Jamie Oliver under fire as cooks claim recipes in his 30-minute meals bestseller take more than an HOUR to make (2024)

30 minutes? Even as a reasonably competent cook I found the timings were way out. One recipe took an hour and a half - Puzzled

I made Greek feta cheese pie with two salads and one ic cream dessert. It took two and half hours and was almost in panic - Learner

The book should be called 30 minutes of madness and mayhem. You will have lovely food but you may need to lie down in a darkened room and call in a cleaner - E F Clancy, UK

Delicious, but only a speedy Jamie can cook the meals in 30 min - P Henriksen

30 minutes is wishful thinking. I cook quite a lot and so know my way around the kitchen and am averaging about 45-50 minutes - Steve

The time required to prepare and cook each meal is much longer than suggested given that we don't all have a fresh herb garden to hand and have ordinary kitchens - Sylvia, Spain

The 30 minutes doesn't take into account sorting out pans, filling kettles, dragging veggies and ingredients out of the cupboard and getting together the cooking utensils - Mu Lane, UK

The book should be renamed The Thirty Minute Miracle - John d

Some of the ideas are just too expensive for me, a retired person. i.e. a fillet of beef for a middle of the week meal? That is for high days and holidays occasionally - Maureen

The recipes generate a lot of mess and, as I do not have a dishwasher or children to do the job, this has become tiresome - Kate Ward, Wolverhampton

Why on earth is it called a 30 minute cookbook. If you were told your flight to New York would take 30 minutes you wouldn't fall for it would you - bert the scribe

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Thai red prawn curry, jasmine rice, cucumber salad, papaya platter - serves four

INGREDIENTS

Red Curry
• 8 large unpeeled raw tiger prawns
• 220g small cooked prawns
• 200g sugar snap peas
• 2 stalks of lemongrass
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 2 cloves of garlic
• optional: 4 kaffir lime leaves, fresh, dried or frozen
• a bunch of fresh coriander
• 2 jarred red peppers in oil
• 1 heaped teaspoon tomato purée
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2cm piece of fresh ginger
• 1 x 400g tin of coconut milk
• 2 limes, to serve
• 1 bag of prawn crackers, to serve

Seasonings
• olive oil
• extra virgin olive oil sea salt & black pepper

Papaya Platter
• 2 papayas
• Greek yoghurt
• 1 lime
• 2 bananas
• a few sprigs of fresh mint
• optional: some biscuits or macaroons, to serve

Cucumber Salad
• 2cm piece of fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 lime
• 1 cucumber
• a small handful of fresh coriander
• 1/2 a fresh red chilli

METHOD

Turn the oven on to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Fill and boil the kettle. Put the standard blade attachment into the food processor.

Cucumber Salad
Peel and grate 2cm of fresh ginger on to a serving platter and add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime, then check the seasoning. Use a speed-peeler to peel the cucumber in long ribbons over the platter. Discard the watery core. Take a small handful of coriander and finely chop the stalks, putting the leaves aside. Sprinkle the stalks over the cucumber. Finely chop 1/2 a chilli and sprinkle over. Take to the table but don’t toss and dress until you’re ready to eat.

Jasmine Rice
Put a medium saucepan on a medium heat. Add the mug of rice, a pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil, the 2 jasmine teabags or flower, and cover with 2 mugs of boiling water (use the same mug you used for the rice). Cover with a lid and cook for 7 minutes, then take off the heat and leave to steam with the lid on for 7 minutes.

Red Curry
Put a large frying pan on a medium heat. Trim the ends and tough outer leaves of the lemongrass stalks, bash up the stalks with the side of a knife, then put into a food processor with 1 fresh red chilli (stalk removed), 2 peeled cloves of garlic, 4 lime leaves, a bunch of coriander, 2 jarred red peppers, 1 heaped teaspoon of tomato purée, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Peel and add 2cm of fresh ginger. Blitz to a paste – you might need to stop and use a spatula to scrape down the sides so it all gets whizzed up.
Drizzle some olive oil into the hot frying pan and add the unpeeled raw tiger prawns. Let them fry for around 1 minute, then add a tablespoon of the curry paste and fry for 1 more minute. Tip into an ovenproof dish and put into the oven on the top shelf for about 8 to 10 minutes. Put the pan you cooked the prawns in back over a medium heat. Drizzle in a little olive oil, then add the sugar snap peas followed by the small prawns. Spoon in the rest of the curry paste, and stir and fry for a minute or two before adding the coconut milk. Stir as it melts down, then leave to simmer on a medium to low heat.

Papaya Platter
Halve the papayas and scoop out their seeds. Fill a small bowl or teacup with Greek yoghurt and grate over some lime zest. Halve the bananas lengthways with their skins still on and place on a platter. Halve a lime and squeeze over the whole platter, then tear over a few mint leaves and take to the table with some biscuits or macaroons if you like.

TO SERVE
Taste the curry and correct the seasoning with a few drops of soy sauce if needed. Scatter over the reserved coriander leaves, then take to the table with the dish of prawns from the oven. Cut the remaining limes into wedges for squeezing over. Put the prawn crackers into a serving bowl, and take to the table. Fluff up the rice with a fork, then take to the table. Toss and dress the cucumber salad. Dish up the rice, ladle over the curry and divide the large prawns between everyone.