Boost The Flavor Of Your Vegetarian Dishes With One Toasted Ingredient

The vegetarian life is anything but dull. Most people would be surprised to learn that those who shun meat to fuel the body eat more than just vegetarian alternative portabella mushroom steaks and roasted cauliflower steaks. Not that those aren't delicious, but vegetarians love flavorful pasta dishes, risotto, and the occasional fried lemongrass tofu. However, how can someone who is living the meatless life get that same umami taste — that savory, meaty sensation — that carnivores experience? The answer is to turn to the power of the nut. The walnut, that is. 

This little addition, with a little roasting or toasting, can boost and add that missing umami to just about any dish, including those that are without meat. Umami is created through a combination of glutamates and nucleotides and walnuts are brimming with glutamates. Toasting up walnuts removes the pungent, raw taste. At the same time, it releases oils that offer an incredible hidden flavor for the taste buds as their color intensifies and becomes a little golden in appearance. And don't worry, using oil or butter to accomplish this task is optional, since it may alter the taste of the dish. Walnuts can toast up nicely without the addition of either fat.

How do you use toasted walnuts in your vegetarian meals? Grind them, crumble them, or use them whole to add both a hearty taste and texture. Pair them with mushrooms that boast nucleoproteins and nucleic acids and even meat lovers may not even realize that the dish they're eating doesn't contain a favored animal protein. Walnuts are perfect for a vegetarian chili; just dice them up and add them to your tomato-based broth with beans to create a substantive stew with a flavor that is comparable to a meat-filled version of this dish.

Because they're so meaty, feel free to make a simple Bolognese sauce. Simply replace the meaty ingredients with walnuts that have been turned into a crumble-like consistency in a food processor, along with tomatoes and mushrooms to create that true umami taste. Toasted walnuts are going to be a welcomed change if you're making parsley pesto with sun-dried tomatoes as a pasta dish, for example. You can easily swap out pine nuts for toasted walnuts. They'll add a depth of flavor to your pesto that it could otherwise lack.