Notes about Recipes in this book

• Blackened sweetcorn with miso butter

  • rodillagra on October 08, 2020

    The miso butter was very salty. But I would have put salt on corn on the cob anyway so it made a pleasant change. Use the lime wedges it is served with, a squeeze of lime makes all the difference.

• Chilli tofu

  • Apollonia on September 18, 2020

    Loved this dish! Based on the other comments, I cut the amount of tofu in half, which resulted in 2 generous or 3 more slim servings (you could probably stretch to 4 servings with chapati or another accompaniment). I also pan fried the tofu, which worked nicely, though I'm sure a deep fry would get you closer to restaurant flavor. This is definitely a repeat in our house; next time I will just double the sauce.

  • Yildiz100 on December 28, 2020

    This dish was fine but not comparable to versions of this dish that include tamarind. Made a half recipe which was all that my largest skillet could handle. Not a repeat for us. Not because it is bad, we just have a version we like better.

  • sarahj22 on September 12, 2020

    My friend made this for me and it was truly delicious. When I made it myself it was still very tasty, but I must have let the tofu cook in the sauce too long after frying as it had lost its lovely crispiness. I halved the amount of tofu but kept the other quantities the same, which was enough for three not-overly-saucy portions. (As Lepa says, using more tofu seems odd as it would mess with the tofu-sauce ratio.) Unfortunately this dish didn't convert my tofu-hating husband - otherwise I'd consider this a repeat recipe.

  • Lepa on October 11, 2019

    This dish is spicy and satisfying. I only had a pound of tofu and that was perfect. I have a hard time believing twice as much (as listed in the recipe) would work. Dusting the tofu on cornmeal was a great trick that gave it excellent texture and prevented the sticking that often drives me nuts. I added extra salt at the end but otherwise made this dish as listed. I will probably make this again- but only when the kids aren't eating!

  • christineakiyoshi on November 13, 2020

    Very tasty. We needed to add additional water, as recommended in the recipe. We did not have serrano on hand so used a mix of jalapeno and Anaheim peppers. Used the recommended amount of tofu since we are tofu fiends. Will make it again!

• Mushroom mapo tofu

  • Astrid5555 on February 11, 2021

    Made as written this was way too spicy for us. Nevertheless will make again with less chilli bean sauce. We loved the mushrooms instead of the usual ground pork.

  • mademoisielle on January 26, 2021

    Liked this one, easy weeknight meal with some greens and rice. Of the tofu recipes in this book I prefer the honey, soy and ginger braised tofu though.

• Sweet potato and aubergine massaman curry

  • Astrid5555 on February 20, 2021

    Used almond butter instead of peanut butter because of peanut allergies in the family. Together with the sweet potatoes this made the dish quite sweet. Nevertheless husband and younger son loved it, so will make again. Curry paste alone is really excellent though.

  • jacqie on January 19, 2021

    I used zucchini instead of eggplant and canned penang paste- really fast and really good.

• Leek and chard martabak

  • Astrid5555 on April 23, 2020

    We really enjoyed this savory veggie kind of strudel dish, great feedback from both kids. Not too much work for a weeknight dinner, will definitely make again!

• Paneer, tomato and kale saag

  • lilham on July 06, 2020

    This is delicious. I substituted granulated sugar for the brown rice syrup. I love how it uses kale instead of the normal spinach. This will be in our regular rotation for curry night.

  • potatooryam on December 29, 2020

    So good. I was a little worried that it would be too sweet right after I added the rice syrup, but the flavors combined really nicely once it had cooked for a bit.

  • Florafauna on September 16, 2020

    Very tasty, a keeper! We will have this whenever we have a glut of kale (veg box - autumn, most weeks!) We used chickpeas instead of paneer to make it vegan. Maple syrup substitute for the rice syrup. It went very well with the green chilli and mustard pickle in her fresh India book page 236!

• Swede laksa

  • lilham on February 13, 2021

    I didn’t like the soup base. It lacked the depth of flavour normally found in laksa. I liked swedes in noodle soup however. I won’t be making this again but will borrow the idea of adding roasted swedes to other noodle soups.

