Cook Book Review - 'tibits at home'

In my kitchen book stand this month: 

"tibits at home"

stylish vegetarian cuisine

£25 RRP, available from £14

*Note: all photographs are of the food I recreated from the book's recipes at home in my own kitchen.

Many of you will know that I'm a big fan of tibits restaurant in London. You can see my review of the dining experience here.

So I was delighted (and honoured) when they asked me to review their first ever cook book.

Yes, I know, me, new food, and some delicious Vegan options? A match made in heaven...!

And I can tell you that as I excitedly tore open the brown packaging... I wasn't disappointed. There followed much procrastination on work as I made two successive cups of coffee and perused the book cover to cover.

The first thing to say is that this is indeed, as it promises, a stylish book in every sense of the word. The quality of the book as an actual product is beautiful and the layout, graphics and photography is vibrant, modern and stunning.

It's simply laid out in four seasonal sections, each with a poetically written, brief introduction and then selections of juices, soups, salads, sandwiches and more complex main courses.

The style is contemporary, fresh and instantly aspirational! It's a little taste of the perfection we'd all love to secretly achieve in our (home-cooking) lives.

And why not?! A girl can dream can't she?

I was transported for an hour - but, more importantly, it made me want to get into my kitchen and get cooking, and, for me, that's what a good cook book should inspire.

Having spoken to many people about the way in which they use cook books, I find myself not alone in my approach. I skip all the waffle, blurb, life stories and pages of black and white text and cut straight to the recipes. I flick through greedily and see which pictures catch my eye, 'call' to my visual senses and make my tummy rumble. I then fold over the corners of those pages to refer back to later.  

The sign of a really great cook book is when I've given up folding pages over a quarter of the way through, because it's evident that I'm just going to need to try every single recipe!

That's what happened with "tibits at home" (aside from the fact its simply too beautiful to want to go folding corners down) and fortunately they do have two bookmark strands added so that, if you can narrow it down to two preferred dishes, you can safely mark the relevant pages without 'vandalising' the book.

this colourful vegetable jambalaya caught my eye immediately...

So, the important stuff...  

The recipes and what to expect:

• 53 recipes in total of which 12 are for sweets, puddings and drinks.
• Out of all of the recipes 15 are non-Vegan, but 8 of those can easily be 'Veganised' (the remaining 7 do rely heavily on the use of eggs and dairy ingredients).

warm dal with spinach - you'll probably have most of the ingredients in your larder already...

What I loved:

Most recipes require only a simple list of tasty ingredients which are easy to find in most large supermarkets. There are only one or two items that might be a little tricky.

The recipe information is laid out clearly with ingredients lists under a photo of the finished dish, as well as simple step by step instructions.

Many of the dishes are 'assembly' cooking and therefore it's ideal for people of all abilities in the kitchen - which is lovely.

bulgar and flat bean salad, with a spicy vinaigrette - why complicate the beauty of simple, delicious ingredients?

How could this book be improved? It's subjective of course, but in my opinion, it would help to have:

Info on how many portions a recipe yields, along with the time it takes to prepare a dish (I'm advised that this will be included in the next book.)

More puddings that are either Vegan, or have the potential to be easily Veganised (there was only one). Although I concede this is a 'vegetarian' cook book.

Recipe feedback:

I did find myself adjusting some of the techniques that are recommended in the cooking guidance - but that's just perhaps me and habits gained from years of experience in cooking a certain way!

Some of the quantities of oil suggested seemed excessive and as a rule, I tended to halve the amounts and the food was still delicious.

While tasty and unusual, some of the dishes can be enhanced by increasing the quantities of the seasoning / flavouring ingredients listed - but again, through years of experience I simply know what I prefer and can 'get away with' in the flavour stakes.

the pasta with courgettes in curry sauce is aromatic & creamy, but you can enhance the flavours if you prefer...

My favourite recipe so far:

The Goa Curry - made with tofu, pineapple and crazy amounts of chilli. But even Dave has made this successfully twice now and you know, I'm glad there are no portion quantities added because I have a sneaking suspicion it might have said [serves 4] when the reality is the two of us can happily consume the entire lot in one go ;)

Goa curry - an unusual and incredibly delicious curry that you could enjoy time & time again...

