Don't stop now! Keep Veganuary going with these great dishes
Raw: Recipes for a Modern Vegetarian Lifestyle by Solla Eiríksdóttir proves healthy food doesn’t have to be hard
If the last week of Veganuary is proving tough - or if you want to make a longer term commitment to healthy eating - you might want to try something out of The Icelandic chef Solla Eiríksdóttir's book Raw. It's way easier than you think.
Indeed, Solla herself hasn’t always been a vegetarian. In the introduction to her book Raw: Recipes for a Modern Vegetarian Lifestyle, the Icelandic TV chef and restaurateur recalls her first attempt at home cooking, as a young housewife. “I served burned, ground meat with remoulade and very undercooked potatoes,” she says.
That changed one day, when Eiríksdóttir’s health took a turn for the worse. “I had suffered from allergies from childhood and they had been getting worse, so I went to a doctor to see if he could give me an allergy injection,” she writes in Raw. “Hildur (her daughter) was three-months-old at the time, so I took her with me. As I was speaking with the doctor she started crying and to console her I breastfed her.
“The doctor told me I would have to stop breastfeeding altogether after the injection. This was a shock, so I decided I had to think about it and went out for a walk. As I was wandering around, feeling hopeless, I stumbled upon a health food store. I went inside and met a herbalist who would change my life forever.”
She cut out sugar and refined foods and learned how to cook. Her allergies cleared up, and she went on to share her love of meat-free food with her fellow Icelanders, opening the country’s first vegetarian restaurant, Gló, back in 1994. Today, she is a leading figure within vegan cookery - and the picture of health!
So if you're looking for inspiration maybe to make a longer term commitment to healthy eating - you might want to try something out of Solla’s book Raw, such as pistachio and kale hummus, her update for the Middle-Eastern staple, which she likes to drizzle with olive oil and serve on crackers.
Or how about quinoa pizza crust, her gluten-free take on the pizza pie, which she tops with sprigs of rosemary and a spoonful of truffle oil.
And if you want to indulge yourself a little, Raw also boasts a vegan burger and root vegetable fries recipe, which is packed with mushrooms, beans, sweet potato and chia seeds, and topped with smoky coconut. Surely that’s dinner sorted?
To get all these recipes and much more order a copy of Raw here. Divided into five chapters – breakfast, snacks, light lunches, main dishes, and sweet treats – the book abounds with bright, fresh tastes (think turmeric tostadas, kelp noodles with tofu, and even vegan vanilla ice cream!). You can order it here.