  • MilduraSO on May 18, 2020

    Wow! I wouldn’t normally be drawn to a dish starring swede but the head note made me curious and was 100% accurate. The swede and shallots were the most perfect pairing ever and tempered the fiery hot soup so well. Aside from giving the swede an extra 5 minutes, I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe. I’ll probably be eating this weekly in the winter.

  • MilduraSO on June 13, 2020

    Made this for the second time using the leftover soup from when I last made it (2 person household). Just needed to roast the swede and shallots, soak the noodles for 3 minutes and add a squeeze of lime when serving. All in all it was about 5 minutes in total spent in the kitchen and was delicious. I’ll probably make a larger batch of the laksa next time so I can freeze enough for several meals.

• Sweetheart cabbage okonomiyaki

  • jacqie on January 19, 2021

    Light but very filling. I like it with the toppings of hoisin sauce and oyster sauce/mayo, but it's a bit plain on its own. Maybe add a chili next time?

• Whole roast pumpkin with black bean and chilli oil

  • jacqie on January 19, 2021

    I used gochujang instead of the black beans- it wasn't too spicy and was really good. I tried it as a main course but I think it works better as a side.

• Honey, soy and ginger braised tofu

  • potatooryam on December 29, 2020

    Like Lepa my sauce looked nothing like the picture, I wonder if my pear was too large and not as ripe as it should have been. I ended up pureeing the sauce and adding it back to the pan. It was tasty enough but probably wouldn't repeat.

  • Lepa on September 12, 2019

    My sauce didn't look like the sauce in the picture. I suspect it was because my pear wasn't ripe and didn't cook down as much as it should have. The dish was still very good. I reduced the gochujang paste to 1 tsp so it wouldn't be too hot for my kids and it was just right.

  • Kduncan on January 18, 2021

    This was fine. My sauce was a bit thick but overall the flavor was great. Will probably try some other recipes in this book before I circle back to this one.

• Winter pilau with beetroot, cauliflower and coriander chutney

  • Hellyloves2cook on April 27, 2020

    My husband made this as one of our lockdown meals. It was nice and pretty to look at with the gem like pomegranate seeds.

• Coconut rice with aubergines and pickled cucumber

  • Hellyloves2cook on April 27, 2020

    The aubergine element to the dish was rather nice. However the rice part didn't work and remained hard and nutty- I cooked it longer than suggested. Perhaps I should have used the carton version of coconut milk rather than the canned variety. I will try to do my own version of a coconut rice next time.

  • Cvtbird on March 19, 2021

    Large portion size

• Asparagus and mangetout with chilli peanut crumbs

  • Hellyloves2cook on January 27, 2020

    Made this for Xmas dinner - too hot to make traditional roast here in NZ - and well it was easy to prepare and tasted very very nice. Liked by everyone and the favourite out of 3 dishes made from this book.

• Sweet potato cakes with kimchi mayo

  • Hellyloves2cook on June 16, 2020

    Husband made this and as the eater I can say these potato cakes were really very nice. Will definitely be making these again in our household.

• Peanut butter and purple sprouting broccoli pad Thai

  • Hellyloves2cook on June 27, 2020

    My husband made this in May 2020. It was ok! I think he overcooked the noodles so that instantly made the dish gluggy. The sauce was quite strong and I’m not sure it really worked for me to be honest. I like all the ingredients in the recipe but I guess my brain was thinking Pad Thai and it certainly did not resemble any Pad Thai I’ve eaten, ever. I have eaten a fair few in my time too. I may repeat it and make it myself and see. Meanwhile there are too many other recipes in this book I have earmarked.

  • Lepa on September 23, 2019

    We didn't like this very much. The introductory note says that it is a vegan version of Pad Thai but it didn't taste anything like any Pad Thai I have had. It had an odd taste from too much tamarind (or maybe I just don't like tamarind). I won't be repeating this recipe.

  • ems_kitchen on March 10, 2021

    This is great! It's a lot more flavoursome than 'normal' pad thai. We loved the sauce and I'll be coming back to this recipe. I'm not a huge fan of tofu but it was delicious in this dish.

