One thing that is common in every Indian household is tomato ketchup. It is one of the most widely bought sauces. But now as we are developing taste for international cuisines, we have started to stock other sauces like pasta or pizza, sweet onion sauce, barbecue sauce and mustard sauce in our kitchen pantry. The Indian market is now thriving with a variety for every taste and food. While these sauces are tasty, it might not be advisable to consume them with every meal. But did you know you can also make your sauces out of your leftover vegetables?! You must be thinking about how it would taste or what can you possibly pair a vegetable sauce with? You would be glad to know that the possibilities of experimenting with vegetable sauces are endless. They not only taste good but can be good for your health. Let us take a look at all vegetables you can experiment with.
Here Are 5 Easy Vegetable Sauces Recipes For Endless Meal Options:
1. Cauliflower Sauce
This is easy, rich in flavour, and one of the versatile sauces you can use in pasta, pizzas, chicken recipes, or simply use as a dip with chips. It is low in calories and nutritious. You only need three ingredients to make this sauce - cauliflower, salt and garlic. Firstly, cut your cauliflower into small pieces and boil them until they turn soft. When the cauliflower turns soft, put it in your blender, add salt according to your taste and throw in three-four garlic pods. Blend this mix until a smooth paste is formed, and your sauce will be ready in no time. You can also add spice and experiment as per your taste. Here are some other cauliflower dishes that you can try.
Cauliflower is nutritious and healthy. Make a sauce with just three ingredients.
2. Pesto
You saw this one coming, didn't you? This one is healthy, nutritious and flavourful! All you need are spinach, garlic, salt, black pepper, olive oil, pine nuts, and one tablespoon of lemon for making pesto. You can use one and a half cup of spinach, wash it and bring it to boil until they turn soft. As the spinach cooks, cut and remove the skin of three-four garlic pods. When this is ready, add the spinach, garlic, a handful of pine nuts, half a cup of olive oil and salt and pepper according to taste. Blend this mixture until all the ingredients combine. In the end, throw in your one tablespoon of lemon, and the pesto is ready in no time! This can be used in pizzas, pasta, sandwiches, salads and with any protein of your choice. Here is an interesting spinach recipe for you to make.
Pesto is easy to make and flavourful.
3. Pea Sauce
This may sound a little offbeat but it can be used in various things. To make this, you would require vegetable oil, one medium finely diced onion, three-four garlic pods, and half a cup of peas, two-thirds of vegetable broth, and salt and pepper according to taste. Firstly, take a skillet, add in your vegetable oil, put the garlic and onion, and cook it until they are fragrant. To this, add your peas and vegetable broth. Cook it for 5 minutes and add this mixture into your blender and blend until a smooth paste is formed. When that step is complete, pour your mixture back into the skillet and throw in your salt and pepper. After this, your sauce will be ready. Try these yummy meals on green peas!
Pea sauce may sound offbeat but is an interesting twist to the dishes.
4. Carrot Sauce:
Our country is famous for the delicious and warm gajjar ka halwa, but did you know you can also make a tasty dip out of carrots? This sauce can be served with any meal or snack and it gives a sweetness of the carrots and spiciness of the flavours that you mix into it. Simply take a two-three carrots and bring it to a boil. Then put these carrots in a blender add spices like chilli flakes, salt, pepper and half a table spoon of lemon. Blend it till a smooth paste is formed and your carrot sauce is ready in no time! Here are some other carrot recipes to try.
Photo Credit: iStock
The sweet and savoury sauce makes it a perfect sauce to try
5. Marinara Sauce
Another simple, tasty and versatile sauce that can be used with almost all kinds of food is marinara. For this, you would require two tomatoes, one onion, four-five garlic pods, two tablespoons of olive oil, oregano, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Take a skillet and add the olive oil to cook the tomatoes, onion, and garlic until they turn soft. Then pour these vegetables into the blender and mix the spices with salt. Blend until a smooth paste is formed and your marinara sauce is ready!
(Also Read: Cooking Tips: How To Make Restaurant-Style Red Sauce Pasta At Home)
Prepare restaurant-quality red sauce pasta from marinara!
6. Roasted Red Pepper Sauce:
This spicy, flavoursome and charred sauce makes it a perfect side sauce whether it be for chicken, any other kind of meat or even just a dip for vegetables. To make this, firstly take two-three red bell peppers and roast them on a frying pan. When you see the charred marks on the vegetable, put I in a blender. To the blender add in salt, chilli flakes, pepper and two-three garlic pieces. Blend this until a paste is formed. This charred sauce gives a spicy barbecue flavour which can be served with almost everything.
(Also Read: All You Need To Know About Bell Peppers)
7. Creamy Mushroom Sauce:
Most popularly used in pastas, this sauce can be used with endless options of vegetables and proteins. To make this firstly cook your mushrooms in a pan until they are soft and golden brown. To that add chilli flakes, salt, pepper and oregano. As the mushrooms cook, mix one table spoon of corn starch and a cup of milk together. Whisk both of them properly so that no lumps are formed. When you see that the mushrooms are cooked, pour in you milk and corn starch and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. And your mushroom sauce is ready!
Try these sauces with different foods and let us know which one did you like them in the comment section below.