Overall verdict:

"tibits at home" did inspire me to cook and it delivers simple, contemporary, flavoursome Vegan food. Whilst the price seems high, this is a visually stunning book that is a quality product in it's own right and I know that I shall end up using it time and again throughout the seasons and for years to come.

Now what shall I cook next?...

Much love

Chantal xx

Disclaimer: Whilst tibits kindly gave me this book, free of charge, my review is entirely genuine and without bias. All constructive feedback has been passed on to the creative team for future reference.

* * Have YOU got a Vegan or vegetarian book that you'd like me to review? * *

'Veggie Soup for the Soul' blog attracted over 10,000 page views in it's first year alone and myself and my fellow Association Partner have more than 38,000 followers on Twitter between us.

So if you'd like to reach a wider target audience and for me to independently review your book here, then please do get in touch with me through the contact page on the rhs of this screen.

Recipe: 16 minute 'Chilli non Carne' ...

Yep - that's right- in just 16 minutes I made a delicious (if I say so myself) Vegan chilli non carne. Who says fast food has to be unhealthy?

Having spent all day trotting round the Devon County Show - with little sustenance on offer for Vegans (no shock really) belly rumbles spurred me into a bit of 'power' cooking.

Now I've been making chilli con carne for years and loving it, but since going veggie (now Vegan) all I really changed was the meat and stock content, and, guess what - I think the flavour of this Vegan version is better! And with no nasty saturated fat and dead cow in the pot it's a total win win.

Now I do have my own perfect secret recipe filed somewhere - but this was my quick fire version and it turned out pretty well, so I'm jotting it down here for you while I think of it.

'Hola'! deliciousness...

 [Serves 6 - so it's really good value]

Gather:

1 tbsp oil (I used olive)

1 large brown onion - finely chopped

good squirt of garlic puree (or 3 - 6 cloves of fresh, finely chopped garlic)

1-2 fresh chillies - finely chopped (I used one 'medium heat' red one)

2 bell peppers (1 red & 1 green) - chopped into small squares

1-2 tsp chilli powder (I used 1 tsp of hot chilli powder)

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp dried oregano

2 vegetable stock cubes (or 2 tsp vegetable bouillion powder)

3 tbsp tomato puree (approx - I just squeezed the tube 3 times!)

1 pack meat substitute (such as Tesco frozen Vegan soya mince 454g)

1 x 400g tin chopped plum tomatoes

1 x 200g tin cooked red kidney beans (I never use a whole tin, as I only like a few)

boiling water to make up the vegetable stock

Create:

Set your timer...ready, set, go!

1. OK - fill the kettle and put on to boil, run around demented and grab your ingredients while you heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
2. Chop the onion, throw in the pan and while you gently fry the onion chop the fresh chillis and the peppers.
3. Add the garlic puree, chillis and peppers to the pan and fry a little more.
4. Add in all of the spices and the stock cubes/powder, mix well and cook gently for a minute or so.
5. Add the 'meat', tomato puree, tinned tomatoes and kidney beans and then add boiled water to the level of the top of the mix.
6. Give it all a good stir, bring to the boil and then turn down to a gentle simmer.

Phew!

This should take you up to the 16 minute stage (or thereabouts).

You can simmer the chilli for another 10-30 minutes until it reduces down and the sauce thickens beautifully. (Don't be tempted to thicken with cornflour, as, in my opinion you need the sauce to be lovely and rich - so reduction is better than thickening a weak sauce.) Have a little taste and add some salt and pepper to your liking.

Meanwhile get your rice/tacos/tortillas/nachos and condiments ready and prepare for some hot mouth-tingling food action!

Enjoy! 

On this occasion I cheated and microwaved some Veet basmati ready-rice and served with some homemade coleslaw I already had in the fridge from dinner the night before.

But the other picture above was of more of the chilli making an appearance a couple of days later, along with some homemade nachos and a dip.

The final batch will get used on a baked potato with some Vegusto Vegan 'cheddar cheese' I would think!
Great accompaniments include Vegan sour cream, guacamole and some jalapenos as well if you love it super spicy!

Cooks tip: Add a strip of dark chocolate and melt into the chilli at the very end. This is a genuine Mexican addition that really elevates this dish in a way that you can't quite put your finger on...

p.s. Let me know if you beat my 16 minutes!

Chantal xx