Cookbook recommendation for the new year

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Most years DH and I pick a cookbook at the beginning of the year and use it for dinner inspiration for at least the first few months to get us out of a winter-takeaway-can't be bothered cooking rut. Previous successes have been books like The Green Roasting Tin, the first Helmsley sisters book and Ottolenghi's Simple.

I'm trying to pick this year's book but am not inspired by anything I've seen so far.

Ideally I'm looking for:

• Something that has recipes for things which can be a single central dish rather than smaller mezze or side dishes (i.e. most Ottolenghi).
• Covers a range of cuisines
• Usually quite vegetable-focused but not necessarily vegetarian or vegan.
• Recipes which are relatively quick to prepare on a busy weeknight

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Maybe one of the Diana Henry books? The one pot one is a fave. We're not veggies but one of my most useful cookbooks is The Vegetarian Kitchen by Prue Leith and her niece Peta. Nothing too complicated but just a little bit different to most veggie recipes.

What about a years subscription to Good Food magazine? That way you can constantly be inspired and cook what's in season. I always cut out my favourite tried and tested recipes and make my own recipe book - think I'm on version 5 or 6 of 'GingerPigz's Family Feasts'...

@mynameiscalypso I actually have quite a few Diana Henry books but on kindle and I really struggle to use cookbooks on kindle for some reason, I may try to pick my favourite and get a physical copy. I'll have a look at the vegetarian kitchen, I love Prue!

@GingerPigz oh that's a bit of a different idea, I might try the January copy and see how it goes.

How about a subscription to eatyourbooks.com instead?
There's a free trial version, & I think it's c.£30 p.a. if you like it.

You can add your own books & search for recipes - really useful when you've forgotten where something is. You can search for ingredients that need using, e.g. " chicken AND mushrooms".
You can also search the web & narrow it down to online recipes only.

Meera Sodha’s East was the hit book of the year for me last year. It’s a vegetarian cookbook, most recipes are healthy and simple enough for midweek cooking, mostly main meals, and I’ve really enjoyed the food I’ve cooked from the book.

If you are a fan of Ottolenghi, Ixta Belfrage (who worked with him on Flavour) has her own cookbook Mezcla which I finally have my own copy of and the recipes in there look wonderful, and very vegetable focussed. It’s named Mezcla as the recipes are all fusion recipes based on Ixta’s tastes and culinary influences. The few recipes I’ve tried have been great.

I also like Bazaar by Sabrina Ghayour, but that is very much focussed on Middle Eastern food, so maybe not quite in scope, it the recipes are all varied within themselves. It’s a vegetarian cookbook.

Not sure which Helmsley sister cookbook you had, but a poster on the Weekly New Recipe thread has has a few good recipes out of Feel Good, if that’s the not the one you have. I’m considering getting the book for myself!

What about the Roasting Tin series by Rukmini Iyer?

There are about 4 of them, all done in one pan.

I've just bought Meat Free Mowgli and the vegetarian Wahaca one. Both look nice, but haven't yet made anything out of them.

The Mildred's vegan one is currently cheap on Kindle.

I've heard of eatyourbooks and it sounds very interesting but oddly I find that having fewer options in a single book makes things easier at this time of year. I do also want to use the cookbooks I have more so will look into it for this.

I have Meera Sodha's Fresh India but was actually not that impressed with the dishes I cooked, I think I have a different palate to her. I will have a look at Mezcla though, I've heard of Ixta but didn't realise she had her own book out. And I have the other Hemsley sisters book but actually I saw a recommendation on another thread for the Melissa Hemsley book Eat Happy so that's also on my list.

I have the Roasting Tin and Green Roasting Tin and love them, particularly the second but it feels a bit odd given the cost of living crisis to have the oven on so much these days. I'll have a look at the Mowgli book though, another one I haven't heard of, thanks.

Betty Crocker quick and easy recipes, always my go to when I'm feeling 'meh' and want something low hassle and quick (I have both ebook and physical book) ebook on my phone so I have ingredients available if I forget my shopping list!

