One pot, pan, planet cookbook

We’ve been fairly house-bound of late as Daniel has been studying for his GCSE exams which started last week. He’s been studying so hard we’ve had to encourage him to relax and try not to worry about them so much. He’s coping tremendously well because I can remember how stressed I got about exams and Daniel seems better at it than I was. But it is still very stressful for him, I’m sure.

Someone recommended this cookbook to me which I got a couple of weeks ago and it’s wonderful.

All the recipes are vegetarian and those that are not vegan have a vegan alternative. It’s unlike other cookbooks in that the recipes contain unusual combinations of ingredients. For instance, there’s a potato bake with rhubarb – a savoury dish. I’ve only ever cooked rhubarb as a dessert. There’s a delicious dahl with sweet potato and tamarind. Usually tamarind requires a bit of sugar because it’s so sour but the sweet potato provides the sweetness and no sugar is required. I made this one on the weekend.

There’s a delicious gobi manchurian with cauliflower that’s Daniel’s favourite. It’s easy to make and doesn’t require any deep frying. There are some simple recipes too like broccoli on toast which is Anna’s response to reaching peak smashed avocado on toast and it’s surprisingly good.

People rave about the Yotam Ottolenghi vegetarian cookbook, Plenty, which is good and that I do have also but the truth is I hardly ever use it simply because it’s not practical. Most of the recipes contain exotic ingredients I tend not to have in the pantry so using that cookbook requires advanced planning. Anna Jones’ book by contrast is very practical and most of the recipes I’m able to make without special trips to the supermarket. But at the same her recipes are unique and flavoursome and seemingly exotic without requiring exotic ingredients.