Spices from around the world for Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. DFW Vegetarian and cooking with spices for vegetarians

Vegetarian Cooking with Spices

Cooking vegan and  vegetarian dishes is easier when you understand spices.
Enjoy a healthy life the tasty way!.

Cooking with Spices

Many times the same food item (especially bland foods such as baked tofu, rice, or lentils/beans) will taste completely different with different spices.

Blend Your Seasonings
When you blend your own seasonings, you can: 
1. Vary ingredients to suit yourself.
2. Control salt and garlic in your food.
3. Crank up or turn down the heat when you blend your own seasonings. 

Buy from bulk bins at some stores, then grind in a coffee grinder.  Or blend from prepared, dried spices. Store in tightly closed, airtight containers--save your old spice jars--and label plainly. Some cooks store spices in the refrigerator.

You are familiar with spice blends if you have ever used a curry powder. Curry blends, for example, can be quite hot when purchased but milder when you blend your own.

Italian seasoning
Mix together ground Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme. Add salt and pepper, even garlic, separately.

Indian Seasoning
Mix ground fennel, turmeric, coriander, and fenugreek for a taste of India. Add salt, pepper, cumin, and ginger separately.

Thanksgiving Seasoning
Ground thyme and/or sage make most of us think of Thanksgiving foods. Add salt and pepper separately.

Mexican seasoning
Cumin makes beans and other items taste Mexican. Chiles and salt are added separately.

Cajun seasoning
Most Cajun dishes start with onion, bell pepper, and celery. If you can find these three dried or powdered, you can avoid starting with fresh ingredients. Salt, Tabasco sauce, and a bay leaf or two can be added separately. Tabasco or cayenne pepper is used with a heavy hand in many Cajun dishes but it is not necessary to get that "Cajun" taste experience.

Curry
Good cooks in India prepare their curry powders daily. Busy vegetarian cooks can prepare enough for one or two months at a time. Indian and Thai curries can have as many as 20 different spices plus red and black pepper and chiles. Common spices in curries are cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel seed, fenugreek, mace, nutmeg, poppy and sesame seeds, saffron, tamarind and turmeric. Turmeric is the spice that gives some curried dishes a distinctive yellow color. Add salt,  peppers, and chiles to taste.

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Many times the same food item (such as baked tofu, rice, or lentils/beans) will taste completely different with different spices.

Buy Your Seasonings

Read those labels!
You will see hydrogenated fat and MSG in some brands. There might also be hidden animals in seasonings.

Fajita seasoning
Adkin's Texas Style Fajita Seasoning is available at some Minyard's and Sack N Save stores. Buy the one with mesquite oil and avoid the one containing hydrogenated fat. This seasoning is good for tofu, soups, and stir-fries, as well as fajitas. It is also salty. Adkin's is manufactured locally so if you can't find it, call American Spice and Seasoning at 214 333-2220 for locations that carry Adkin's.

Greek seasoning
Cavender's makes a good Greek seasoning. Warning: it contains MSG and is quite salty.

Oriental seasoning
Oriental seasonings from soy sauce to tamari sauce to miso, from Thai chili paste to black bean garlic sauce to Hoison sauce, are quick and easy when you buy them; often time-consuming when you make your own. Check out an Asian store near you--choices are better than those offered by a supermarket.

Herb seasoning
Mrs. Dash makes several varieties without salt. You can also try store brands and even the various meat seasonings that are available in supermarkets. 

Vinegar seasoning
Vinegar alone adds a distinctive flavor to food. You might also try vinegar seasoned with various spices. You can make your own by immersing fresh spices in vinegar or find spiced vinegars at specialty food stores.

Natural Seasonings

Seaweed
In addition to adding nutrition, seaweed adds a certain flavor to foods. There are several kinds so visit an Asian or natural food store to try them out.

Lemon seasoning
Lemon or lime juice adds a distinctive taste to most dishes. Fresh is best.

Read those labels!
As usual in all things vegetarian, read those labels, especially when you buy spice mixtures. 

What makes a certain recipe taste so good? If you take some of your old favorites (even from your meat-eating days), you can probably transfer the seasonings or other ingredients to a new dish and get much the same flavor. Try it with soup, tofu, or rice. You will usually be pleasantly surprised, although a few might end up taking a trip to the trash or your next huge pot of vegetable soup!

Dallas-Fort Worth Vegetarian Education Network

Email healthyveg@dfwnetmall.com