Vegan Mofo Day 15/ I Bought A Book: Salad Samurai

Terry Hope Romero's latest book was released back in June but please don't take my silence on it so far to be a lack of enthusiasm. Truth is that I was sold on this one sight unseen but as I'm still lacking that unlimited budget it had to wait until now. But haply it was worth it.

I'm not in general a salad person. Most salads I get served are sad, pathetic, wilting afterthoughts served with a side of no imagination. I like big flavours, big portions, big protein hits. All the things that the salads in my life have been lacking. Until I opened this book.

And bless Terry Hope Romero because vegan salads needed some rehabilitation and someone awsome running their PR campaign. And they've got it. This is a stunningly designed book with fabulous pictures and - above all - incredible recipes.

So, what have I made?

This one had it's sneak preview at Lunchbox School on Friday. It's the Smokehouse Chickpea 'n' Greens Salad. That's a spinach base with carrot and avocado add ins (I've taken some stuff out due to personal taste/availability from the two salads I made from recipes here) with a topping of delicious smoky barbeque chickpeas. In a moment of weakness I doubted this recipe. After I took the chickpeas out of the pan I had a tased and thought they could do with a shot of hot sauce. I resisted and I'm glad I did because the heat from the dressing was fierce and when it was draped over the salad everything came together perfectly.

Next up was the Almond Falafel Crunch Bowl. Stephen wanted to see if he'd like the almond falafel and as a result he got the plate without greens. His verdict was that there were too many new flavours at once but he's happy to try this one again. My verdict was not to be hard over furious chewing. I already knew I was a big falafel fan but turns out I'm a big sumac fan too.

The last recipe I wanted to try for this blog was the Red-Hot Saucy Tofu. I served it on a bed of little gem, with some of those dried crispy onion things and the lemon tahini dressing from the falafel salad to cool it all down. It was bliss. Red-Hot Saucy Bliss.

There is nothing in this book that I don't want to try. I'm considering seaweed. Excitedly. The salads in here are perfect for eating at home or packing in my beloved lunchboxes. There are tips on what is good cold, how to pack things in a jar. One even has bento in the name.

I'm excited by everything I've made and the things I've yet to make. I feel that this book revolutionise salad like 'Vegan Sandwiches...' revolutionised the Sandwich or 'Vegan Cupcakes...' revolutionised the cupcake. I need this on my shelf and I think you should check it out.


Salad Samurai: 100 Cutting-Edge, Ultra-Hearty, Easy-to-Make Salads You Don't Have to Be Vegan to Love