Vegan Cooking by Eva Batt

[Jamie]

This book was written in about 1985 and does show it a bit!

I had a bit of a giggle reading the pages about 'exotic fruit and veg' like courgette, aubergine (actually now I think of it they do have french names... possibly something to do with them not actually being british...!) and pepper and limes... stuff I took for granted as having always been around really.

But the good side effect of that is that you end up having more local produce in the recipes and not much 'fancy stuff' that is hard to find. Although some of the things in the recipes I'm not sure what they are, like 'white fat' (I just use veg oil), and 'barbados sugar', I would just use brown sugar for that perhaps.

It's bit plainer than other fancy vegan cookbooks, but it's good British cooking, like your mum would have made, were she a 1980s vegan mum! :)

My fave recipe from it is Curried TVP, which I love, but now I flick through the book, I can't remember much else that we've made from it!! I have a few recipes picked out for making in the near future, and there are a few more I saw that look good. I think it feels more like winter cooking to me, the more heavier, heartier sort of foods, rather than the lighter, more exotically flavoured stuff I've been eating in the warmer months.

[Chocs4me]

I've got this book too but havent made anything out of it yet because unless i'm missing something it doesnt seem to have any serving sizes on any of the recipes and it just puts me off it cos i could spend a load of time making something for 2 people and it only does enough for one or whatever!

Hmmmm....if i ever get round to making anything out of it i will let you know what its like!

Oh and nearly forgot - What is the white fat she refers to s lot? It cant be lard in a vegan cookbook!

[Jamie]

I don't know what the white fat is, I just use veg oil! Perhaps she means margarine?? I keep meaning to ask someone old if they know what it is ;)

I find that the recipes we've tried have made enough for two, although when we've been hungry we have double the recipes and still eaten it all just ourselves. But I think you are meant to just make it for two and have some sort of side dish.

I would suggest trying something on a weekend lunchtime so you can have time to make it, and if you are still hungry later you can easily have something else. Or you could just do that for dinner, and have toast or something later if you're peckish! :)

[fiamma]

I think what she means is shortening, which can be animal derived, but also vegetable based. Check out the link for info!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortening

[Chocs4me]

Thank you so much for the info! I feel like I can use the book now!! - good to know i can just use oil instead of the white fat - which is probably the shortening stuff you found fiamma - i will probably just double the recipes anyway now you've told me cos we like to eat lots in our house - in case you couldnt tell!! :D

[Mr Flibble]

Unless you're melting the shortening then you cannot directly substitute oil for it and expect the same results in all circumstances (especially pastry). There's plenty of vegan white fats around, I believe that Trex (available in most uk supermarkets) is vegan friendly.

[Chocs4me]

Ah right - i think i've seen trex before - i wonder if it is a hydrogenated fat though - wouldnt be wanting to add lots of that to our diets - i will check it when i next go shopping! :)

[Jamie]

yeah - using oil isn't "proper" advice - just what we've done to muddle through! :)

[Cherry]

Ah right - i think i've seen trex before - i wonder if it is a hydrogenated fat though - wouldnt be wanting to add lots of that to our diets - i will check it when i next go shopping! :)

Yeh, trex does have hydrogenated oil in it. Good point....I was thinking I should get some trex to make my mince pie pastry a bit nicer, but actually it was ok without it.