Donabe cooking - Japanese clay-pot cooking - is all about using seasonal ingredients and key pantry items to make meals that are as nutritious and comforting as they are aromatic and flavourful, promoting communal dining, happiness and wellbeing. Think hearty rice dishes, warming stews and silky noodle soups - it is the original, and arguably the best, kind of one-pot cooking.

In this book, Naoko Takei Moore, a California-based Japanese food expert and the so-called 'Queen of Donabe', shows how to create donabe-style dishes, all made in one pot, whether you have a saucepan, a casserole dish or indeed a Japanese clay pot to hand. Including recipes such as chicken ginger rice, tofu and mushroom udon and salmon in a miso and tomato sauce, you'll find easy weeknight rices, traditional stews, vibrant soups, solo dishes for self-care and sides that help to build a traditional Japanese-style feasting table around your donabe-inspired one pot, should you so wish.

Including many gluten-free and plant-based options, the focus is on balanced, nourishing meals that highlight vibrant vegetables, clean, fresh flavours and the art of simplicity. Divided into chapters by ingredients, such as Chicken, Beef, Vegetables, Tofu and Eggs, Noodles and Rice, Naoko both references traditional Japanese flavour combinations, but also draws influence from the local, seasonal ingredients from her state of California, bringing a playful twist. Whether cooking for yourself or sharing with family and friends, these Japanese donabe-inspired recipes will bring comfort and joy.