7 Ways to Spice up Your Favorite Dishes ...

By Alison

Would you like some ways to spice up your favorite dishes? Do you always fall back on the same few dishes, and feel that your cooking is in a rut? Everybody has dishes that they love and make frequently, but however much you love a meal you may still want to change it a little. So if you fancy a small change, but don't want to change your menu too much, try these ways to spice up your favorite dishes …

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Please subscribe for your personalized newsletter:

1

Change the Main Item

One of the ways to spice up your favorite dishes is to change the main item; so if your favorite dish has chicken in it, try adding another meat or even fish. Serving your favorite sauce with a different meat could make it taste completely different and freshen up your palate.

2

Serve with Different Accompaniment

Do you always serve your favorite dish with rice? Try serving it with another carbohydrate, such as potatoes or pasta or home-made bread. Changing the accompaniment will make the meal seem quite different, and add a new angle to your old favorite. Or perhaps it would work well with an added salad.

3

Add a New Flavoring

You can also vary the dish by adding a different flavoring to it. Look around your local ethnic store, and you'll find a huge variety of sauces, ingredients and condiments. Experiment with a few of those to spice up your meal; a splash of something exotic could spice up your meal perfectly.

4

Make It Vegetarian

As well as changing the meat that you use in your favorite dish, you could try taking out the meat altogether. It's easy to make vegetarian versions of dishes by using lentils, beans or nuts. There are also lots of vegetarian sausages, cutlets and soya minces available. The bonus is that your meal will be healthier.

5

Add an Extra Ingredient

It's surprising how much a tiny amount of an extra ingredient can change a dish. Perhaps a pinch of spice or a garnish will make the difference to your familiar meal. Or an extra vegetable will make it even more interesting. You could also add some chopped nuts, a swirl of cream, or a splash of sauce.

Famous Quotes

Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

Plutarch
6

Vary Vegetables

We can be very set in our ways when it comes to cooking. Do you always serve the same vegetables with your favorite dish? Pick up some new vegetables instead; be daring and look for something that you haven't tried before. If you're not sure how to cook something, buy from an ethnic grocery store and they'll be able to tell you how to cook it.

7

Use Fresh Herbs

Dried herbs are really convenient, but the taste just doesn't compare to cooking with fresh herbs. The flavor is really quite different and will transform your cooking. Make a small herb garden with some potted herbs and pick a few leaves to add to your cooking; even familiar meals will taste like something new.

It could be argued that changing an ingredient means that the dish is now something completely different but cooking, on the whole, shouldn't be too rigid; experimenting allows you to discover new tastes and ingredients. Your experiments may not always work, but you will discover some interesting new twists to your favorite meals. What is your absolute favorite dish?

Related Topics

7 Tips for a Vegetarian Holiday Meal ... twilight ketchup scene 7 Ways to Serve Root Vegetables ... 7 Ways to Lighten up Thanksgiving Side Dishes ... leftover spinach recipes 35 Tasty Cranberry Recipes to Showcase This Holiday Season ... betty crocker mac and cheese recipe john lewis apple peeler and corer 7 Ways to Bring Pantones Color of the Year Marsala into Your Kitchen ... 7 Delicious Mango Recipes ...

Popular Now