• Leek, mushroom and kale subji

  • Hellyloves2cook on June 28, 2020

    My lovely husband made this ( well I did buy him this book for Xmas one year) As a taster I can say it was a blend of wonderful veggies and spices,stir fried together to create a deliciously tasty meal. One of those recipes you can tweak with and add whatever you have in the fridge.

  • VineTomato on December 15, 2019

    A lovely way to eat a bowl of vegetables! I replaced the kale with rainbow chard, which worked well, it would not be a terrible idea to double the amount of chard. I like to chop the stems and added those at the beginning with the onions.

• Kung pao cauliflower

  • Hellyloves2cook on June 28, 2020

    This was very nice. Made as part of a meal. In fact this has been made a few times since- it’s that delicious!

  • christineakiyoshi on November 21, 2020

    Another quick to make recipe from this book. Very good!

• Salted miso brownies

  • Hellyloves2cook on June 28, 2020

    Hmm... My husband made this and used gf flour instead of plain flour. It wasn’t soft or moist like a traditional brownie. Now, I admit it could be that he overcooked them, but putting that aside, they were sickly sweet and inedible. No one in my family liked them. One bite and we all put them in the bin. Like to hear anyone else’s experience of making these.

  • damjih on March 30, 2021

    I made these last week with GF flour, came out perfect, even better when in the fridge for a day

  • chezmaryb on March 04, 2021

    Worth the hype, these were sweet, a little savory, and the flavor combination really worked

• Banana bread with toasted coconut

  • rosyannposy on October 31, 2019

    This was delicious but the baking time is off. Baked it 20 minutes less at 400 then only 5 min more at the next temp. I started to smell burning. The crust was black but very good inside. Next time I will cook at 350.

• Aubergine katsu curry with pickled radishes

  • SugarFree_Vegan on August 09, 2020

    I used Gram / Chickpea Flour instead of the plain flour in the recipe because I find it works really well and also adds protein to the dish. I had a very big aubergine so sliced it in rounds which also works well. Really tasty sauce which compliments the crispy aubergine and tangy pickled radish.

  • MilduraSO on May 17, 2020

    The sauce was a huge success and makes enough to be frozen for at least a couple more meals. I found the aubergine a bit dry. In the future, I’ll finish it off by frying in oil.

• Sweet potato momos

  • Yildiz100 on March 25, 2021

    Nice filling. Not crazy about this sauce with sweet potatoes though. I think it was the vinegar that jarred. I would like to try these with some chili garlic chutney

• Food court Singapore noodles

  • Yildiz100 on December 27, 2020

    Good! Added a scrambled egg for protein. Used extra bean sprouts instead of green beans. Looks like too much veg for the amount of noodles, but it was perfect.

  • VineTomato on December 17, 2019

    I only cooked this to use up a spare red and yellow pepper, and now it will be added into regular rotation. Not the healthiest dish around but could slip in nicely for a quick weeknight meal when the rest of the week has been virtuous. I don't love peppers and Mr VT hates a beansprout and yet we both loved it! Used Cape Malay curry powder and Mr VT said it was exactly like a dish he used to get in a food court in Cape Town. Love Meera's recipes.

  • ksg518 on January 11, 2021

    Very good! I used 8 ounces of noodles to use up a whole package and perhaps should have increased the veggies accordingly (although I was very generous with the sprouts). My only complaint was that the recipe calls for slicing the green beans lengthwise. Mine weren't very thick and I gave up when I realized there was a high likelihood of slicing off part of my finger. I don't think it makes a difference if the beans are fairly thin. This would be an easy weeknight dinner if you had the time to prep the veggies a few days ahead of time.

  • sarahj22 on November 24, 2020

    Really yummy and so easy. Once the veg is chopped it all comes together very quickly. We didn't have beansprouts or green beans but subbed in mange tout and swapped the rice noodles for egg noodles. I was surprised at the previous note saying this is 'not the healthiest dish around' as I felt it hit the mark with being cosy and comforting while remaining fairly light and packed with veggies. A definite repeat for us.

  • christineakiyoshi on November 18, 2020

    This is loaded with veg--liked it very much. May want to add a splash of lime the next time I make this. We added a bit of chili oil to the top.

