East: An Asian cookbook filled with 120 easy and delicious vegetarian and vegan recipes

Very attractive visual presentation. My only gripe about the cover is that in my hands i know it will get stained and dirty through usage (I'm from the bombsite school of cookery) and it's not really wipe clean. I guess I could get a cover....but I won't. I'm working through the book and have only made three recipes thus far. But the flavours were excellent. I found the text of the recipes clear and appropriately detailed. There are several shops reasonably local to me where I can access some of the less usual ingredients. Although I found quite a few at my supermarket albeit substantially more expensive (hence exploration of my local Korean shop- what a joy & revelation!) I've been vegetarian for decades but branching out more into veganism these days so I don't really want to be eating paneer, but found that I could satisfactorily use firm tofu instead. Fact is that no cook book is ever going to be meet the individual needs of us all, so it's more about using a book as a creative starting point and adjusting things to fit your own tastes. I don't do frying apart from a bit of stir-frying using very little oil. There is quite a bit of frying in this book, so where possible I've used less oil and oven-baked as an alternative cooking method. It probably changes the end character of the dish a bit but it has still tasted good and been (I believe!) that much healthier. I also don't eat much in the way of carbohydrate and there are quite a few rice dishes in the book. I'll get around to them but it'll take a while. I'm sure they will taste good though. Full marks to Meera for not including useless breakfast meals, not too much in the way of dessert stuff and for avoiding overly effusive language. This is a down-to-earth book, just good food , and I like it ☺

My friend cooked a recipe from here when I went To dinner- it was so delicious I took a photo of the recipe and cooked it myself the next day - it was super easy, but full of flavour. I was so impressed I broke my new recipe book embargo and purchased it. I was not disappointed - it’s a great varied range of types of dishes, flavour profiles and country of origin. There are really simple cupboard supply dishes and some that will stretch you in terms of technique or flavour. Some dishes you might need to find some ingredients in a bigger supermarket or online but there are plenty of dishes that don’t require anything too special. Nice to see some snacks and a small selection of sweet dishes. Although oil is used, it’s not difficult to reduce or remove it if you are trying to be WFPBNO - for example, chilli tofu recipes is written to be deep fried, but it does no harm to the recipe to simply dry fry or cook the tofu in the air fryer with no or minimal oil. If you have any cooking capability you will be able to navigate that and also any substitutions - some are already mentioned. I am very much looking forward to the potato parathas! I have never cooked bao before but the recipe looks so easy and delicious I am going to give them a go!

Bought this cookbook as a gift for my father in law after owning my own copy. A great all around book, even if you're not veggie or vegan, anyone can really enjoy the recipes. I've made a few recipes from it and have never been dissappointed. Ingredients are all ones you can find easily or if you're an avid cook probably have already.

Lovely recipes including some really simple but effective ones. Favourite so far is the kimchi fried rice. Delicious, healthy, quick and easy. I had to get gojuchang sauce for about £7 for a small pot so it’s a good job we loved it. (Hence one star off - rather a lot of the recipes need specialist ingredients which can get pricey/wasteful).

This book has ignited a love of cooking that I had long since resigned to 'not my thing'. I bought this book for my partner (the resident chef and vegan bottomless pit) but have found myself offering to cook more and more just to try new recipes. Many of the ingredients are 'overlapping', ie each recipe doesn't call for a whole new set of difficult to source spices and sauces. Once you've got the basics for each 'region', you're pretty set. Many can be swapped in and out for other vegetables depending on what you've got in the cupboard. Each recipe also lists a reasonable number of ingredients (I do not have the capacity for recipes with 30+ ingredients). Instructions are clear and concise. It is very useful to have a clear indication of which recipes need a blender/food processor or take a long time prepare. Most importantly, this book has finally taught me how to cook rice well. An achievement it itself for which I (and my partner) will be eternally grateful.

Interesting recipes that can be attempted on a work night. Healthy and fun.

This is an excellent cookbook, with interesting flavour combinations and new ideas but without lots of effort. We are both meat eaters, but trying to increase the number of veggie meals we have each week so this is great for us. I use it weekly, I've made about 20 recipes from this book, and with most cookbooks I never really try more than a handful of recipes. We really like the Ben Ben Noodles, the Food Court Noodles, Mushroom Mapo Tofu and the Honey, Soy & Ginger Braised Tofu. Would recommend this book to anyone looking for more veggie ideas!

Bought this as a gift for my wife and we've both enjoyed it so far. She talks in depth about the ingredients and there's a good selection of cuisines - curries, stir frys, etc. The main difficulty with eastern cooking is sourcing some of the more obscure authentic ingredients, if you live in a city you can probably find an asian/specialist supermarket but others might struggle.

Always a good place to draw inspiration from!

A perfect present. A Book to be proudly kept on the bookshelf. A Book to be preserved for generations!

Everything about this cookery book is brilliant! The photos are stunning and inspiring. Well thought out content, explanations of types of ingredients and added bonus of names of suppliers online. Love it! I would like to add, I’m not a vegetarian or vegan.

Simple & Inspring

I have all of Meera Sodha's books because they are easy recipes that use spices well without producing food that is too heavy or greasy. This book is lovely with so many recipes that I want to cook and the few that I have already cooked were delicious. Cooking time can be a teeny bit dodgy (but that is often the case with cookbooks isn't it?) but the ingredients are spot on. Lovely book would highly recommend any of Meera's books.