Posted on February 14, 2017 by Kate Halsall

secret ingredients for tasty food

I get excited about cooking because I love food. It means that I get excited about recipes and ingredients! It was when I starting looking for recipes for my Christmas Meal that I found an ingredient that I toyed with sharing with you; but then a generous subscription to a cooking magazine for my birthday contained recipes with the same ingredient which meant I HAD to share it. And since then I’ve found MORE –  but you will have to wait until next time for them! So, in the mean time, here is my next list of great secret ingredients for tasty food.

  • Cloves

Usually the visual that comes to mind is cloves stuck into the fat on a joint of ham. As a vegan, I won’t be having that anytime soon! But I have discovered that cloves in curry are brilliant! This may not be new to you, but I’m normally a straight forward home made lentil curry person using coriander, cumin and turmeric (seeds and powder). Not any more! The curry recipe I made at Christmas, and the one in the photo above – all need cloves, and honestly, I think it makes the dish. Seriously, curry is never going to be the same again for me!!

  • Frozen Garlic

It’s not that I’m lazy. It’s just that I get in late from work most nights and my meal needs to be healthy and quick. Most of those jars of crushed or chopped garlic contain sugar – and there’s no need to be adding sugar to your diet as we get plenty naturally. So I use this (I’m sure other makes are available):

IMAG0827

  • Hazelnuts

I eat roasted hazelnuts and automatically taste chocolate. They’ve been no where near chocolate but that’s what my taste buds associate them with! So surely there’s nothing better to snack on! Obviously you need to portion control nuts, but I generally add them to yoghurt, porridge, home made granola or have them by themselves – so they’re ideal when you want a sweet fix, without actually breaking any rules! They’re also rich in iron which is always a plus for veggies and vegans.

Hopefully this gives you some more recipe ideas, and some different ingredients to test out on your cooking!