I am often quite ashamed to say how many cookbooks I have. But then last weekend we had dinner with good friends and turned out that they had way more than me. Free of the shame, I am sharing with you this month five awesome mostly plant-based cookbooks that I hope you’ll love as much as me.

1/ Joanne Lee Molinaro – The Korean Vegan Cookbook

Korean food has exploded over recent years and quite rightly so. Big, bold flavours and healthy ferments, what’s not to love? This book is packed with accessible recipes, beautifully presented – this is the sort of thing I love experimenting with. The author was a guest on the Rich Roll podcast which is well worth checking out.

 

2/ Anna Jones – One: Pot, Pan, Planet

I love Anna Jones’ approach to cooking. She recognises the demands of modern living and comes up with innovative ways to create great meals while minimising time involved. She introduced me to batch cooking and tray bakes. This book is her take on low impact cooking. It’s not all vegan but most vegetarian recipes have a vegan option. I use this all the time, great for everyday stuff.

 

3/ Chantelle Nicholson – Planted: A Chef’s Show Stopping Vegan Recipes

By contrast to Anna Jones, this is dinner party stuff, not your everyday recipes. One of the best vegan meals I ever had was at Chantelle Nicholson’s former restaurant in Covent Garden. I didn’t think I would ever been blown away by roasted cabbage! She loves vegetables and it shows. If you want to take your vegan cooking to a new level, this is the book for you.

 

4/ Timothy Pakron – Mississippi Vegan Recipes and Stories from a Southern Boy’s Heart

This is a stunning book, as much for the photographs and writing as for the recipes. I love Southern cooking, from corn bread to jambalaya. This is my type of food, and this is definitely in my top 10 favourite cookbooks.

 

 

5/ Salphin Moore – Rosa’s Thai Cafe; The Vegetarian Cookbook

My favourite style of food is Thai. It’s really difficult to get good vegan Thai recipes due to the widespread use of fish sauce. This book gets close. It’s a vegetarian cookbook but there are lots of suggestions for making the recipes vegan. If you want Thai, this is a great place to start.