Modern kebab house Le Bab and award-winning peanut butter brand ManiLife have joined forces for Veganuary to create a showstopping three-course vegan menu. Both brands are bound by a passion for re-imagining the traditional and a renewed focus of excellence in craft, produce, flavour and ethics. This special, one-off menu will be available at Le Bab and Maison Bab for the month of January 2022.

There will be a starter of roasted tenderstem broccoli florets, dressed with chilli and ManiLife Original peanut butter tahini; for the main course, an umami-laden ManiLife Deep Roast™ peanut butter satay aubergine pitta, rounding things off with a Chocolate brownie dipped in a ManiLife Original peanut butter and coconut cream for dessert.

Le Bab’s executive chef Manu Canales and ManiLife founder Stuart MacDonald had a lot of fun creating the menu for Veganuary. The original plan was to come up with one killer peanut butter-based dessert, but once in the kitchen and playing around with ideas they realised the potential for a 3-course stand-alone menu was huge. The starter and main are both made with ManiLife’s original roast smooth peanut butter, awarded 1 star at the Great Taste Awards: a deliciously thick and irresistibly creamy product. The indulgent dessert showcases the famous Deep Roast™ crunchy peanut butter, which was born out of a miraculous mistake in the Mani-kitchen. Having thought they’d burnt the nuts, they tasted it, and were met with a deep, delicious flavour that Mani-fans tell them is a life-changing experience; it’s the first peanut butter to have won 3 stars Great Taste Awards.

This creative collaboration follows the hugely successful ‘Big Zuu’ kebab, which was created with close friend and uber-regular guest, Big Zuu. Le Bab is a modern kebab house that is not only ethical but delicious. Their ingredient-driven approach to the kebab draws on techniques from Michelin starred kitchens and global culinary inspirations. Serving modern fusion kebabs with bold flavours, Le Bab make everything from scratch in house using seasonal ingredients.

Different from other shop bought peanut butters, ManiLife has learned from the wine and coffee worlds to elevate its peanut butter from where it was before. The brand is proud to work with its good friends at a single, family run estate in Argentina as well as cocoa farmers from Tanzania to ensure the highest quality and utmost traceability in all its products. Its peanuts are roasted for a deeper, more intense flavour by master peanut roasters here in the UK, then blended in small batches for stand-out quality, taste, and extra creaminess that you don’t get anywhere else.

Speaking about the collaboration, Executive Chef Manu Canales says, “We had so much fun working with the ManiLife team for Veganuary. Working out flavour combinations and textures is not always easy, but when you are presented with a product as incredible as ManiLife it’s a total dream – this is a peanut butter of astounding quality! Not only that, they place a focus on sustainability and where ingredients come from, both of which are hugely important to us!”

Stu Macdonald, Founder of ManiLife says, “We’re so excited to launch this new menu with Le Bab and can’t wait for our ManiLifers to try it for the first time. Just like us, the team at Le Bab are meticulous when it comes to sourcing ingredients and flavours that will stand out, and the Mani-Menu does just this. We can’t wait for everyone to try it!”.

Starter – £6.50
Roasted tenderstem broccoli florets, dressed in chilli and ManiLife Original peanut butter tahini

Main – £9.50
ManiLife Deep Roast™ peanut butter satay aubergine pitta

Dessert – £6.50
Chocolate Brownie with ManiLife Original peanut butter and coconut cream

Available at Le Bab (Kingly Court, Soho) and Maison Bab (Covent Garden) from Friday 1st January until Sunday 31st January

If you can’t get to Le Bab to enjoy the Mani-Menu, you can try ManiLife’s full range at Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Coop, Ocado and independent retailers nationwide (RRP £3.99/295g jar) in four different variants: Deep Roast Crunchy, Deep Roast Smooth, Original Smooth Original Crunchy and the newest addition to the range: Rich Cocoa Smooth.