When it comes to food, there is something to be said for being totally virtuous – wheat-, meat- and booze-free living. Sounds healthy, right? But nothing quite beats being just a little bit virtuous. Far more fun. Welcome to flexitarianism – the food philosophy for people who want to improve their diet and save the planet’s resources, but don’t really want to go all in and stop eating steak. Because, well, it tastes too good, doesn’t it? And no one likes a fussy eater…

“Meat-free Monday”, “veg in meat out” (only eat meat in restaurants), “VB6” (if you can bring yourself to say it – this means vegan before 6pm) – there are countless ways we can get on board with this post-clean-eating trend. And a new London restaurant, which identifies as “flexitarian”, is just one of them. Ms Alex Giri, who opened 184 Green + Grill this month, recognises the increase in vegetarians and vegans (the number of vegans in the UK has risen 350 per cent in the last decade), but also the fact that there are still plenty of steadfast meat eaters.

“When you have four or five people going out for dinner, these days, one is going to be a vegetarian or a vegan. But the meat eaters aren’t necessarily going to go to a raw food place,” she says. But her restaurant is more of an acknowledgement that whatever our personal diets, in general, whether it be for moral or health reasons, we’re all conscious that we should be eating less meat. “More people, especially young guys, are choosing to eat less meat. They might eat a steak once a month, for example. People are becoming more aware of the conditions that mass-produced meat is grown under. I don’t really want to eat meat that I know has not had a decent life. So I wanted to cater for that,” says Ms Giri.

To help us allow vegetables to play more of a starring role, we asked Ms Giri to provide us with the method to prepare a dish from her menu (something which, Ms Giri tells us, is influenced by southern Italian and Indian cooking, where “traditionally vegetables are at the centre of the dish”). Scroll below to see chef Ms Eloise Dawes’ recipe. Or, if you want an even simpler option, have someone else do it for you.

• 400g sweet potato
• 25g rice flour
• 3g ground coriander
• 3g ground cumin
• 10g honey
• Salt, to taste
• White sesame seeds

Peel and roughly chop the sweet potato. Place in a pot of cold water and bring to the boil. Remove it when soft.

Mash the sweet potato together with the flour, spices and honey. Then, add salt to taste. Roll the mash into balls, each weighing roughly 25g. One at a time, drop the balls into a bowl of sesame seeds and roll again into spheres.

Fill a deep pan with at least three inches of vegetable oil. Heat it to 180°C and fry the sweet potato balls.

When golden-brown, carefully remove the balls with a spoon and dry on some kitchen cloth.

For a dip to go with them, mix lime juice and freshly chopped coriander with some yoghurt.