Try these shortcuts for adding umami to quick weeknight meals - Dallas News

First off, you need to change the way you view cooking.

There is this unrealistic expectation that dinner should involve five ingredients or less and take 15 minutes. This mentality is setting yourself up to create bland, boring food (barring a few exceptions).

Simple food is good. However, in order to make balanced, flavorful food, one needs salt, acid and fat.

And if you're riding the 5-ingredient meal train, three of your five ingredients are now gone at this point.

This leaves two other ingredients: the main ingredient and a spice or maybe an herb. But if you're limiting the ingredient list to five and all elements have been fulfilled, where can you get the umami?

To develop umami, one needs a few more ingredients. Most of the time you will have these umami-rich items in your pantry that help with flavor development: tomato paste, chicken or beef stock, mayonnaise, Dijon, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. However, there is another ingredient that probably is not in your pantry: dried mushrooms.

I use these elements consistently in my weeknight cooking to quickly add flavor and depth to our meals.

I also rely on Trader Joe's Umami Spice Blend to help. The goal is to minimize ingredients while developing flavor and utilizing sauces and spices that pack a punch.

Rebecca White of Plano blogs at apleasantlittlekitchen.com.

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https://www.dallasnews.com/life/cooking/2019/06/12/try-shortcuts-adding-umami-quick-weeknight-meals

2019-06-12 16:35:07Z
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