Slimming foodies 1 pot book is great even if your not looking to loose weight

@toastofthetown I’ve been looking at Mezcla (online). Would it be useful for a pescatarian household do you think? I don’t mind having to skip over a few meat recipes but obviously I prefer a book that leans more fish and veg. Any thoughts on what percentage would be meat based v vegetarian/pescatarian?

My contribution: India Express by Rukmini Iyer. Ok, I just got it last week so haven’t actually made anything yet but the recipes look delicious and seem very doable (once I’ve restocked my spices). It’s vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian recipes.

In Fresh India, the paneer butter curry and the potato chaat recipe are delicious. I didn't like a couple of the others we did, especially the egg curry.

Ruffage by Abra Berens is structured by vegetable, but is not vegetarian. I found it quite inspiring.

Eat As You Are by Ruby Tandoh is good fun, she has quite a fresh take on easy food, using lots of international ideas but very much bringing them together into weeknight suppers rather than striving for authentic banquets requiring multiple dishes.

Doctor's Kitchen 3-2-1 by Dr Rupy Aujla

3 servings veg, 2 people, 1 dish. Mostly vegetarian, but not exclusively.

I’m vegetarian and while I’m still quite new to it, it looks great for me. The two main sections (divided into Everyday and Entertaining) are each split into Veg, Fish, and Meat, and I’d say over 60% of the section is veg, with the rest being pretty equally divided between meat and fish to my eyes, but I haven’t spent much time looking so that split might be off.

There's a new Persiana book out. The first one is cracking. I had a flick through the new one and it looks brilliant
[[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrina-Ghayour/e/B00J27BU8S/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
Sabrina Ghayour]]
Persiana Everyday

Perhaps follow Nigella on Instagram?
She posts about wonderful cook books all the time, I have a long wish list.

One: Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones. All vegetarian, not had a bad meal from it yet. The aubergine tamarind curry is amazing!

Thanks everyone, I think I'm going to try East and give Meera Sodha another chance. It's not strictly all cuisines but Asia has a huge range of flavours so there should be enough variety. I also had a scroll through the new weekly recipes thread and there were so many delicious-sounding recipes from the book.

I'm also interested in the Ruby Tandoh and Dr Rupy Aujla books as they're not the kind of thing I would usually look at (v sceptical about TV competition winners and books by non-cooks) but they seem to fill the brief and have great reviews and obviously the recommendations here too.

And thank you for the other recs, I'll definitely be searching for more books later in the year so will keep them in mind. I really need to find a way to use my kindle cookbooks more, I have quite a few of these including One: Pot, Pan, Planet but I just don't use them because of the format.

Do you have the kindle app on your phone? I find it a lot easier to read cookbooks that way than on my actual kindle and I take screenshots of recipes that I like and keep them in a folder on my phone.

Have either of you used kindle cloud reader? It's how I view kindle cook books on my laptop and iPad and is far nicer to work from than trying to view on a kindle or phone.

Last year my top three cookbooks were

Olia Hercules at home- I think this one delivers on all your specs and is a very special cookbook.

Sabrina ghayours persiana everyday - wonderfully quick and easy food for the vast majority and when more labour intense the food is spectacular to make it worthwhile .

Eleanor Ford's the nutmeg trail. A beautiful book. With a huge range of varied and delicious flavours.

I second this - we got this book last year and have made dozens of things from it, all of them delicious. The DCs are now very enthusiastic about tofu and chick peas as a result of this book! I know you said you already have it on Kindle, @NetflixViewer, but I would say it's worth getting in print as well if you can afford it/have room.

I’ve got One Pot on kindle but haven’t made anything from it. It all looked a bit fussy to me.

@mackerella Is there anything you’d particularly recommend? I don’t do tomatoes or aubergines!

Came here to recommend the Anna Jones one pot book!
If you like cooking and have a lot of cupboard staples and spices in already it's perfect x