Pestle and mortar are essential to Burmese cooking. The pounding and grinding of ingredients are made easy when you have the right equipment.

Snake beans are simply salted and allowed to ferment given them a tangy taste whilst they remain slightly crunchy. I can’t help but think of sauerkraut and imagine the sour string beans would work equally well with pork or simply fried with dried chillies and onions.

For many years I was limited to one or two brand of fish sauce from an Asian supermarket. With very little choice, I used the familiar green and white brand featuring a squid. Now there seem to be more brands on the market albeit depending on where you live.

I mentioned in the two-layer pumpkin pudding recipe that I used Riverford for our supply of pumpkins every year. I have been relying on Riverford to delivery my fruit and vegetables while we lived in London. Every week when the reusable box filled with seasonal vegetables arrived, it was like receiving something from home (I grew up in sunny Devon); the carrots still covered in soil as if they have just come out of the ground.