Two mums and four ingredients

Rachel Bermingham and Kim McCosker were both busy mums, holding down jobs and raising a family but one of the things they hated was being stuck in the kitchen.

And so the concept of '4 Ingredients' was born.

Everything in the book is cooked using four or fewer ingredients. Nearly every recipe is explained in only four sentences and everything can to be cooked using ingredients which are found in most cupboards.

And it has raced to the top of the best seller list already, out-selling the likes of Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson.

The recipes usually take just a few minutes to cook. The idea is to stop you thinking of dinner as a chore and save you money on take away.

The book runs the full gambit of breakfast, dinner and dessert. But according to Kim and Rachel, coming up with the recipes was the easy part, getting others to believe in them was the tough ingredient.

But they've now cracked the 100,000 book mark without really doing any promotion, so what's next, perhaps 4 at 4 on 7?

They said: "What I think would be a real hit is put two people on TV in and afternoon when people are thinking what am I going to cook for dinner, showing people how to cook something simple, easy and delicious with four or fewer ingredients and with things you have in your pantry.

"4 Ingredients" costs $17.95 and is available at all good bookstores, including Angus and Robertson. Kim and Rachel are working on their second book which they hope to have out next year.