Having given up on foods that are bad for health (e.g., animal products, industrially processed foods, too much salt), many people feel confused and don't understand how to make healthy dishes taste good. This is not surprising, because even experienced cooks often find themselves at a loss when it comes to adjusting the way they cook at home.
Spices and seasonings can help to add flavor to a healthy home-cooked meal - and with great health benefits at the same time. But there are a few more secrets. They're shared by renowned vegan chef Chad Sarno, co-author of the best-selling book Crazy Sexy Kitchen. Late last year, I completed an online cooking course called Forks Over Knives, with Chad Sarno as the lead instructor for the course, who has taught me and thousands of people how to cook delicious, healthy, beautiful plant-based meals.
So, how do you adapt recipes if you want to use less animal products, salt, store-bought sauces, less frying in oil, but keep the great taste?
Some foods are easy to replace: meat, for example, with beans. But other adaptations require more finesse, so that in the process of cooking the dish does not lose its taste.
Sarno explains, "When substituting ingredients in recipes, the most common mistake is that people think it's enough to eliminate oil and salt and then just follow the usual instructions. Then, of course, they experience disappointment with the finished dish. When adapting a dish, you need to evaluate the recipe as a whole and figure out how to get more flavor and taste from the ingredients without adding oil and salt. To build flavor, it's important to adapt both methods and ingredients."
Chad Sarno's tips
Look for alternative cooking methods. For example, if a recipe calls for steaming vegetables (an extremely healthy way to cook food, but not always the tastiest), you can bake them in the oven or grill them instead.
If the recipe calls for steamed onions, you can fry them a little longer, pre-soak them in a small amount of vegetable broth or wine to give additional flavor.
To enhance the flavor and aroma of your dishes, turn to spices and herbs. If the recipe calls for dried herbs, try using fresh herbs instead.
If you want to add seeds or nuts to the dish, roast them beforehand: this will enhance their flavor. For an even more pronounced flavor, the spices can be ground just before use.
Finish with a splash of citrus juice (lemon, lime, grapefruit).
And very important: if you use fresh herbs or other aromatic ingredients, add them in larger quantities to enhance the overall taste: in the absence of salt, the dish should not seem boring.
I would add that sauces will always help you to enrich the taste of healthy dishes. Of course, homemade sauces, because the industrially produced versions contain a lot of unsafe ingredients. My mobile app has several recipes for homemade sauces and dressings.
And here's one interesting and versatile recipe: garlic and onion sauce with cashew nuts. You can keep it in the fridge and add it to soups, stews, stewed vegetables, spread on bread, etc.
Ingredients:
Garlic - 13 cloves, shallots - 6-8 scallions or white onions - 4 bulbs, vegetable broth - 2-3 tbsp, fresh rosemary or thyme - 2-3 sprigs, freshly ground black pepper - to taste, raw cashew nuts - 1.5 cups, vegetable milk - 1/4 tbsp.
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 200 C.
Soak the cashews in 3-4 cups of warm water. When the nuts are soft, drain them.
Dice the onions into medium sized pieces and place them in a small baking dish.
Peel the garlic and add the whole cloves to the onions.
Fill the onions and garlic with the vegetable broth just enough to cover them.
Place sprigs of fresh rosemary or thyme on top, add freshly ground black pepper.
Cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes: all the liquid should soak into the vegetables.
Remove the sprigs of herbs and put the vegetables and cashews in a blender. Add the vegetable milk and blend until smooth, about the consistency of thick sour cream.
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