Words Megan Lyon, Images Amber Bremner
I was at an event a few years back and a colleague’s contribution was a vintage jar loaded with crisp and delicious seedy crackers. This five-seed recipe by Amber Bremner has been a constant of mine ever since and a go-to for taking a plate, being gluten free, vegan and, most importantly, utterly delicious! Nourish readers will be familiar with Amber and will be pleased to know they can get such recipes in Amber’s new cookbook Simply Veg.
Amber’s lengthy professional career in communication has writing as her mainstay. For years she coveted and read numerous cookbooks and food magazines, nursing her fantasy to become a food writer. But is wasn’t until she was on maternity leave 10 years ago that she saw a chance to take this notion further and began a blog, Quite Good Food, featuring her recipes for healthy, interesting and delicious plant-based meals. Nourish editor Vicki liked that Amber’s plant-based recipes were different to her own recipes, that she took her own photos and was clearly keen to learn and grow. Amber’s first column was printed in summer 2018.Vicki says, “I am super excited about her book, as I know firsthand how hard it is! And she has done it while juggling family and a full-time job.”
Amber’s food ethos is about making more good decisons more of the time, and she wants to meet people where they are at, free from labels, to share her creative plant-based recipes. She deliberately seeks out easy to source ingredients commonly found at the supermarket or local fruit and vegetable store. After all, this busy working mum knows the juggle all to well and wants to eat and share family friendly “good food with lots of flavour”. Her mushroom, onion and lentil pie (Nourish, Winter 2020) is on high rotation in the colder months and is still very popular with her family.
In 2023 Amber’s work came to the attention of Auckland publishing house Upstart Press looking to extend their stable, which has traditionally been non-fiction and children’s books. At her first meeting with editor Alison Brook everything she’d ever written was lined up across her desk and so began an excellent relationship and a cookbook that reflects the full creative control she was given.
Aside from her website and Nourish, Amber had direct experience in creating Wholesome, a 35-recipe cookbook for people being supported by Pathways, part of the Wise Group. Pathways is a non-profit provider of community-based mental health, alcohol, and other drug support services and this cookbook centred on healthy, mindful eating to nourish body and soul.
Amber spent nine months around work and family commitments to bring Simply Veg into fruition. Nourish photographer Ashlee DeCaires took the people photographs while Amber undertook a regimented plan for recipe testing and photographing all the dishes herself. At one point her daughters pleaded to have meals that were not “cookbook meals”! But these lifelong vegetarians are really into eating the way they have been brought up and have a willingness and adventurousness to give a wide variety of food a try. At home, produce sourced from their garden, including a much-loved avocado tree, provides a bounty to use.
Amber’s inspiration still comes from devouring cookbooks and cites Ottolenghi as her favourite and with his recipes still her most cooked. “Closer to home Emma Galloway has always been an inspiration to me (and it is a treat writing alongside her in Nourish now). I adore Amanda Logan’s work (My Goodness Kitchen, Australia). I have a large and random assortment of other authors including celebrities like Jamie Oliver and Peter Gordon, sweary Thug Kitchen books from the US, and books focused on food from southeast Asia, India and the Middle East.”
For Simple Veg, Amber’s 130+ recipes span quick weekday options to more elaborate gatherings. Yet they are all designed to get people more excited about cooking with vegetables. Chapters are going to make your life in the kitchen easier. For example, a chapter devoted to Prep is going to be your secret weapon to save money, boost flavour and pull quick meals together on the fly. Hearty promises hearty and satisfying, full-flavoured vegetable dishes that prioritise plant-based protein a bit more, and a few ways with tofu and tempeh. Sweet holds the key to a selection of classic baking or dessert, reinvented to work with plant-based ingredients, and made more nutritious where possible.
Kathryn Swann designed Simply Veg and it is bold in colour and typography with its clashing colours of bright pink and orange reminiscent of a woodcut print. Amber is excited to officially launch it in April and as always is excited to have people extend their cooking repertoire by giving more plant-based recipes a go as she enthusiastically affirms “eating well is always worth it!”
CHOCOLATE AND KŪMARA BROWNIE
This is a simple and reliable gluten-free brownie recipe made with pretty healthy ingredients (if we ignore the dark chocolate for a minute!). Combined with aquafaba as an egg replacer, oat flour helps the brownie set well and gives it a moist, dense texture. Grated kūmara adds natural sweetness, vitamins and fibre; you’d barely know it’s there. This brownie is rich and chocolatey and not too sweet, making it an ideal sweet snack or lunchbox filler.
Makes about 24 squares
Wet
¾ cup non-dairy milk
⅓ cup brown rice syrup (or maple or agave syrup)
¼ cup neutral-flavoured cooking oil
¼ cup aquafaba (the liquid from canned chickpeas)
1 tsp vanilla paste or natural vanilla extract
Dry
180 g / 2 cups grated orange kūmara (sweet potato)
150 g dark chocolate drops or chopped dark chocolate 120 g / 1 ½ cups oat flour
(certified gluten-free if required)
40 g / ½ cup ground almonds (almond meal)
35 g / ½ cup cocoa, sieved 1 tsp baking powder (check label if gluten-free)
Pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 190ºC fan bake (or 210ºC conventional oven) and grease and line an 18 x 27 cm baking tin.
Mix wet ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Mix dry ingredients together in a separate mixing bowl (reserving a small amount of chocolate for the topping), then pour in the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
Pour batter into the pre-prepared baking tin and smooth the surface. Sprinkle over reserved chocolate.
Bake for 30–35 minutes. Once done, the brownie will pull away from the sides of the pan a little and look ‘cooked’ but will be a bit soft to the touch, and a skewer will not come out clean. You want the middle to be still a bit fudgy.
Allow the brownie to cool in the tin completely, then remove it and cut it into even-sized pieces.
Tip
I make my own oat flour using my blender, which is a handy way to ensure it’s fresh and just the amount needed. You can buy oat flour pre-made if you prefer or don’t have a blender that’s up to the job.
Extracted with permission from Simply Veg by Amber Bremner, $49.99RRP (Upstart Press)
Order your copy at www.quitegoodfood.co.nz