Cooking the books: Honestly Healthy

This is the third in my new series Cooking the Books.  It’s something I came up with to try and make better use of my embarrassingly large collection of cookbooks. The concept is pretty simple – every month I ask my social media followers to vote for one of three books from my collection. Once a winner has been picked I select a random recipe from the winning book, I make it and then I blog it!

July’s winning book was one that I’ve had for a while but hadn’t actually used before. It’s Honestly Healthy in a Hurry by Natalie Corrett, and it’s a really lovely collection of healthy, vegetarian dishes.

Ingredients – cut down for 2 people

(Taken from the Honestly Healthy cookbook)

• ½ tsp coconut oil
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
• ½ tsp vegetable bouillon powder
• ½ tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 125g tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp tamari (soy sauce)
• 100g aubergine, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 bay leaves
• 200ml coconut milk
• 30g fresh spinach
• 10g coriander, roughly chopped
• A squeeze of lime (optional)
• Rice, to serve (optional)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. In a flameproof casserole dish over a medium heat, melt the oil and add the onion, garlic, vegetable bouillon powder, mustard seeds and garam masala. Sauté for 1 minute, before adding 30ml water and continuing to sauté for another 2 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, another 50ml water and the tamari and continue to sauté for a further 2 minutes. Then add the aubergine and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Finally, add the bay leaves and coconut milk and put the pan in the oven for 30 minutes.
• When you take the pan out of the oven, the sauce should have reduced to be nice and thick. Stir through the spinach and coriander, and add a squeeze of lime. Serve just as it is, or with some wild or brown rice.

So, what did we think?

I rarely cook with aubergine because it can be so hit and miss. Sometimes spongy, sometimes flavourless, sometimes greasy. This dish gets it just right. I loved the fact that you started it on the hob and then moved it to the oven, making this pretty low maintenance which really is just what you need on a week night! I served it with Merchant Gourmet brown rice and quinoa and it worked perfectly.

The only change I might make next time is to add a chilli or perhaps some chilli powder to give this dish more of a spicy kick as the flavour, whilst delicious, was quite mild.

There are lots of really tasty looking recipes in Honestly Healthy and now I’ve got it down off the shelf, I’ll definitely be using it more! Inspired? Grab a copy for yourself! 

More cookbook inspiration:

For another great cookbook recipe, why not try this Asian style salmon from Jamie’s 30 minute meals? Or, this pasta with kale, anchovies and chilli recipe from Riverford which appeared on February’s Cooking the Books? Alternatively, I love Meera Sodha’s East and Alissa Timoshkina’s Salt & Time!