Notes about Recipes in this book

• Cauliflower, fennel and pea tagine

  • e_ballad on August 13, 2016

    As a side dish, this was ok, albeit a little bland. As a vegetarian main course, this wouldn't have enough substance or flavour to be truly satisfying.

• Chickpea, date and pine nut pilau

  • VineTomato on November 17, 2017

    Made a few substitutes: used beluga lentils in place of green and paneer in place of chickpeas (in a strategy to get Mr VT to eat it). The spice blend was so fragrant makes the dish extra special. All in all it was nice but I’m not sure I will make again. If I did I would probably stick to the recipe with regards the lentils but adding the pan fried paneer at the end was a nice touch I would repeat. I served with the recommended rocket and orange salad which went well (minus the rose water - yuk).

• Baked sweet potato with West African tsire [spiced peanut butter]

  • VineTomato on June 18, 2017

    Best recipe in the book. I've made this many times over and serve with a green salad, tomatoes and a rich, sticky basalmic vinegar.

  • e_ballad on December 21, 2017

    This is a really interesting dish. We served it alongside lamb & it didn’t really marry together, but in isolation (or perhaps using chicken as the protein), this was very tasty.

• Ghee

  • etcjm on May 09, 2021

    Little light on the actual instructions, so had to Google unfortunately. I had made butter and wanted to turn some into ghee. Very happy with the result and looking forward to using.

• Polynesian maa Tahiti tempeh

  • VineTomato on September 22, 2017

    I only recently discovered tempeh and I am glad I did not start my journey with this recipe! The flavour of the marinade was lost and the tempeh tasted terrible. I served this with the sweet peppers and haricot beans, which surprised me in being wonderful - after a few bites I threw the tempeh out and subbed in some avo with the beans that was wonderful! Tempeh can be so delicous too - what a let down.

• Sweet peppers and haricot beans

  • VineTomato on September 22, 2017

    Wonderful! I did not expect to like this dish at all looking at the ingredient list. I still however push myself to make new and different things - as we have made some wonderful discoveries that way (beetroot curry, tuna and squash bake, gado-gado to name a few). Loved the flavours but I left out the sage and reduced the cinnanom (for hubby's sake). The reduced wine really adds a delicious depth of flavour that is unexpected and complimentary to the dish. Will make again, skipping the tempeh and served with some sliced avo. Might try a different bean - I wonder how a black bean would fare?