• Amritsari pomegranate chickpeas

  • Yildiz100 on December 25, 2020

    This is really nice but misses the more complex spice profile that other Amritsari chole recipes usually have. I sprinkled it with some garam masala and that made it more like I expected. I really liked the pomegranate molasses as a substitute for dried pomegranate. The acidity was just right. I used canned tomatoes, so I reduced them to 150 grams since they usually contain less water. Also, chopped the green chili for more heat.

• Bombay rolls

  • VineTomato on December 15, 2019

    Absolutely delicious! I forgot to add the oil to green paste and didn't miss it in the end. Very easy to make and the flavour is incredible. So good in fact we decided an extra one could be our dessert!

  • MilduraSO on May 17, 2020

    This was so unusual and I’m on the fence. My husband loved them and ate 3 (they are really filling or he would have eaten more!). I enjoyed one but found by the second one that the flavour was too much. Really quick and easy so perfect for a family spread with lots of other bits to balance it out.

• Breakfast at Shuko's

  • joneshayley on August 31, 2020

    I didn't enjoy this at all. A confusion of flavours and overall sloppy texture even with the nori. I won't make it again

  • Lepa on October 12, 2019

    I wanted this to taste more like carbonara but it didn't have the same richness. The egg was a bit soupy instead of thick and creamy. I didn't have nori so I put furikake on top. I doubt I'll repeat this recipe.

  • louisewint on January 22, 2021

    I liked this as a super quick lunch, made it for myself with a 200g pack of straight to wok udon and halved the sauce so I only used one egg yolk. i quickly made some edamame from the freezer to eat with it. It's not amazing, but quite tasty to me!

• Piccalilli spiced rice

  • ksg518 on February 14, 2021

    Not sure what I was expecting from this but it certainly wasn't what I wound up with. This was just very heavy and blah. I made it as directed except I didn't have the chili. I also cut the rice by about a third - I think this is way too much rice for this dish and I don't think the extra rice would help the final product at all. Not a repeat.

• Tomato curry

  • Foodycat on May 06, 2020

    This is really delicious. It needs good tomatoes though! I served it with naan but rice would have been better. Maybe with some cashews in the rice for a bit of texture, because the curry is quite soft.

• Egg tamago rolls with wasabi mayo

  • mzgourmand on November 17, 2020

    This cookbook looks gorgeous and I am eager to try other recipes from it. And I think this recipe highlights just how idiocyncratic taste is. I was expecting to love this recipe b/c I love traditional, Japanese restaurant tamago - this rendition is more salty and less sweet, which of course could be tweaked. I definitely did not enjoy the addition of sesame seeds to both the base recipe and the dipping sauce, and I like sesame seeds generally. But here I found that they disrupted the texture of the dish - others might enjoy that contrast. I usually like nori but found that a whole sheet of it was too strong a counter-point for each individual serving, and finally I actively disliked the wasabi mayonnaise dipping sauce, which I made with fresh wasabi powder. However, my wife - who spent several years working in Japan - tasted only the wasabi mayonnaise and thought it was delicious. It really is all a matter of taste.

• Ben Ben noodles

  • sarahj22 on January 18, 2021

    Slightly weird but delicious. I like the flavour of mushrooms but not the texture, so this was a great way to serve them. They matched beautifully with the creamy noodles. I subbed dark soy sauce for light and found the dish a little too salty, so in future I'll make sure to stick with light soy and/or cut back a bit.

  • raybun on February 26, 2021

    Delicious! The mushrooms disintegrated in the processor, next time I’ll be more careful to keep some texture. Tried with shiitake and cremini, no discernible difference.

  • grindabod on January 30, 2020

    Absolutely delicious. I added a little bit of fish sauce along with the vinegar as I'm not vegetarian, but honestly I think it would have been super tasty without as well. Gobbled this up in a matter of seconds!

• Udon noodles with red cabbage and cauliflower

  • Lepa on September 29, 2019

    This was pretty easy to throw together and I liked the fact that it was half vegetables. It needed a bit more salt and the ginger was essential (without it, this would be a bit bland).

  • fscassim on July 01, 2020

    The combination of red cabbage and cauliflower does not meld well together, and the overall flavours are just off

• Egg fried rice with peppers, peas and chilli

  • Lepa on November 14, 2019

    This was easy to throw together and really good. I omitted the chili because we have young children and my husband and I topped ours with siracha. Everyone in our family enjoyed this dish!

