Isa Chandra Moskowitz is probably my favorite cookbook author; the recipes are good, not boring, not too fussy, and you don’t have to wade through pages of narrative to get to each recipe. The 29-Minute Vegan is so titled because “thirty was already taken, and everyone could use an extra minute in their day.” To achieve the general time frame, there are a set of seven general principles including the one that kind made me wonder a little, “prep as you cook, cook as you prep”. Basically, this is a new-ish but totally common sense format and instructional approach of setting out your ingredients but don’t fully prep before you start assembling and cooking things- as in have the onion set out but dont’ chop it until recipe is underway adn you’ll need it momentarily. The other six are “boil first, ask later”, never measure (but know what the measurement should look/feel like), scrap toss bowl, don’t stir the onions unless specifically told to, use space (big pan, board, plate, etc.), and pre-heat is only absolutely required for baking. The pantry and equipment lists are pretty standard, nothing surprising or fancy.
The recipes are organized in kind of a fun way, as in a general type is assigned to a day of the week; Monday is for sandwiches, Taco Tuesday, Wednesday is for soup/stew, Thursday is meal salad, Friday is girl dinner, Saturday is entrees, Sunday is brunch and/or pasta, and then dessert/sweets are “for an day of the week”.
I haven’t really tried timing anything yet, but it does seem like the set out ingredients, then prep as you go actually works. You definitely don’t start the clock until you find everything though, because what if you know you’ve got za’atar but can’t find it for a while, or you give up trying to find the red miso you probably don’t actually have and use doenjang instead (totally worked too fwiw). The first two recipes I tried both required minor modifications, and both still totally turned out great. The smashburger is actually a vegan meat burger substitute (homemade) that kind of works assuming you don’t overcook them, don’t have them sit in the fridge for a week (they get a little tough but the end), and use the toppings (at least the onions). This is where I had to swap one fermented bean paste for another, and I don’t think it hurt anything, might even have helped. The other adjustment I had to make was to the gyro bowl; I don’t think I’ve ever seen actual soy curls {that is, the bigger ones, nto the crumbles} not on the internet; I used frozen unseasoned “chik’n” strips. This is where the za’atar totally does its thing; best use of that jar ever.
The green pozole involves a lot of cans, but it’s surprisingly rich even for me using light coconut milk instead of coconut cream. Honestly, I think the cream might have ended up being too much for me personally. Keeping with the color theme for a sec, the matcha waffles are actually kind of matcha-y, and not too sweet. They definitely need the “berries and cream” or something to go on them, because they get dry pretty quick (assuming you don’t eat the whole batch fresh).
This will definitely be one of those cookbooks I work my way all the way through.
