January is always the time of year when we want to stay at home and crave really good comfort food to feed our souls – even more so this year.

This cookery book ticks all the boxes. Full of recipes incorporating spices, herbs, creative vegetable combinations, warming soups, salads, delicious veggie pies, sweet treats and so much more.

Browse through this well-presented book and choose a favourite recipe to try. Simple recipes with easy-to-find ingredients. There is even a section on storecupboard ingredients.

Sweet Potato, Coconut & Thyme
(adapted from Bazaar by Sabrina Ghayour)

Ingredients
750g sweet potatoes, peeled
2 fat garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4-5 sprigs of thyme leaves, picked and roughly chopped (reserving some for garnish)
400ml full fat coconut milk
Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Serves 6
• Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (200 fan) or Gas Mark 7. Select a large baking tray or ovenproof dish about 26 x 20 cm
• Thinly slice the sweet potatoes by hand.
• Use one-quarter of the sweet potatoes to create an overlapping layer in the base of the baking tray or dish. Distribute one-third of the garlic and thyme over the potato layer and season generously with salt and pepper. Repeat the layering process, finishing with a layer of sweet potato slices. Pour over the coconut milk, then gently press down on the contents of the dish with a spatula to compress, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the reserved thyme.
• Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, then press down on the potato slices with the spatula to submerge them in the coconut milk. Return the dish to the oven and bake for a further 20-25 minutes.
• Serve immediately.

Cook’s Notes: If fresh thyme is not available use dried. Tinned coconut milk and sea salt are freely available from major supermarkets. I used pumpkin instead of sweet potato and also added a few rosemary sprigs.

Sweet Potato, Coconut & Thyme

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Course Main Course, Side Dish, starter

Ingredients

750 g sweet potatoes peeled
2 fat garlic cloves thinly sliced
4-5 sprigs of thyme leaves picked and roughly chopped (reserving some for garnish)
400 ml full fat coconut milk
Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (200 fan) or Gas Mark 7. Select a large baking tray or ovenproof dish about 26 x 20 cm
Thinly slice the sweet potatoes by hand.
Use one-quarter of the sweet potatoes to create an overlapping layer in the base of the baking tray or dish. Distribute one third of the garlic and thyme over the potato layer and season generously with salt and pepper. Repeat the layering process, finishing with a layer of sweet potato slices. Pour over the coconut milk, then gently press down on the contents of the dish with a spatula to compress, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the reserved thyme.
Bake for 20 minutes in the pre-heated oven, then press down on the potato slices with the spatula to submerge them in the coconut milk. Return the dish to the oven and bake for a further 20-25 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Keyword coconut, sweet potato, thyme, vegan, vegetarian

The health properties of garlic have been recognized for centuries, but have only recently been identified as the presence of significant amounts of selenium and Vitamin C, antioxidants which prevent heart disease. Thyme is also packed with antioxidants such as Vitamin C and Vitamin A, and sweet potatoes complete the antioxidant roll-call with Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin E to provide great protection from cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, heart disease and strokes. So sweet potato is definitely on the healthy food register!

So you can see that this recipe is a very nutritious – and tasty – way of presenting vegetables. Heart-warming and robust (ideal to serve with a veggie pie or spiced bean scotch eggs or a veggie casserole). Even dedicated meat-eaters cannot resist these tasty combinations!

Bazaar by Sabrina Ghayour is available from Amazon.

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