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Introduction

Welcome to 30-minute Vegetarian. Whether you’re a fully signed-up vegetarian or vegan, a ‘flexitarian’, ‘meat-reducer’, ‘pescatarian’, demi-veg, or just want to enjoy a meat-free meal now and then, come on in. If you want fast, easy, tasty vegetable-based meals; if you’re looking for quick meals made from clean, natural, healthy ingredients; if you love exciting flavours, bold colours, vibrant ingredients, eating well and having fun in the kitchen, this is the book for you.

With study after study showing the health benefits of vegetarian food, the World Health Organisation recommending we eat ‘five a day’, the wealth of amazing vegetables, fruits, grains, pulses, herbs and spices now available from all over the world, and restaurants becoming increasingly creative with their veggie choices, there’s never been a better time to try more vegetable-based meals: vegetarian cookery has come of age!

It hasn’t always been like this. When, at the tender age of 17, I started cooking vegetarian meals for visitors to the retreat centre run by my family, things were very different. The great majority of visitors had never eaten vegetarian food before. I had to struggle to convince people that they wouldn’t fade away or make themselves ill if they gave up meat; I was also up against a much more rigid approach to meals than we have now. ‘What on earth do you eat instead of a roast for Sunday dinner?’ people used to ask, and the vegetables and ingredients available were very limited: it’s hard to believe now that a green pepper was about as exotic as it got, and olive oil was something you bought from the chemist!

In spite of all that, I loved the challenge of creating colourful, tasty food that would please and excite the visitors. I must have done something right, because they raved about the dishes and wanted to know how to make them. So I wrote a recipe book, Simply Delicious, published by my family in the autumn of 1967. I thought that it would be a small charity publication that might raise funds for the retreat centre, but it took off immediately, sold out, and was reprinted many times. Simply Delicious was, in fact, one of only two vegetarian cookery books on sale nationwide at that time. I must admit to feeling proud that, as far as I am aware, it was the first cookbook ever to stipulate the use of free-range eggs.

I continued to cook at the retreat centre and in 1972 wrote another recipe book, Not Just a Load of Lentils, which my family also published, with the practical, spiral binding I wanted. Then things took an unexpected turn: the paperback publisher Fontana (a division of HarperCollins, then called Collins) spotted the book, bought the paperback rights and became my publishers, as indeed they still are today. Over sixty books followed throughout the seventies, eighties, nineties and beyond, and as the book sales added up to the 4-million mark, so the numbers of vegetarians in the UK grew and grew.

Over that time it’s been a joy to see the increasing interest in vegetarian cooking. It’s always a thrill when people tell me, as they often do, that because of my books they’ve become vegetarian, started a restaurant, opened a health shop, or written a book. I also love it when, at just about every book signing or demonstration I do, at least one person approaches me, often with a baby, child or even teenager in tow, saying they were raised on my Vegetarian Mother and Baby Book. That book, which has had many reprints and new editions, grew from my own experience of bringing up my three daughters as vegetarians (as I was myself). Now, at the time of writing, I have six grandchildren, also vegetarian.

What everyone is asking for now is vegetable-based meals that can be made quickly and easily, and this book, 30-minute Vegetarian, is my answer. There are 140 recipes ranging from fast starters and snacks, wonderful soups, to luxurious, indulgent desserts, with main courses for every occasion and lots of exciting side dishes too. I’ve arranged the mains according to how we like to eat them at home, so there’s a section of everyday suppers, and another of meals for friends and family … mix and match as much as you like, add to them, put your own stamp on them, enjoy them.

All the recipes can be made in 30 minutes, some in much less time, others just within the time frame. I admit it: I’ve pushed it to the limit in a handful of recipes, relying on advance preparation of the ingredients before starting the timer in order to get them done. I hope you’ll bear with me on these: they are all special, worth that extra bit of preparation time, and I really wanted you to have them.

I hope you will enjoy making and eating all the dishes as much as I have enjoyed creating, tasting and testing them: have fun, have a feast, celebrate!