Despite holding the record for the second-fastest-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began, Kate and Kay Allinson – the brains behind Pinch of Nom – are relatively private people. They don’t do many interviews and you won’t see them whipping up a storm on daytime cooking shows, yet the duo seem remarkably comfortable fielding questions about their latest cookbook, Pinch Of Nom: Budget. Kate, 52, is the softer-spoken of the two – she’s a trained chef – while Kay, 37, is more outgoing and talkative. The two have been together for 18 years and married for two. Their clashing personalities might come as a surprise, but they make it work – for example, by having two freezers. “One is my freezer, one is Kate’s – there’s a big difference between the two of them,” Kay says matter-of-factly. “I’ve got ADHD, so she has to put up with a lot. Kate’s the tidy, organised one – if I put it this way, if I’m putting the food shopping away, she’s like, ‘You’re not putting the food shopping away, I’m putting it away, because it’ll go away in some sort of order’.” Kay works with “lots of noise, lots of mess, lots of creativity, disorganisation”, she admits. “And Kate is the polar opposite – everything has to be quiet, everything has to be neat and tidy. I think it works because we complement each other in different ways. “You [she says to Kate] make sure I actually get through the day without harming myself, and I give you the ideas – so it works.” The two have made an empire with their healthy cookbooks. The first Pinch Of Nom cookbook came out in 2019 and sold 210,506 copies in the first week – the only non-fiction title to outstrip that is Spare by the Duke of Sussex. Their fanbase is loyal, and they have 1.2 million followers on Instagram – but don’t call them diet books (Kay doesn’t use the D-word, saying: “I hate it”.) Now, the duo are releasing their first book specifically geared towards wallet-friendly recipes – which felt like a natural progression. “Most of the recipes we’ve ever come up with, one of the main goals – apart from it being actual food you want to eat, because that always helps when you’re making a recipe book – is they’re easy to make, but also that they don’t break the bank,” Kay says. Kate adds to that thought: “Given our audience from day one, our audience has always been very family orientated.” “And running a family is expensive enough, especially at the minute – thank you Brexit,” Kay sighs. “Food inflation is not fun for anyone at the minute – it’s ridiculous out there, it’s crazy. The amount of people that rely on food banks – food poverty is a really big issue.” While there are no price guarantees with their recipes, most dishes come to under £2 to make and many cost even less – busting the misconception that healthy eating is expensive. “Whatever it is, you can make it expensive – there’s ways and means to do things,” Kay says. “If you want to do healthy food organically, it’s not going to come cheap. If you want to go to Daylesford Organic for your food, that’s fine. But most real people that live on a day-to-day basis will shop at one of the big four supermarkets or the big two discounters. We all know who they are. And we want people to be able to buy all the recipes and the ingredients in one place and not have to traipse around everywhere. “We want to make it as easy as possible – people are time-poor. Maintaining a family and making sure everyone is fed and looked after is hard enough – the last thing you need is to traipse around the big posh supermarket trying to find weird ingredients.” This could be the couple’s secret to success – they’re refreshingly normal, and even talk about their own “bumpy journey” with healthy eating. “We said last week, we’re going to meal plan all week – what didn’t we do? We didn’t get round to cooking the meals, because we’re busy doing other stuff – because that always happens,” Kay says – but all wasn’t lost, because they used their number one tip for keeping healthy and saving money: the freezer. “It’s always handy to have something in the freezer or in the fridge that on that day when you come home from work and you cannot be arsed – everyone has that day or that week. To be fair, it’s usually a couple of days,” says Kay. “Getting something out of the freezer that you know is going to taste good, you only have to heat it up – you don’t have to make it. Just having that reassurance that you can fall back on it.” Kate and Kay estimate there are around 3,000 Pinch of Nom recipes, created by themselves and their team. With such a vast number, do they ever get writer’s block? “We do get stuck for inspiration, quite often,” Kate admits – and in those scenarios, their first port of call is going to the Facebook group “and look to see what people want”. Kay jumps in: “We’ll ask them what they want to see. I used to post every week in the Facebook group without fail, ‘OK, tell us what dishes you want. What do you want a Nom version of?’ “Don’t get me wrong, there were some ridiculous requests – there is no way the chocolate cake from Matilda was ever going to be Nommable, that is just not going to happen. As much as I would love to be a magician and I would love for that to be real.” Other suggestions are a bit more feasible – and they’ve seen a big rise in demand for veggie recipes. “A lot of people – we’re the same, it’s not that we don’t like meat, but we’ve made a conscious choice to eat less meat, mainly because of cost. Meat costs a fortune, and if you can get your protein from plants, then yay – it’s a good thing,” Kay says. “So we’ve had an awful lot of veggies recently, or people just wanting to cut down on meat – and I’m assuming it’s because it’s friggin’ expensive.” Another trend that will never go away? “We still get loads of fakeaway requests,” Kay says. “Fakeaways are never going to disappear, ever.” Kay adds: “We like to give people a decent amount of stuff that isn’t quite as calorific as it would ordinarily be, but enough so you have something to look forward to in the week. Everyone needs a bit of a treat, because it’s no fun – when people think of diets, they think of lettuce. I do, and I’m like – it’s a bit boring. Sod that.” ‘Pinch Of Nom: Budget’ by Kate and Kay Allinson (Bluebird, £17.99). Read More Get set for Wimbledon with top pastry chef’s strawberry recipes The Norwegian sparkling wine aged at the bottom of the sea I was an air fryer sceptic – now I can’t stop using it Ditch Deliveroo – make these healthy, 30-minute pizzas instead Three quick and easy vegan fakeaway recipes The dish that defines me: Eddie Huang’s Taiwanese beef noodle soup

Borrowing the best bits from two of our favourite comfort foods, this epic chilli mac ’n’ cheese is a batch-cook sensation,” say Kate and Kay Allinson, the brains behind Pinch of Nom. They call this one-pot dish “deliciously indulgent”, adding: “We’ve kept things on the milder side with a couple of teaspoons of chilli powder, but there’s nothing to stop you turning up the heat if you’re feeling brave. Don’t forget to save freezer-friendly portions for a rainy day!” Chilli mac ‘n’ cheese Serves: 6 Ingredients: Low-calorie cooking spray 2 onions, peeled and finely diced 2 carrots, peeled and diced 500g 5%-fat minced beef 4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 2 tsp mild chilli powder 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp dried oregano 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes 2 peppers, any colour, deseeded and diced 2 tbsp tomato puree 2 tbsp Henderson’s Relish 600ml beef stock (2 beef stock cubes dissolved in 600ml boiling water) 300g dried macaroni 1 x 400g tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed 180g reduced-fat mature Cheddar, grated Small handful of fresh coriander, chopped (optional) Method: 1. Spray a large saucepan with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a medium heat. Add the onions and carrots and sauté for five minutes until softened. 2. Add the mince and cook for a further five minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up any lumps, until the mince is no longer pink. 3. Add the garlic, chilli powder, cumin and oregano and stir in for one minute until the spices become fragrant. Add the chopped tomatoes, peppers, tomato puree, Henderson’s Relish and stock, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat to medium-low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 20 minutes, until the carrots are soft. 4. Add the macaroni to the pan, stir well and replace the lid. Allow to cook for a further 10-12 minutes, until the pasta is just cooked. 5. Stir in the beans and cheese, reserving a little cheese to garnish if you wish, allowing two minutes for the beans to heat through and the cheese to melt. 6. Stir in the coriander, if using, and serve! ‘Pinch Of Nom: Budget’ by Kate and Kay Allinson (Bluebird, £17.99). Read More Get set for Wimbledon with top pastry chef’s strawberry recipes Pinch of Nom: Healthy eating doesn’t have to cost the earth The Norwegian sparkling wine aged at the bottom of the sea I was an air fryer sceptic – now I can’t stop using it Ditch Deliveroo – make these healthy, 30-minute pizzas instead Three quick and easy vegan fakeaway recipes

