It is easy to find recipes online but having a laptop on the kitchen worktop while preparing foods and liquids is not a good idea and, besides, a physical cookbook provides focus and a stimulus that scrolling down a page on a screen often fails to deliver.
Sean Sheehan
Wyles suggests an average person’s weight in kilos multiplied by 0.8 gives a number which in grammes represents their daily protein requirement but athletes, pregnant women, the very active, the elderly need more –1.2 grammes of protein per kilo.
A chart in Wyles’ “High protein vegan”, comparing different ingredients for their protein content per 100 grams, may surprise: almond milk is low at only 0.5gm compared to hulled hemp seeds at 30gm; cooked chickpeas are 7gm compared to 18gm for cooked tofu; cashew nuts are 18 gm, but peanuts are 26 gm.
A balanced meal will incorporate adequate amounts of carbohydrates and fats and each recipe in the book lists its amounts of these as well as its protein, fibre, sugar, fat and sodium count. Each recipe’s preparation times and number of servings is given – in short, this is a highly practical, cookbook based on sound nutritional principles.
Rose Wyles’ book, compact in size (15x 21cm) and hardback, has a particular focus and so does “Easy vegan meals”, a small (14 x 17 cm) paperback with a title where the adjective ‘easy’ is what matters.
Each spread of two pages has two related recipes with a photograph, making over 170 in total.
Preparation times are given for each one and most are less than 20 minutes and, with stated cooking times of invariably less than half an hour, these are meals that can be made quickly and with little fuss.
This is great when you are in a hurry and/or just hungry and you want a fast meal, but the disadvantage is that some of the recipes lack finesse. “Thai-style chickpea burgers”, for instance, left me thinking it takes more than a stalk of lemon grass to bring the alluring flavour of Thai food into the mouth. Maybe, though, this is mere carping when the whole point of “Easy vegan meals” is an easily prepared meal that can be cooked quickly.
“Beans”, as dedicated to a theme as the other two books, devotes itself to bringing beans out of the back of the cupboard where they hide waiting to be thrown into a stew for bulk.
The book’s chef and author, Ali Honour, is on a mission to rescue an an ingredient that ‘ticks every box that matters.
Beans are nutrient-dense, affordable, climate-friendly’ and her recipes give them pride of place in any serious pantry. There is a flair to her ideas, witness the harissa chickpea balls with pickled aubergine, feta and lemon yogurt and, at the end of the book, a black bean mocha fudge cake.
“High protein vegan: Over 100 healthy plant-based recipes” and “Easy vegan meals” are published by Hamlyn; “Beans” is published by Blasta.
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