Cape Malay coconut beef curry is made with toasted desiccated coconut rather than coconut milk. It's a filling, slow-cooked meal with a rich gravy with fragrant spices and a certain sweet-'n-sour aspect to it, partly a result of the tamarind paste and sultanas. In addition to beef, it's packed with vegetables—onions, bell peppers and sweet potatoes. And, it's easily converted to a vegan curry.

This Durban vegan eggplant curry —usually simply called brinjal curry after the lead vegetable's name in various Indian languages —uses baked or grilled eggplant (aubergine) to bring a deep, slightly smoky flavour to a curry brimming with the flavours of onions, pepper, chillies, tomatoes, coconut, and sweet potato in a rich mix of spices. It can be cooked fiery hot in accordance with the cliché about Durban curries or as a milder affair.

This Cape Malay seafood curry—technically it's fish and seafood—is a mild curry that is easy to make. It's less well-known than the famous lamb curries from the region, perhaps ironic given that it is more in keeping with the history of fishing at the Cape and today's healthier eating habits than lamb. It's relatively low in fat and brimming with vegetables too.

This weekend leftovers Durban curry turns remnants from a weekend roast or braai into a delicious weeknight meal whether chicken, lamb or beef—as I'm doing here—without it tasting like an afterthought. A modern tradition from South Africa's Eastern Seaboard, you can enjoy it anywhere there are leftovers

Durban in South Africa is known for its curries. The first in a colour-coded insider series on the Indian Diasporan traditions of the Durban curry focuses on the background to the fiery, red seafood and fish curries of South Africa's Eastern Seaboard and its iconic standard bearer, Durban king prawn curry

A creamy coconut curry, another Indian Diasporan dish from Africa's east coast. It's a dish most often made with chicken