Vegging In: Meera Sodha

Can you share some examples of delicious, healthy vegan alternatives to classic carb fests?

I love tofu, fried hard and covered in a garlic, soy and chilli sauce, like in my chilli tofu (although it is extra delicious with a charred roti on the side) and this tofu, coconut and green bean curry is a perfect and lively mid-week recipe.

Does cooking vegan food force you to be more creative? If so, in what ways?

In writing my Guardian vegan column (in which I write a new recipe every week) I have to constantly find new and interesting ways to transform vegetables into a meal for four. I’m always experimenting with new ingredients – and new ways of cooking them. Often, I don't know exactly what will happen and I have to be prepared to fail regularly in order to learn something and get somewhere better.

What are some of your favourite ways to work up an appetite – or burn off a big meal – at Watergate Bay?

The pool at Watergate Bay is one of my happy places. I would happily spend an hour there swimming some lengths. The beach is magnificent too. My husband really likes to go surfing and one of these days, I'll work up the courage to go with him.

I always go with the intention of being active but as soon as I get to Watergate Bay, the simple life gets the better of me. I love climbing the rocks with my five-year-old and plunging my fists into the sand. And my husband Hugh and I had the most idyllic meal looking out over a magical sunset at Emily Scott's restaurant.

Is there an ingredient that instantly makes you think of Cornwall, or taste that transports you back to Watergate Bay?

Waffles! The last time we stayed, we were in the new beach lofts where there is a waffle-making station en route to our room. That smell is inimitable and, for me, it really is Watergate Bay's signature smell.

Of all the vegan recipes in your books and Guardian column, which ones do you return to again and again?

The recipes I come back to time and time again are the most flavourful but lowest effort recipes – as my children are still very young. In the spring, I'll make my spring pilau with asparagus and fennel. In the summer, I love cooking my tomato curry for when tomatoes are ripe to bursting. In the autumn, this cavolo nero and spelt dish is gorgeous, and in the winter I love cooking my Thai green curry for friends and family. You whizz up the paste and cook it out. It couldn't be simpler.

Do you still eat meat?

90% of what I eat comes from plants – it’s how I've always eaten growing up in a Gujarati Indian house. However, I leave a little room in my diet for meat, fish and dairy out of pleasure or tradition. I have been vegetarian on and off for years and vegan for months at a time but I always come back to this way of eating as it works for me.

East was such a brilliant, inspirational yet accessible cookbook. What are you working on next?

Thank you, that’s so kind. I’m working on another book, but slowly. Asia is gradually opening up after the pandemic and I am planning an escape – in the name of food research.