of pepita this year. Try my sunflower seed risotto to see why, at delicious.com.au

LAB MEAT AND FAKE MEAT Long promised but still stumbling to make a major impact here, 2022 is the year! Expect to see everything from honey and dairy to even coffee grown this way.

YUZU Once only available as a bottled product, this citrus, so loved in Japan and Korea, is increasingly found fresh. We are so sure it’s going to be a hit, it even features in the cheesecake on this month’s cover as well as in our recipe below.

JALAPENO All hail the queen of chillies with its distinctly fruity fleshiness. Expect it to start eclipsing the more pedestrian long green chilli in home recipes and join other things ending in “o” (avocado, potato, tamarillo maybe) as favourites.

CRUNCHY RICE Whether turmeric-golden and broken in a Laotian salad or last night’s leftover basmati – compressed and then fried – expect crunchy rice to be a cheap way to add texture and toastiness to everything. It’s all the joy of tadhig at the bottom of Persian chelo rice, or the socarrat of a properly cooked paella. See how it goes in this Korean-inspired snack.

KOREAN LAVA WRAPS WITH CRISPY RICE CAKES, AVOCADO AND JALAPENO

MAKES 18

This dish works best when the rice is chilled and set overnight, so begin this recipe a day ahead.

4 cups (600g) cooked sushi rice

1 tbs rice wine vinegar

1 tbs mirin

Vegetable oil, for shallow frying

Kewpie mayonnaise, to drizzle

2 x 5g packets roasted seaweed snack

1 Lebanese cucumber, thinly sliced

2 ripe avocados, sliced

1-2 jalapenos, thinly sliced

Black sesame seeds, yuzu juice and coriander leaves, to serve

Line base and sides of a 20cm square tin with plastic wrap. Mix cooked rice in a bowl with vinegar and mirin. Press rice into the prepared tin in an even layer. Fold over the plastic wrap and chill overnight to firm. Once firm, invert rice onto a chopping board. Cut into 18 rectangles approximately 6.5cm x 3cm.

Heat 2cm oil in a large non stick frying pan over high heat. Add half the rice cakes, being careful as they might spit. Cook for 3-4 minutes, turning halfway, until golden on each side. Drain on paper towel. Repeat with remaining rice cakes.

Drizzle Kewpie mayonnaise on a sheet of seaweed. Top with a rice cake, and fold seaweed up around the sides of the rice. Season with salt flakes. Top with cucumber, avocado and jalapeno. Sprinkle with sesame, drizzle with yuzu and top with coriander. Repeat with remaining rice cakes. Serve immediately.