A Modern Way to Cook: Over 150 quick, smart and flavour-packed recipes for every day

1 large carrot

½ a cucumber

2 spring onions

½ a ripe avocado

a small bunch of fresh coriander

50g unsalted peanuts

a small bunch of fresh mint

or other herbs (see here (#ulink_432fc787-01c5-59a2-9fe0-2f22c6e900fa))

FOR THE DRESSING

2 teaspoons runny honey or maple syrup

1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari

the juice of 2 limes

First, chop the tofu into 0.5cm fingers and put into a bowl. Finely chop the chilli and finely chop the garlic and the lemongrass stalk, then put half

the chilli and garlic aside for later and add the rest to the bowl of tofu with all the lemongrass, the soy sauce and the juice of half the lime. Put the tofu to one side.

Mix the juice from the other lime half with the peanut butter and a splash of water and put to one side.

Next, put the noodles into a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 3 minutes, or follow the packet instructions.

Now chop the vegetables – you can use a food processor or a mandolin to speed this up. Shred the iceberg and cut the carrot and cucumber into matchsticks. Finely slice the spring onions and slice the avocado thinly. Roughly chop the coriander and then the peanuts.

Make the dressing by mixing the reserved chilli and garlic with the rest of the dressing ingredients.

Heat a pan and add a little coconut oil. Drain the tofu, reserving the marinade. Once the pan is hot, add the tofu to the pan and fry until browned on all sides, then add the peanut butter mixture and the reserved marinade and toss to coat. Take off the heat.

Pile the drained noodles into two bowls and top with the vegetables, coriander, peanuts and the mint or herb sprigs. Finally, put the tofu and any of the marinade left in the pan on top and pour over the dressing. Mix up at the table.

Goodness bowls

I make a goodness bowl for myself at least once a week; they are a quick, easy and totally adaptable dinner which can be tweaked throughout the seasons to be hearty, light, refreshing – whatever you feel like. I have laid out the building blocks and given you some examples of my favourites. Check out my recipes for Seeded halloumi and harissa rainbow bowl (here (#ulink_6ca400c9-0ed0-52b3-8fa7-3fa3981ed791)) and Plantain, avocado and black bean bowl (here (#ulink_ad7aec25-84f7-5b82-933c-c655a410c863)) to get the idea.

Here are some of the ingredients I use most often. Pick from each column. Make a dressing with 1 part acid (lemon/vinegar) to 2 parts oil and you can’t go wrong.

Plantain, avocado and black bean bowl

20–25 MINUTES

Sometimes I fall head over heels for a food and I can’t stop eating it. For a few weeks this year it was plantain. It fills the greengrocers around where I live and I almost always pass my hand over it to reach for sweet potatoes or parsnips. Well, no more. Plantain is my new sweet potato; it adds natural sweetness to my dinners and is super quick to cook and prepare. This dish is my love letter to plantain. I promise I’ll never overlook you again.

This bowl is a meeting place for a whole world of flavours: chilli-spiked smoky black beans, caramel-crusted plantain, creamy avo and sweet leeks and zingy lime. It’s a serious flavour-filled bowl of goodness.

It also works really well with short-grain brown rice in place of the quinoa. I opt for brown rice when I feel like something more filling, but it takes much longer to cook, so bear that in mind.

SERVES 4

a mugful of quinoa (about 200g)

1 tablespoon of vegetable stock powder, or ½ a stock cube

1 green chilli

1 × 400g tin of black beans

a pinch of ground cinnamon

2 large leeks

coconut oil

2 handfuls of interesting mushrooms (about 250g)

2 ripe avocados

2 limes

2 large plantains

Fill and boil a kettle and get all your ingredients and equipment together.

Weigh out the quinoa in a mug or measuring jug, making note of the level it comes up to, then pour it into a large saucepan. Fill the mug to the same level with boiling water and add to the pan, then repeat so you have double the volume of water to quinoa. Add the stock powder or cube, put the pan on a high heat and cook the quinoa at a steady simmer for 10–12 minutes, until almost all the water has been absorbed and the little curly grain has been released from each quinoa seed.

Chop the chilli. Pour the black beans (including the liquid) into a pan, add half the chopped chilli and a pinch of cinnamon, and simmer until the beans are thick and almost all the liquid is gone.

Meanwhile, place a pan on a high heat. Trim, wash and finely shred both leeks, add them to the pan with a little coconut oil, sweat for 10 minutes until soft, then tip into a bowl. Chop the mushrooms into bite-size pieces. Once the leeks are done, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon. Put the pan back on the heat and add a little more coconut oil and the mushrooms. Pan-fry until crisp, then add to the bowl of leeks.

Mash the avocados with the other half of the chopped chilli and the juice of one of the limes.

Put the pan back on the heat. Peel the plantains, cut into 1cm-thick slices and add to the pan, allowing each piece to caramelise before turning it over and doing the same on the other side.

Drain the quinoa and divide between four big bowls. Top with the leeks and mushrooms, a few spoonfuls of black beans, and the plantain and finish with a healthy spoonful of mashed chilli avocado and the other lime cut into wedges.

Sweet potato, lime and peanut soup

20–25 MINUTES

I started making this soup one January when Christmas had been and gone and I was a little jaded by wintry food. I wanted something warming, filling, refreshing and restoring all at once. It has become the soup that I just can’t stop making. It may not sound much, but the beauty of it is in the few ingredients and the simple, zippy but hearty flavour.