About

How it all started.

Who would have ever thought that I’d start writing voluntarily?! Well, Ottolenghi’s SIMPLE cookbook sparked this moment (or maybe it were the concussions). Cause why do we finish fiction books but not cooking books? I asked myself this question and set myself the challenge: to make all the (vegetarian) dishes from the book and rate them (but on that later move)

A bit of background.

At the end of my internship at Upfield (the company behind Flora and Blue Band), the team gave me a farewell present: Ottolenghi’s SIMPLE. Back then, it was fairly new and Ottolenghi wasn’t nearly as well-known—at least, I hadn’t heard of him at the time. I wasn’t really sure what to make of the cookbook, but it looked cool. I liked the big lemon on the front, and as a student, I was always happy with free gifts.

This book has travelled with me from my first flat with Puck and Lonneke to living with Daniëlle (who also had the book), and eventually to my flats in London. Though the copy I have now isn’t the original I started with—that one’s with my mum. Since Daniëlle also had the book, I left mine at my parents’ so Mum could use it as well. And she did! She loved it so much that when I moved to London, she decided to buy me a new (second-hand) copy for my London flat.

The challenge.

A few years ago, I had a random thought: why do we finish fiction and non-fiction books but never really complete cooking books? So I started a challenge to make all the vegetarian recipes from the book and rank them. To mark the recipes I hadn’t made yet, I used either green or pink labels. Green meant “up my street” and pink meant “doesn’t float my boat”. After making each recipe, I’d rate it from 0 (never making it again) to 10 (definitely making it again). The ranking is of course the most objective ever and has a balance of how difficult it was to make it, the taste, how unique the flavours are, and probably my mood on that day.

Six years later, the moment has arrived—I’ve finally finished the book!! Since many of you got to enjoy (or endure) the recipes, share my love of cooking, and most importantly, also own this cookbook, I thought it would be fun to write about the journey of me and Otto. Expect some, I hope, brilliant stories about my absolute favourites, greatest hits, special moments, but also my biggest fails.

The name: Nadini Tahini.

I spent some time thinking about what to call this website. I wanted a name that would encompass not just Ottolenghi’s recipes, but also my broader love for Middle Eastern cuisine. Tahini is one of my favourite ingredients, and I have my lovely friend Puck to thank for coming up with “Nadini Tahini”. After that, all that was left was to buy the domain name, build the website, and start writing recipe reviews!