With so many cookbooks on the shelves, it's easy to miss a few – but these ones are worth digging out and truly discovering, says Ella Walker.

It's been a pretty good 12 months for the cookbook scene. We've been treated to a quietly wonderful Ainsley Harriott comeback championing Caribbean cuisine; become more acquainted than ever with Burmese home cooking thanks to food writer Mimi Aye; and Australian seafood chef Josh Niland shared the revolutionary concept of fin-to-gill cooking.

Some trends have understandably spiralled into the mainstream, like our increasing preoccupation with plant-based diets - top cookbook picks if you are reconsidering your animal consumption being East by Meera Sodha, Veg by Jamie Oliver, and Nigel Slater's Greenfeast editions.

The reign of Great British Bake Off contestants has also continued, with Liam Charles' latest bold, fun collection Second Helpings, while Kim-Joy's debut took decorating to enchanting, almost-too-sweet-to-eat levels - the woman is the next Willy Wonka, if Willy Wonka turned iced biscuits into llamas.

Plus it's been a blockbuster year for restaurant cookbooks. As a result of Dishoom's collection we can now make the Bombay Irani-style cafe's feted black dal; The Quality Chophouse shared their coveted confit potato recipe (so crispy!), and Black Axe Mangal and St. JOHN welcomed us via eponymous collections, as though their food wasn't complete without us slavering over it a home. We're more than happy to oblige.

But with so many published every week, you're bound to miss a few absolute cookbook gems. Here are just a few to top up your shelves...

Our top 3 not to be missed...

1. The Quick Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer (Square Peg, £16.99)

Our lives have not become any less busy in 2019. Sunday is still pretty much the only day of the week many of us have the time or head space in which to devote ourselves to the kitchen for more than an hour or two. Midweek, between kids and jobs, Netflix and mates, it's snatched dinners on toast, leftovers pulled from the freezer, or Deliveroo.

But then you have the likes of Rukmini Iyer – a former MasterChef contestant and food stylist – who devises recipes that have the power to utterly rework your relationship with the oven. The Quick Roasting Tin – the third book in her Roasting Tin series - revels in stress-free, 30-minute, one tin dinners, suitable for all.

Her Kerala prawn curry will make you abandon your frying pan for good, and her sticky soy and honey roasted salmon draped in broccoli will see you forgo anything cooked on the hob from now on.

2. Sour by Mark Diacono (Quadrille, £25)

The bitterness of chicory, endive and Negronis might have been in vogue this year (and always, if you live in Italy), but our taste buds have become increasingly exposed to the varying notes of sourness too - whether via kimchi and homemade pickles, a new-found appreciation of vinegar (thank Angela Clutton, author of The Vinegar Kitchen, for that) or the zingy tartness of citrus.

Food photographer and writer Mark Diacono - who grows as many unusual plants as he can (from mulberries and Szechuan pepper to kiwis) at his Otter Farm nursery in Devon - has taken a deep dive into the possibilities or sourness to bring contrast and brightness, sharpness and balance to a dish.

The recipes in Sour dazzle with tang: think rhubarb and radish salad, cherry sour cream clafoutis, sour apricot upside down cake and passion fruit, grapefruit and pomegranate ceviche.

3. Zaika: Vegan Recipes From India by Romy Gill (Seven Dials, £20)

More of us than ever are adopting diets that prioritise the green stuff over the formerly sentient stuff. We might not all be going fully vegan (although more than 3.5 million British people now do identify as vegan), but many of us opt for meat-free Mondays, or find ourselves voluntarily ordering the bean burger rather than the beef. And if you're doing that regularly, interesting recipes are a must at home.

Which is where British/Indian food writer, restaurateur and cookery chef Romy Gill's debut cookbook comes in. Zaika is filled with dishes inspired by her heritage, including golden turmeric gram flour pancakes, bite-sized poppy seed cakes and battered cauliflower dunked in mint chutney. They'll convert even the most hardened of plant-based sceptics.

But don't forget these ones either...

The Way We Eat Now by Bee Wilson (4th Estate, £12.99)

Food writer and historian Bee Wilson delves into the question of why we eat what we eat, and how we've got to this point in this thoughtful and thoroughly illuminating book.

Madhur Jaffrey's Instant Indian Cookbook (Knopf, £16.99)

The legendary cookery writer brings haste and ease to this collection of reworked favourites and new recipes, all designed for one pot cooking.

The Little Library Year: Seasonal Cooking And Reading by Kate Young (Anima, £25)

What to eat when, and with what perfect read in your hand, need never be a cause for concern again thanks to Kate Young's latest cookbook. She considers the art of eating, imagination and literature in the most hunger-inducing ways.

Atsuko's Japanese Kitchen: Home Cooked Comfort Food Made Simple by Atsuko Ikeda (Ryland Peters & Small, £16.99)

With Tokyo 2020 on the horizon, getting to grips with Japanese home cooking is something we predict will increasingly be directing our taste buds next year - this should bring you up to date.