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Burger King has confounded fast-food fans after unveiling its newest menu item, a burger-less cheeseburger that consists of a bun and 20 slices of American cheese. Earlier this week, Burger King Thailand shared a first look at the cheeseburger, which the fast-food chain has named the “real cheeseburger,” on social media. “Not for fun, this is for real!” a 9 July post on the official Burger King Thailand Facebook reads. The post also included a photo of the cheeseburger, which is piled high with melted cheese slices and nothing else. According to Burger King Thailand, the limited-edition menu item launched on Sunday and is available for a reduced price of 109 Thai baht ($3.14), compared to the usual price of 380 baht ($10.95) for a cheeseburger. In the comments of the Facebook post, the fast-food chain also informed customers that they can “order more cheese” to add to the burger for just 20 Thai baht if they are “not satisfied”. On social media, the cheese-focused burger has sparked both confusion and disgust among viewers, with many questioning why the fast-food chain would release the menu item. “I am, quite literally, gagging,” one person tweeted, while another said: “My stomach hurt just looking at this picture.” According to someone else, the cheeseburger is the “most degenerate food item [they’ve] ever seen”. “Taking Thailand off my bucket list,” another person joked in response to the latest Burger King menu item. As for why the burger exists in the first place, food blogger Richard Barrow, who tried the new cheeseburger himself, according to his Twitter, claimed the “trend” in Thailand is to “put cheese on literally everything”. “A trend in Thailand is to put cheese on literally everything. Now Burger King has joined in with the real cheeseburger. Though I think they forgot the meat,” Barrow tweeted alongside pictures of his own order of the cheese-packed burger. In the post, Barrow then revealed that he “struggled eating even half” of the burger, despite loving cheese. “I love cheese but I struggled eating even half of this ‘burger’. Maybe I should grill the other half? What do you think?” he wrote. Although the cheese on the cheeseburger appears to be melted slightly in Burger King Thailand’s advertisement for the menu item, Barrow’s photos show 20 slices of non-melted cheese stacked neatly inside a sesame bun. As for whether the cheeseburger comes with anything apart from cheese, such as condiments, Barrow confirmed in response to one curious viewer that it’s “just cheese”. While the majority of reactions to the Burger King cheeseburger were negative, there were some who admitted they were intrigued by the fast food item. “I NEED,” one person tweeted, while another said: “I would 100 per cent eat this.” In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson for Burger King confirmed the cheeseburger, which will only be available until 13 July, “will not be featured in any Burger King location outside of Thailand”. Read More McDonald’s unveils major change to its most iconic burger What diet drinks don’t have aspartame in them? McDonald’s increases price of five menu items Burger King launches ‘real cheeseburger’ stuffed with 20 slices of cheese Google Doodle celebrates pani puri, the much-loved Indian street snack Nigella says extravagant dinner parties are a thing of the past. I wish she was wrong

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Today’s Google Doodle celebrates one of India’s most famous street food snacks – the bite-sized pani puri. The dish is one of India’s most popular street foods and can incorporate many different flavours depending on the ingredients used and where in the country it is being made. The popular snack consists of a crispy, deep-fried shell that is cracked open on one side and stuffed with any combination of potatoes, chickpeas, spices or chillies dunked in flavoured water. The tiny snack is best eaten quickly in rounds, with customers dipping the shell into the water and popping it whole into their mouths before the next shell is offered. The sweet and savoury dish goes by different names in different parts of India. In capital Delhi, it is known as gol gappa, while in West Bengal, Bihar and Nepal, the snack is called phuchka. In southwestern Maharashtra, it is known by the staple pani puri, while in northern Haryana state, it is called paani patashi. In central Madhya Pradesh, the snack goes by fulki and in Uttar Pradesh, it’s called pani ke batashe or padake. In the northeastern state of Assam, locals call it the phuska, while Gujaratis call it pakodi. In parts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, locals call the snack Gup-chup. The process of making the humble pani puri is simple and the filling can be made according to the preference of the person eating it. The options usually consist of a potato stuffing, mashed chickpeas stuffing, boondi or tiny fried gram flour balls. A hot ragda stuffing can also be used, which is a curry or gravy preparation made from dried white peas, spices and seasonings. The server pokes a hole in the deep-drief hollow shell called the puri and fills the stuffing in it. The flavoured water, or pani in Hindi, used to dunk the filling is made either of tamarind, asafoetida, mint, garlic, lemon or jaljeera – a type of flavoured water made with chilli, cumin (jeera) and water (jal, which is another word for water) – and is served to customers one by one. One