How do you make a simple side of vegetables stand out? Use these 5 simple tips and tricks to make ordinary veggie dinners extraordinary.
How do you make a simple side dish of vegetables to stand out? Or better yet, how do you create vegetable dishes that people really look forward to eating? Use these 5 simple tips and tricks to make ordinary veggie dinners extraordinary:
1. Try out different techniques
Bring excitement to your vegetables by preparing them using different techniques like grilling, baking and even frying. Grilled vegetables have an interesting texture, one where it’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Vegetables like brinjals, zucchini, tomatoes and carrots are great for grilling. Making a puree out of mashed veggies is also a different technique that can be used as a sauce for any pasta recipe. Also consider a crispy fried texture like Vegetable Tempura which is guaranteed to be a family favourite.
2. Make the maximum out of vegetable flavours
All vegetables have a sweet natural flavour, one which, if enhanced, makes a fresh and healthy platter to serve just on its own. Try steaming them to retain the nutritional value and natural sweetness, as opposed to boiling. You can also sauté and season veggies with a little margarine and Knorr Chicken Powder Mix to give it an extra flavour boost and to make plain vegetables taste surprisingly good.
3. Use different ingredients/methods
A sprinkle of plain curry powder or paprika would add a spicy touch to your dish and can intensify its flavour. Even a mix of aromatic herbs can unbalance bland flavours and bring out a whole new taste. But the more adventurous ingredient to use would be dragon fruit; adding its juice into a salsa would bring your dish to life and really blow people away with the taste it gives. Also, adding ginger and lime when boiling veggies can enhance the taste as the veggies would absorb the flavour. But if you need to preserve the fresh colour of your greens, simply immerse them in a bowl of very cold water as you take it out from boiling water.
4. Smuggle veggies for fussy kids
Usually kids dislike vegetables. A little trick to get kids to eat healthy is to smuggle veggies through the dishes they like, for example pizza which uses vegetable puree as a sauce. All the nutrition is hidden and disguised in the form of a dish kids love. Another trick our chef’s suggest is to pair veggies with ingredients kids love – like cheese. Our recipe for Baked Vegetables with Cheese is a delicious and creamy dish that will have kids asking for more.
5. Presentation
People ‘eat with their eyes’ first. Artistic arrangement of food on a plate actually affects taste. Presentation, in this sense of the word, isn’t about finesse and ‘food fashion’- it’s just the little things you can bring out to make your dish look more palatable. Use colourful dishes like Vegetable chop suey Rice. This is an ultimate recipe by which you can make an everyday dinner table look appetizing.
You can also garnish your dishes using colourful vegetables like yellow and green bell peppers and tomatoes, or by sprinkling some chopped herbs. The tableware you use can also make a difference in creating a contrast for your dish. Alternate light coloured dishes with dark tableware and vice versa.
