Fakeaway: Healthy Home-cooked Takeaway Meals

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Introducing Fakeaway, Chris Bavin's second solo best-selling cookbook sharing 100 simple recipes for takeaway-inspired meals that cater for everyone. So you want to look for fillet of fish, you have to go to the contents, look up the recipe, flip the 148 pages to the recipe.

Obviously, you can switch the recipe to make your own calzone pizza, using a meat or vegetable filling to suit your tastes. Szechuan pepper ribs and triple cooked pork slices, pad Thai, fish and chips – is it even Friday night if no-one says the all-important words, 'Shall we. I set up a three bowl prawn conveyor belt: flour and paprika in one, beaten egg in the second, lemon zest, desiccated coconut and breadcrumbs in the third, and tried (really quite successfully) to not get them all muddled together. We’re there to help you live life to the full, with advice and tips from household names and recognised experts in health, nutrition, wellbeing, money, homes, gardens and travel. Just chuck in some baked beans and a couple of sweetcorn cobettes and you’ve got yourself a full-blown KFC Fakeaway!I’ve never attempted to cook biryani at home, I didn’t think I’d have the expertise or time to make one. Chris Bavin, her co-presenter on Britain’s Best Home Cook and an ex-fruit and veg importer, wants to change that. If I'm in the mood for a pad Thai delivered to the door, I'm not in the mood to spend an hour-and-a-half at the stove with a work surface full of stuff and a long recipe. Using readily available ingredients, standard kitchen equipment and with tips on freezing, cost-saving and ditching single-use plastics, you can enjoy a fuss-free fakeaway with minimal effort and maximum flavour - all without leaving the house. The whole thing took 35-40 minutes (and I’m not an efficient cook), which is probably faster than a takeaway would take to arrive and without the additional nasties found in some.

Cleverly incorporating grated carrot and onion into the mix for added veg, the meatballs are quick to make and the salad is pleasantly refreshing, if a little bland – to be expected when the dressing consists of only two ingredients – yogurt and lemon juice.The introduction suggests “using rice instead of egg noodles” to make it gluten-free, but there’s no mention of egg noodles in the ingredients list. But when hankering after a plant-based treat, the takeaway menu isn't always the easiest thing to navigate. There are lots of healthy food and veg that you can choose from to make yours, including tomatoes, mushrooms, sweetcorn, ham, cooked chicken and peppers etc.

Divided into chapters on American, Chinese, Indian, Italian and Middle Eastern classics you'll find recipes which take just fifteen minutes to cook, slow-cooker recipes that do the hard work for you, and menus that will feed up to four people. Chinese food is ideal for a veggie diet as it makes the most of fresh vegetables and meat substitutes, and uses very little dairy - but at the same time packs fantastic flavour into everything. This Chinese Chicken and Broccoli combines chicken with crunchy vegetables, stir-fried with an authentic tasting sauce for maximum flavour. Recipes we love: Grilled Chicken Katsu Curry, Oven-baked Falafel with Roasted Pepper Dip, Healthy Scampi, and the Ultimate Chicken Burger. Keeping things low calorie means we can have a beer with it, or even treat ourselves to some naan bread.

The marinade took little more than a quick blitz to come together, but the addition of a red pepper meant it resembled a thick sauce, and after 40 minutes in the oven my wings came out wet and sloppy rather than crispy. Inspiring, mouth-watering and refreshingly practical, Fakeaway contains everything you need to know and more about recreating healthy and delicious takeaway meals for your family from scratch, all on a budget. Chris’ Better For You dishes are also simple to fit into a weight-loss programme, like Slimming World or Weight Watchers, making this a great family cookbook if you’re trying to lose a few pounds.