plate of pani puri usually consists of six to eight bites and costs between Rs 20-40 (£0.20-£0.40). The staple Indian snack is available in almost every north Indian restaurant locally and has only grown in popularity abroad. London’s high end Indian restaurants, like Dishoom, Roti Chai, Indian Accent and Gunpowder, also serve the dish. The snack is best enjoyed when the flavoured water is served cold. Today’s Google Doodle features a bespoke video game in which players “serve” customers’ orders for pani puri with different fillings. Google said 12 July marked the anniversary of a World Record set in 2015 for the most flavours of pani puri offered by one restaurant. It was claimed by eatery Indori Zayka in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Read More How to shop at Borough Market in the summer ‘We call them Picky Bits’: Nigella Lawson responds to viral ‘Girl Dinner’ trend Get set for Wimbledon with these strawberry recipes Indian food influencer’s digestive mocktail recipe mocked online Ali Ahmed Aslam, chicken tikka masala ‘inventor’, dies at age 77 The tiny profit UK farmers make from the food they grow

Oh, to be a guest at a dinner party thrown by Nigella Lawson. It’s the stuff of dreams. On TV, she always made hosting look so effortlessly elegant, passing around plates piled high with luscious-looking food to her laughing guests, fairy lights twinkling above them as though they were ethereal beings blessed by the Domestic Goddess herself. To my teenage self, having a glamorous dinner party was the height of adulthood – Nigella was a huge inspiration. But these days, Nigella says she is less inclined to host a big dinner party – the ones that the public see on her shows like Nigellissima and Nigella Feasts are actually rare. In a new interview with The Times, she revealed that she has fallen “out of the habit” of big gatherings, adding: “I’ll have a person or a couple of people over quite often and I keep planning to have people round in a proper grown-up way but I haven’t yet. I must! I feel a bit guilty because people have had me for dinner and I haven’t had them back.” One could argue that it’s fair for dinner parties to be a thing of the past for Lawson, who has been setting the bar for these things for the past 20 years or so. She can and should do whatever she likes that makes her comfortable. But for me, a woman in her thirties, I still haven’t had the pleasure of planning and throwing a Nigella-level dinner party, and that makes me rather sad. I want to be the hostess with the mostest. I sometimes fantasise about who I’d invite, what I’d cook, what dishes I’d use, what playlist I’d throw on. When I lived in Malaysia, I had a large flat all to myself for just a few months. This period coincided with a New Year’s Eve that, at the last minute, had me throwing a party for everyone who didn’t already have plans. It wasn’t a Nigella-esque party given its eleventh hour nature, but it was perfect for the time – we ordered pizzas and people brought snacks and booze, and we all stayed up late chatting, listening to music, ringing in the new year. What bliss! But modern living quarters have shrunk so much that it makes me claustrophobic just thinking about it. These days, even the idea of a dining room that is separate from the living room feels like a pipe dream for my generation. Entire houses that would have been occupied by one family have been sliced into flats that squeeze multiple households under one roof. The abominable creation of “studio apartments” that force tenants to cook, eat, and sleep in the same space hardly offer the means to have friends over for dinner. Don’t even speak to me about buying a house – I’m just trying to keep my head above water with rent prices, which reached record highs in June. And no, giving up lattes from Pret has not helped one iota. Inflation and wage stagnation have also stamped on my dreams of being a dinner party pro. I’m sorry to be That Person, but have you done a weekly grocery shop recently? I find myself wincing at the checkout more and more with each shop, and I’m only shopping for two. I can’t imagine buying a week’s worth of groceries for a family, let alone a party of more than four. This year, I made a Chinese New Year meal for six people – two of us had to eat on the sofa – and the cost nearly bowled me over. I desperately wanted to do it, but I did not relish looking at my bank balance afterwards. Then there’s the cost of decorations to think about. If TikTok videos are to be believed, decorating is easy as pie, with hundreds of influencers telling you that all you need is a unique table runner; huge bunches of beautiful flowers dotted around; mismatched tableware for a cutesy, vintage feel; tall candles; linen napkins tied up with string. But all of this costs more money than you’d expect, and “hacks” like getting up at 5am to go to Columbia Road Flower Market