East: 120 Easy and Delicious Asian-inspired Vegetarian and Vegan recipes

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There are noodles, curries, rice dishes, salads and bakes, all surprisingly easy to make and bursting with exciting flavours. Again, the familiar-looking ingredients list caught my attention and, as with the curry, the recipe came out looking exactly like the picture.

Packed with straightforward recipes to suit every occasion, I have cooked authentic-tasting dishes that I have gone back to over and over again because they have become real family favourites. I had also spent two years writing a vegetarian Indian cookery book; I knew how to make bitter cavolo nero leaves sing and how to tempt a beetroot-hater into eating a plateful. Separate the whites of the eggs from the yolks into two large bowls and add the caster sugar to the yolks. Add the peas, mint, lime juice, 3 tbsp of sesame oil and the salt, and pulse a few times (don’t blend: you don’t want soup).I had been soothed by my first congee in Hong Kong and had my taste buds electrified in London’s Chinatown by a bowl of dan dan noodles.

There are noodles, curries, rice dishes, tofu, salads, sides and sweets, all surprisingly easy to make and bursting with exciting flavours. Chances are you’ll find Meera Sodha lurking in your kitchen somewhere – and no, I don’t mean that in an alarming way. I would genuinely hate to be without this in my cookbook collection, and strongly recommend it to everyone. There are no frighteningly long ingredient lists or recherché spices - just simple recipes that really work. I discovered the wonderful world of the Asian larder: fermented, pickled and salted ingredients – kimchi, sweet miso and gochujang added flavour in an instant.With relatively short ingredient lists and straightforward instructions, this great book will have you producing authentic-tasting dishes without spending all day in the kitchen. Not to mention fire-smoked aubergines, chicken livers in cumin butter masala and beetroot and feta samosas. Just before serving, grind the remaining tablespoon of sugar, the pistachios and the edible flowers as finely as you can, using a mortar and pestle or an electric spice grinder.

She also provides a glossary of food items near the back of the book which tells you more about individual ingredients which is very helpful. Unlike the stuff you get at your local curry house, her food is fresh, vibrant and surprisingly quick and easy to make.There are sweet potato momos for snacks and unexpected desserts like salted miso brownies and a no-churn Vietnamese coffee ice-cream. Each dish sits against a monochrome background so as not to distract from the food, while flat overlay shots really emphasise the use of colour and texture in each recipe.