Are you a longtime vegetarian, or a recent convert? Looking to change up and nail down your repertoire of flavorful dishes or someone who is just trying to go meatless a day or two per week?
Maneuvering your way through possible ingredient substitutions can be daunting, if not overwhelming, even downright discouraging. Once you have decided what type of meatless person (Vegan, Lacto – Ovo, Pescatarian, or Vegetarian) you want to be, you can start with the obvious vegetarian or vegan dishes. At some point, you may find yourself bored with the same old routine of pasta, veggies, legumes and salad.
Maybe it is time to try reworking vegetarian ingredients in a different cuisine, perhaps Portuguese.
Today, the younger Portuguese generation does not want to consume the meat-laden dishes they were raised on. They are more conscious of what and how much meat they are eating. If you happen to be a Portuguese person, like myself, or even if you are not, how do you give up or cut back on meat and even fish dishes?
There was a time when a Vegetarian Portuguese would be unheard of.
No fish? No meat? I can hear my grandmother exclaiming, Meu Deus! What are you saying?
If you have enjoyed some intense flavors all your life, it can be difficult to give up what you were raised on. When that happens, it’s time to start converting some of your old family recipes. I say “some” because not every recipe can be converted and still carry the same exact flavors or even be called the same. However, we already enjoy numerous traditional soups that are meatless. Vegetarianism in Portugal is increasing, including the number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants.
Does your mom’s delicious soup or grandmother’s stew need to be totally eliminated from your diet? How do you keep those flavors?
You might wonder how to go about converting Portuguese dishes into vegetarian friendly ones.
Whatever is inspiring people to reconsider their meat consumption, Portuguese cuisine is quite adaptable to a vegetable-forward diet. Yes, this Mediterranean-influenced cuisine is noted to have plenty of seafood and meat dishes, however with a few tweaks here and there, it can be your new favorite cuisine.
Let’s start with Portuguese soups.
Often, sausages like chouriço or salpicão will find their way into a pot of soup. Soups like *Caldo Verde (Green Broth) and *Sopa de Nabiça com Arroz (Turnip Greens with Rice Soup) have minimal sausage, usually sliced. It is easy enough to just eliminate the sausage entirely. However, to retain the traditional flavor of the soup, I look at what flavors the sausage imparts to the soup beside the obvious pork. I look at the sausage seasonings that stand out, which in this case, would be garlic and paprika. So I increase the garlic from one to two garlic cloves and add one to two teaspoons of smoked paprika, adjusting both to personal preference. Adding the smoked paprika brings the smokiness of the sausage to the soup without any meat being added. This works for both soups.
The following soup is another vegetarian friendly one that is a family favorite. Other soups, namely, Bean Soup with Tomato, Carrot Soup, Onion Soup, Fennel Soup and more that do not have meat as the central ingredient, can be made vegetarian-friendly using the meat elimination and seasoning flavor method. Where it calls for chicken, meat or fish broth/stock use vegetarian broth.
Read more about Ana Patuleia Ortins in an interview with Denise Landis.
Train your taste buds to recognize different spices and your taste buds will thank you. Enjoy!
Vegan Portuguese Turnip Soup (Sopa de Nabo Cremosa)
With very little tweaking – and often, not any – Portuguese soups, like creamy turnip soup, are perfect for vegan soup lovers. This Vegan Portuguese Turnip Soup has smooth richness from puréed white kidney beans. Stray pantry items make wonderful additions to a pot luck soup. Though dried beans are a first choice, canned, rinsed kidney beans can be used if time is short. Be mindful of the salt content of canned beans.
Ingredients
For the soup:
- •60 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
- •1 large yellow turnip (rutabaga), cut and peeled (about 1.1 liter/6 cups)
- •Two 397 grams (14-ounce) cans white kidney beans or 1 liter (4 cups) precooked dried beans
- •118 ml (1/2 cup) chopped onion
- •2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks
- •1 boiling (waxy) potato, peeled, cut into medium chunks
- •1 garlic clove
- •473 ml (2 cups) chopped cabbage, rinsed
- •355 to 473 ml (1 1/2 to 2 cups) chopped kale, rinsed
- •10 ml (2 teaspoons) coarse salt, or as needed
- •1.3 ml (1/4 teaspoon) freshly ground white pepper, or to taste
To use dried beans instead of canned
- •473 ml (2 cups) dried white kidney beans
To prepare dried beans: Pick over the beans for stones or debris, and rinse well. Place in a bowl and cover with 5 cm (2 inches) water. Soak overnight. Drain the next day, place the beans in a pot with fresh water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes until tender. Reserve until needed.
Preparation
In a large soup pot, about 4.5 liters (5 quarts), combine 2 liters (8 cups) water, olive oil, turnip, cooked or canned beans, onions, carrot, potato, and garlic. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are very tender.
Use an immersion (stick) blender to purée the contents of the pot. Return the soup to a boil, add the cabbage and kale. Simmer until the greens are tender 15-20 more minutes. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