to get cheaper blooms aren’t all that helpful when work and other commitments demand your time. Of course, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Nigella’s suggestion of serving Twiglets as a starter is unconventional, but fun and cheap; as is her preferred method of making “a big plate of food, taking it out and seeing everyone eat”. Certainly, her latest Ocado recipe for sardine spaghetti – which uses humble tinned sardines in tomato sauce – is cheap, cheerful and entirely delicious, perfectly suited for feeding a large number of people on a budget. This isn’t too surprising: Nigella has always had her finger on the pulse of the public mood, and her other recent Ocado recipes, which feed four people for under £5, will come in handy for many who are struggling. But looking back at the dinner parties she’s hosted on her TV shows, perhaps they weren’t so lavish after all. The immense appeal and pleasure of Nigella’s gatherings has always stemmed from the fact that she cooks what she loves, for people she loves, no matter the number. Her shows, too, made these intimate parties look sparkly and lavish, but underneath all of them lay the bare bones of a great night in: sharing delicious food with wonderful company. I can’t help but grieve for the parties I could’ve had by now. I wish I could fill my home with people without worrying about whether there are enough chairs or if the neighbours above and below me are grinding their teeth, waiting for 10pm to roll around so they can knock on the door and tell us to keep it down. It remains my fervent aspiration, still, to someday throw a Nigella Feasts-worthy dinner party. 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Nigella Lawson is ditching extravagant dinner parties for more relaxed mealtimes with friends. You might have assumed that the celebrity chef and food writer, who is known for the polished, decadant style of her TV cooking shows, regularly hosts glamorous dinner parties for her friends and family. But in a new interview, Lawson, 63, has explained that this is now a rare occurrence, and that she prefers to serve Twiglets to her friends instead. “I’ll have a person or a couple of people over quite often and I keep planning to have people round in a proper, grown-up way but I haven’t yet,” the food writer told The Times, explaining she has got “out of the habit” of hosting dinner parties. Lawson revealed that she prefers a more relaxed environment and would happily encourage her friends to arrive at her home wearing their pyjamas. “I’m very happy for a friend to come over in their pyjamas to have supper.” “I recently served Twiglets as a starter,” she told the publication. “There were some Americans there and I felt it my duty to introduce them.” She added that the idea of clearing plates, knives and forks before the main course is “so unrelaxing” and can make things feel “choreographed”. “I like to do a big plate of food, taking it out and seeing everyone eat. I like abundance and I feel that’s easier to do with one course,” she said. When she does host friends, Lawson prefers a more laid-back buffet-style dinner. At her open-plan home in Chelsea, she has two tables, one for the people to be seated at, and one for the food. “I think narrow tables are better for conversation, so we sit at one and I put the dinner on the other so people can help themselves.” It comes as Lawson responded to a viral “girl dinner” trend that is sweeping the internet. On Saturday, The New York Times detailed the new TikTok phenomenon in an article with the headline: “Is It a Meal? A Snack? No, It’s ‘Girl Dinner’”. According to the publication, the phrase was coined a few months ago by TikTok user Olivia Maher, who posted a video in which she spoke about the virtues of a medieval-style dinner. “I can’t find the TikTok right now but a girl just came on here and said in the Medieval times, peasants had to eat nothing but bread and cheese and how awful that was,” she says in the clip, which has since been watched more then one million times. “And she was like, ‘That’s my ideal meal,’” Maher added before showing her dinner to the camera, revealing a selection of bread, cheese, grapes and pickles. The article has prompted a mixed response on social media, with some accusing it of promoting disordered eating while others claim the diet is nothing new and mimics those adopted by mediterranean cultures. Lawson responded to the article by tweeting: “And we call them Picky Bits.” Read More Woman shares co-worker’s ‘infuriating’ response to her decision to not have children 5 late summer blooms to plant now Buckingham Palace responds to Joe Biden’s ‘protocol breach’ with King Charles ‘We call them Picky Bits’: Nigella Lawson responds to viral ‘Girl Dinner’ trend Get set for Wimbledon with top pastry chef’s strawberry recipes How to cook kohlrabi

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