• Pumpkin malai kari

  • Lepa on November 02, 2020

    I made this with kabocha. It was good and I will probably make it again. The sauce wasn't anything like the picture. It was an unappetizing pink color with purple onions floating in it - but the taste definitely made up for the ugly appearance.

• Sun House chilli eggs

  • Lepa on October 11, 2019

    I love shakshuka so I expected to love these eggs but they were only okay. I missed the spices and complexity of shakshuka. I added some Brooklyn Delhi Tomato Achar and that improved the dish but going forward I'll probably make shakshuka.

• Roasted paneer aloo gobi

  • julieshul on April 01, 2021

    We found this to be so bland! I ended up throwing hot sauce on it every time I ate it, because it was missing something.

  • lizbot2000 on October 13, 2019

    Easy & delicious. I used a container of mixed sweet cherry tomatoes and just halved them. The cauliflower and potatoes took a lot longer than listed, but that seems to always happen to me. I'm probably cutting them larger, or maybe I like everything more charred.

  • OnVaDeguster on May 17, 2020

    The whole family loves this recipe. I make my paneer using 3l of fresh full cream milk, 500gr fresh yoghurt and the juice of one lemon. The mix of spices is great and reminds me of my 10 years spent living in India. A regular on our table!

• White miso ramen with tofu and asparagus

  • louisewint on January 22, 2021

    Delicious broth! I didn't make the asparagus since it's not in season for long, but I added some cabbage I had leftover and it was delicious.

  • christineakiyoshi on November 23, 2020

    This is another recipe that comes together easily. It is a very hearty soup and filling. I enjoyed it and will make it again.

  • cc7740 on May 25, 2020

    Blending the raw garlic made the paste bitter, would heat the aromatics before blending next time.

• Wild mushroom miso broth

  • louisewint on January 22, 2021

    I did not like this AT ALL. Maybe it was my brown rice miso, but it just didn't taste good to me. Shame, because I used top-notch mushrooms for this and followed the recipe pretty exactly.

• Kimchi pancakes with a spinach salad

  • louisewint on January 22, 2021

    Pretty delicious. I halved the sauce and it was just enough, so the recipe makes extra. Not sure how 250 grams of kimchi would yield near to 200mls of kimchi liquid, so I had to top it up a lot. You have to cook these for long enough, I went for 6 minutes per side, to make sure the inside is cooked. Another note, the pancakes in the picture look small, but in the recipe she says to make them 15cms diameter (which makes 4 pancakes) so I went with that.

• Caramelized onion and chilli ramen

  • grindabod on February 24, 2020

    Another great recipe from a great book. I used a homemade stock based on bean cooking liquid, which had the added bonus of lending the broth that nice milky ramen hue.

  • christineakiyoshi on November 19, 2020

    Huge fan of this recipe. Delicious and easy to pull together. We omitted the egg, since we are vegan, I used three Thai bird chilis and put some chili oil on top. Yummy and the whole family loved it.

• Thai salad with grapefruit and cashews

  • Kduncan on February 23, 2021

    This makes a lot of salad. Pretty easy to make. Overall a fine salad but not a great salad.

• Celery and peanut wontons with chilli soy sauce

  • MADCH82 on July 02, 2020

    Quick, easy and delicious

• Caramelized fennel and carrot salad with mung beans and herbs

  • purrviciouz on October 07, 2019

    Very delicious and felt like what I would imagine to be a French style grain salad. I added 1tsp fennel seeds to the roasting vegetables. I enjoyed that the couscous and mung beans were the same size. I served this with a small amount of baked chicken.

• Spring onion and ginger noodles

  • christineakiyoshi on November 11, 2020

    Delicious and fresh tasting!

• Banana tarte Tatin with cinnamon, black pepper and cloves

  • sdcookbookclub on February 27, 2021

    Ingredient list is missing frozen puff pastry

• Shiitake pho with crispy leeks

  • mademoisielle on February 25, 2021

    One of my favourites from this book! Amazing flavours and fried leeks are a great touch. I tend to double the amount of chopped leeks.