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VeganOver 90 mouthwatering recipes for all occasionsby Tony Weston and Yvonne BishopHamlyn, 2004 |
This is an attractively photographed book that combines both simple-to-follow recipes with suggestions for the more adventurous cook. That is not to say that some of the recipes are complicated, rather they are ones for when you want to prepare a special meal or have a little more time to spare in the kitchen.
The book is divided into the following chapters: breakfast, light meals, main meals and desserts. There is also a short section containing staple recipes, e.g. vegetable stock, vegan cream cheese, vegan yoghurt and soyonnaise.
An introductory section has brief notes about Veganism and the main food groups: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. There is also a page and a half of small print listing vitamins, minerals and foods that are rich sources of them. What might have been more interesting would have been to put the recipes into a nutrition program and produced some simple charts showing the typical levels of vitamins and minerals for each dish, as well as the basic breakdown of the macronutrients.
The recipes use a range of everyday foods as well as more exotic ingredients like canned ackee, gungo peas and cassava. There is certainly an international flavour to this book with recipes such as Caribbean crumble, enchiladas with mushroom and sweetcorn filling and spicy basmati salad. Alternatively, there are plenty of the more "traditional" meals to sample - haggis and mashed root vegetables or mushroom stew and herb dumplings. I have tested the courgettes stuffed with lentil and walnut paté. The paté was very tasty as well as being quick and easy to make; I have made a batch since to serve with crusty bread and salad. The stuffed mushrooms were also sampled and were fine, if a little unspectacular. I have not made anything from the dessert section, but I like the sound of moist chocolate crumb cake and sticky pudding with quinoa coconut ice cream.
This book contains imaginative ideas and its authors have not simply re-hashed old, tried-and-tested recipes to make them suitable for vegans. I like the simple layout, with its clear step-by-step instructions. All I need to do now is to get the kitchen cupboard well stocked with some of the more unusual ingredients!