Tips for making veggies tastier and more flavoursome

[CrazyArmadilloLady]

I’m looking to increase my veggie intake substantially, but in the past when I’ve done this, I’ve struggled as things can get a bit bland.

I’m a decent cook and do have some tricks up my sleeve, but some of them aren’t necessarily the healthiest way to boost flavour in vegetables.

Obviously buying in season is key (it’s winter here at the moment), but what else do you do with your vegetables to make them taste really good?

Thanks.

Butter and a little salt on boiled veg. Possibly not the healthiest but it works!

Griddling or slight charring in a really hot iron pan is brilliant for some veg eg courgette, aubergine, asparagus. Griddled courgette with squeeze of lemon and sprinkle of salt is delicious.

Roasting with herbs and/or spices (sweet root veg go well with spices like cumin)

Interesting salad dressings. Seeds and nuts in salads.

We hardly ever have veggies as a side, unless it’s a roast dinner. Instead I cook veg-heavy meals that include vegetables as one of the main ingredients.
Lasagne www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/best_vegetable_lasagne_50381
Fried rice realfood.tesco.com/recipes/egg-fried-rice.html
Greek stew
Stir fry realfood.tesco.com/recipes/ellas-one-handed-stir-fry.html
Bolognese
Curry www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/vegan/chickpea-and-cauliflower-curry/
Tagine realfood.tesco.com/recipes/apricot-and-honey-vegetable-tagine.html
Crumble https://www.wcrf-uk.org/recipes/root-vegetable-and-butterbean-crumble/

It depends what you mean by ‘not the healthiest’ alternative ways to cooking. Obvious roasting vegetables in oil, salt and pepper will add more fat the vegetables, but it does make them significantly more delicious. Though as @Fivemoreminutes1 says, especially as I’m vegetarian, I tend to cook meals which are based around vegetables, rather than having them as a side dish.

Some of my favourite vegetable sides are:
*miso soup, which can take pretty much any vegetable you can throw at it
*tandoori broccoli is a side dish I make again and again as it’s so good
*japanese spinach salad with sesame dressing which I’ve made with more green vegetables than spinach and it’s worked just as well
*roasted chantenay carrots with herby tahini yogurt

All of those contain extra fat and/or salt though, though depending on which health concerns you have, though personally all are dishes I’ll happily eat with an every day meal with no qualms.

We eat a lot of soup...a couple of bowls of a mixed veg soup is an easy way to up your veg intake. I double a recipe for 4 people and keep in fridge. We have it for lunch. Can also be frozen in smaller quantities.

Buy a decent veggie cookbook for your favourite cuisines.
River cottage veg everyday is good
Kaushy Patel's Prashad at Home if you like Indian
I base meals around the vegetables, not the other way around

Any chance you could copy and paste the recipe for the herby roasted carrots, please? I'm not on Instagram, but they sound lush!

Here you go!

Ingredients (serves 3 as a side)

400g chantenay carrots
1 tbsp olive oil

For the green tahini
10g dill
10g parley
3 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp greek yoghurt
½ lemon juice
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil

Dukkah
A small handful of hazelnuts
1tsp za’tar
2tsp nigella or sesame seeds

3 shallots, finely sliced

Method
1.Preheat the oven to 180C. Toss the carrots in a roasting dish with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 30-35 minutes until softened and caramelised, turning half way through.
2.Meanwhile, add all of the tahini dip ingredients to a blender with 1tbsp of water and a pinch of salt and blitz to a smooth but fairly thick consistency.
2.Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a pan and add the shallots. Cook for 5-6 minutes until super crispy and golden, mixing often. Add the remaining dukkah ingredients for the final minute and cook until lightly golden.
3.Once cooked, remove the carrots from the oven.
4.Spread the green tahini onto your serving plate. Top with the carrots, the shallots and dukkah.

Yum, thank you!

(OP, I agree with all the above: don't overcook them, use enough good sea salt (like Maldon), plenty of butter or extra-virgin olive oil melted/drizzled over after cooking, and charring generally adds something (try with tender stem broccoli fried off with garlic and ginger - 👌).