Ask Ottolenghi: what’s the key to vegetarian-friendly sauces?

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Ask Ottolenghi: what’s the key to vegetarian-friendly sauces?

I discover making sauces for my vegetarian weight loss plan fairly difficult. Any recommendation about the way to moisten my meals?
Eric, Melbourne, Australia
There are so many instructions by which you would fortunately go, tomato sauce being probably the obvious. I batch-cook all my tomato sauces – whether or not it’s infused with a dried chilli (which is nice on butter beans), or simply a basil sprig (once more, for butter beans, or to stir by pasta); it’s additionally beautiful spooned over cubed tofu or for braising eggs shakshuka-style.

Then there’s maybe my favorite vegan ingredient, tahini, not least as a result of it’s so wealthy and “creamy” and substantial. Thinned down with a bit lemon juice and water, plus crushed garlic and salt to style, it’s wonderful drizzled over all kinds of roast greens, salad leaves, grains and so forth – the probabilities are virtually infinite; should you like, blitz with contemporary parsley or coriander (that’s fantastic on chickpeas or a complete roast cauliflower, by the way in which). I additionally love to combine tahini with soy sauce and perhaps a contact of honey – the mix is a dream with steamed aubergine and even simply plain rice.

Staying on the herb theme, blitz them with olive oil and garlic – add inexperienced chilli, should you like, or ripe avocado – and open up a complete world of inexperienced goddess or fridge-raid sauces, to go along with roast aubergine, legumes or a boiled egg sandwich or salad. And should you pound the herbs, fairly than blitz them, you’ll have any variety of pestos to play with, that are one other moistening, flavour-bomb answer.

Yoghurt, too, is your buddy, as are labneh, ricotta, mascarpone and cream cheese, for that matter. Use simply as it’s, or skinny it with lemon juice, and blend in garlic, chopped preserved lemon or a squeeze of chilli sauce; a number of roughly crushed toasted cumin seeds additionally make an awesome addition, as do contemporary herbs. Relying on their consistency, use dairy sauces as the bottom for a dish (unfold it out on a platter and pile your veg or pulses on high) or drizzle over on the finish.

Lastly, there’s my on a regular basis fast repair: good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon at all times ensures no extra dryness.


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