Monday 28 January 2013

I bought a book: Vegan Sandwiches Save The Day


This is the shortest review I can ever write. Obtain this book as soon as you can. It's fabulous. Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day is an absolute favourite and a new staple.

And now I've got the very short review over I'll show you everything I cooked from it during my first 10 days of ownership. I'll warn you now that this post contains multiple pictures in winter 'lighting' and a huge amount of gushing.

The Chickpea Shawarma was my first indulgence. Perfectly flavoured curried chickpeas, cooling crisp salad and garlicky sauce. Better still it takes about 25 minutes of cooking (about half of that active) making it perfect for a midweek meal.

The Meat(less)ball Sub was my only fail and it was totally user error. When I was taking the mix out of the food processor I thought it looked too dry and added more water. Way more. I ended up with deliciously flavoured meat(free)balls with the most disconcerting texture. They were so bloated from the water that they had the texture of undercooked meat(full)balls. So couldn't really get over that. I'm going to order more vital wheat gluten and give it another go. Following the recipe this time.


For the next try I made one of the Indian inspired sandwiches, The Kati Rolls. They more than made up for my lack of cooking skill on the sub. They taste fabulous, lots of textures and flavour. Such a good rainy day sandwich.

I couldn't contain myself any longer. I had to make the Green Monster Bread. Mixing it up was great. The green from the spinach was so bright and the garlic smelled so good. It came out of the oven looking great and here is posing with the chickpea tuna from the Out Of Tuna Sandwiches. As I've been out of tuna for the past five years this chickpea concoction is a welcome addition to my arsenal.


I've been a little wary of mushrooms recently. I thought they might be triggering my stomach issues. So when I got them in my veg box last week I looked for a sandwich to redeem them for me. The Portobello Po'Boys are more than up for the task. The recipe reads like it's complicated, with all the dipping and breading. In reality that takes maybe ten minutes and then done. They taste amazing, I'm mushroom happy again.


My last sandwich (so far) is the Incredible Green Sandwich. Unfortunately I ran out of the Green Monster Bread before making this but it's just as good on Stephen's white bread. Avocado goodness, garlic and spinach. The perfect quick lunch sandwich.

All of these recipes have a few things in common. First they are contained in a book that looks stunning. Well designed with incredible pictures. Looking through it is an absolute pleasure. There is also a great effort to taste ratio. Some of the recipes take a long time for those days when you want to loose yourself in cooking. Some of them are super quick. All of them taste great. They also super easy to customize  Don't want to make the green monster bread? Use what you have on hand. Turns out that you only dreamt that you bought those pita breads? Put your Shawarma in a wrap. Don't like raw tomatoes? leave them off.

This is a book that is inspiring, practical and has made a fabulous addition to my kitchen and my life. I wouldn't be without it and I urge you not to be either. They say this book is revolutionary and it's certainly had a big impact on me. Subway is dead, long live Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day

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