My top 5 Vegan Cookery books

• Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson
• 500 Vegan dishes by Deborah Gray
• A Vegan taste of India by Linda Majzlik
• Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
• The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek

Vegan Planet

As a recipe book with 400 recipes from `Home and Around the World’, this book really does take you on a worldwide adventure. Whatever your tastes or preferences are for food, you will easily find many, many recipes in here to suit, as well as introducing yourself to a few recipes you wouldn’t normally try.

Vegan Planet is full of everyday recipes, that are deliciously tasty, and quickly become weekday staples (Tahini Rotini with Broccoli and Lemon, Jerk-Spiced Portabello Steaks). The `Don’t Skip Breakfast’ Chapter is permanently wedged open every weekend for `Spiced Banana Pancakes’ – an absolute dream for a weekend breakfast!

The book is beautifully laid out, with illustrations and interesting recipe introductions. The recipes are clear and easy to follow, and use standard ingredients found in your pantry, or easily sourced.

If you can only afford one vegan cookbook, I would definitely recommend Vegan Planet. Covering a wide variety of recipes; (soups, salads, dressings, condiments, pasta, grains, beans, stews, stir-fries, pizzas, sandwiches, breads, deserts, smoothies and breakfasts), it really does include everything you need to get started in vegan cookery. There is a also fantastic first chapter `Vegan Basics’ which is great for anyone to either learn from or refresh their knowledge.

500 Vegan dishes

This is a small but jam-packed compendium of everyday vegan recipes. Each recipe has four or five variations, which are great for when you fancy tweaking the recipe slightly.

500 Vegan dishes features a wide variety of recipes from all over the world, and although quick and easy to cook, I have always found them to be successful and delicious.

There is a great section at the beginning which features some basic recipes, such as ‘crispy fried tofu’, which has rapidly become a firm favourite in our household.

The layout is clean and simple, and most of the standard recipes have an accompanying photograph.

I would recommend 500 Vegan dishes for anybody who is turning vegan, or for an existing vegan who wants to add some classic vegan recipes to their repertoire.

A Vegan taste of India

This is one of a series of books which also includes North Africa, Thailand, the Caribbean the Middle East, Eastern Europe, France, Mexico, East Africa, Italy, Greece, Central America. So whatever your tastes, there is a suitable ‘Vegan taste of’ book.

The recipes are simple and easy to make, yet are full of flavour and delicious. The ingredients used are familiar and accessible, but you may find yourself having to buy a few spices that you don’t already own. There is a lovely glossary in the introduction, which is great for reading up on any ingredients you are not familiar with.

Appetite for Reduction

The blurb on the cover lets you know that this book contains ‘125 Fast & Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes’. But these are stunningly delicious and original recipes that just happen to be vegan and low-fat. The recipes are laid out well, with nutritional information, introductions, timings and tips. There is a brilliant nutritional section at the beginning, and an ‘Elements of a Bowl’ section as well, which offers advice on putting together some delicious ‘bowls’.

The recipes themselves have beautiful names; ‘Chilli-lime-rubbed Tofu’ or ‘Summer Lovin’ Curried Corn & Veggie Chowder’, anyone? The names evoke a sense of sophistication, yet are generally quite simple and easy to make. Ingredients required are pretty standard, with maybe a handful of recipes that were difficult to source an ingredient. Herbs and spices feature heavily in most recipes, so if you don’t have a well-stocked spice rack, its time to make some investments!

The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes

I love this book for all its naughty treats, that you thought you couldn’t eat when you turned vegan!

There are sections for Cookies, Bars, Muffins, Breads, Cake, Pies, Tarts and Pastries. I’ve baked a few items from each section, and the ‘Chewy Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies’ and ‘Garden Muffins’ have become firm favourites.

There is a brilliant introduction to vegan baking section, which lists alternatives to eggs in baking and what they work best in, which is great for when you want to veganize some of your existing recipes. Each recipe also has an introduction with fun anecdotes, as well as helpful hints and ideas for alternatives noted.