Books & Literature

Recipe Book Review: Super Green: Simple and Lean, by Sally Obermeder and Maha Koraiem

A very easy to follow recipe book of healthy green smoothies, salads, bowls and snacks, focussing on simplicity, taste and nutrition.

I’m a simple cook which makes me prone to quick and easy recipes that aren’t always the healthiest of choices. Even homemade fast foods can often swap nutrition for flavour. That’s why Sally Obermeder and Maha Koraiem’s newest cookbook is a Godsend for people like me.

As the title suggests, this dynamic duo have provided 140 recipes that are healthy, easy follow and, in most instances, incredibly quick.

The soft cover binding and pages in between are coated to protect them from spills – a very useful feature for messy cooks like myself. The book is colourful, and filled with stunning photos of the food and lifestyle snaps of the authors, thanks to a small collective of photographers.

Super Green goes beyond the presumed green smoothie recipes that the title suggests. It’s divided into four distinct sections: Smoothies, Salads, (Health) Bowls and Snacks, preceded by an excellent chatty introduction that covers everything from the basic ingredients to information on detoxing and various ‘superfoods’. The informal style of writing makes Super Green and enjoyable and interesting read throughout.

Among the four recipe sections are surprising tips to discover which cater to those who value presentation and those who value their social media presence. Check out the chapter on Make Your Smoothie Instagram Worthy from page 98 or how to Supercharge Your Smoothie on page 114. Many of the recipes themselves offer tips and tricks, including what to do with leftovers, substitute ingredients or how to make a light recipe more filling.

After narrowing down the recipes to seven that I wanted to sample, I made a quick decision to cull that down to two recipes to take to a dinner party where everyone had to bring a plate. Both choices were a success and, when I asked for honest feedback, including any negatives, there was nothing but praise from everyone.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (page 232)

As a starter I chose one of eight quick hummus dips. This one features roasted capsicum, Kalamata olives and mint. The recipe itself is designed for only two people. The idea is to spread pre-purchased hummus on a plate, then top it with the additional ingredients. For my trial of this recipe, I made a massive bowl of it, increasing the volume of each ingredient and mixing it all together to form a dip. It disappeared in its entirety before dinner, despite being an unexpected additional nibble on the table. The hummus was moreish and popular and is one I will readily do again. One guest even said “I hate olives, but your hummus is wonderful. I can taste them but I don’t feel like I’m eating olives at all!”

The Five-Minute Satisfier (page 128)

The name of this show-stealing raw vegetable salad is a blatant lie. It takes far more than five minutes to prepare but, once complete, it rightly received a lot of oooo’s and ahhhh’s. Even I was quite stunned by how tempting and good this salad looked in the bowl. The bright colours stand out on the table and the tangy taste of lime is subtle but definitely satisfying. Again, this recipe is provided for two people, but it’s easy to increase the volume because it’s just so simple to make. The time is taken up washing and chopping the ingredients, which include red cabbage, broccoli, basil, coriander and lime. A food processor would speed things up significantly however, which is what the recipe suggests. Would I make this recipe again? The Post-It Note I’ve marked the page with makes that a resounding YES.

Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet

Rating out of 10:  10

Released by: Allen and Unwin
Release Date: September 2017
RRP: $24.99

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