Imagine my delight when I received a package in the post full of goodies such as tropical lychee wine, chilli sauces, vanilla tea bags and a delicious looking cookbook by former MasterChef winner, Shelina Permalloo. Read on for my review and a superb, spicy coleslaw recipe.

These and other tasty treats were all from the magical island of Mauritius, which lies off the south African coast in the Indian Ocean. The Lychee wine was a wonderful aperitif, sweet and crisp with notes of grapefruit but the Phoenix Beer from Mauritius was more suited to compliment the spicy coleslaw (see below).

Sunshine on a Plate

I delved straight into Shelina’s book, Sunshine on a Plate, and was instantly transported to her mother’s kitchen. I could almost smell the garlic and ginger and the roti bread fresh from the pan. “Mauritius has often been described as a melting pot and that’s also true for the island’s food, which is a brilliant mix of Creole, Indian, Chinese, European and African cuisines” explains Shelina. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Flipping through the recipes, I loved the colourful photos of both the food and the island. I picked out a recipe for a spicy Mauritian coleslaw, that looked quick and straightforward. In fact, Shelina set out to make all the recipes in her book as easy as possible, encouraging you to have fun and to experiment with new flavours.

Here’s how I prepared this tasty salad.

There are plenty more recipes in Shelina’s book that I’m longing to try. How tempting do these sound, ‘Mango Mojito with spiced Rum’ and ‘Beef and Green Papaya Curry’.

To get your copy it costs from £12.99 from Amazon, Sunshine on a Plate.

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link so that if you buy a copy of Sunshine on a Plate, I earn a few pennies towards buying another book to review.