'Simmer Sauce' recipes request

Cheesy567

I'm in a frustrating spot, needing to purée foods and thicken liquids due to swallowing problems from a muscle disease I have. Makes for a blah texture, and I'm trying to boost the flavors to compensate, while keeping food prep easy and energy-efficient. I'm looking for some Thai or Indian flavor inspirations, in particular.

Does anyone have a favorite simmer sauce recipe to share? Typically a sauce that can be mixed with several types of meat and veggie combos, thrown together for a quick meal. The commercial ones I've found have too many preservatives or stabilizers for me to tolerate at the moment.

LowCarbInScotland

I don't use recipes, so I don't have measurements to share, but I do a lot of Thai inspired cooking and just go with raw ingredients. I'd recommend tossing the following into the pan:

Beef or chicken bouillon or bone broth
Ginger
Garlic
Lemongrass
Red chillis
Tamari

I'll usually just reduce my sauce to thicken it. Other ways to thicken a sauce include:
Pureeing your veg (though it sounds like you may be pureeing everything together at the end anyway?)
Adding beaten eggs at the end
Some people use xanthan gum, I haven't tried it though
And I tried using almond flour like cornstarch recently and it somewhat thicken the sauce, though i used more of it than I would have preferred.
Oh and for Thai food, if you eat peanut butter, you can use that too, personally I have to stay away from it because it affects my blood sugar in a very negative way.

Hope you feel better soon and that this isn't a chronic issue. I'm really impressed at your resolve for still striving to eat healthy when faced with such a struggle. Mashed cauliflower is another yummy soft food. I'm guessing you're doing a lot of puréed soups, to get more flavour I recommend roasting your veg first with herbs and spices and then pureeing in your broth. You can roast by coating with your favourite animal fat or melted ghee if you don't do plant oils or just use a high quality olive oil.

Cheesy567

PaleoInScotland wrote: »

I don't use recipes, so I don't have measurements to share, but I do a lot of Thai inspired cooking and just go with raw ingredients. I'd recommend tossing the following into the pan:

Beef or chicken bouillon or bone broth
Ginger
Garlic
Lemongrass
Red chillis
Tamari
.

Thank you! That's just what I needed to get the creative juices flowing again I think I'll use that template, and add in some coconut milk/ cream concentrate and see what comes of it.

And good tip for roasting the veggies-- I've been adding flavored vinegar and oil to them, but some roasted garlic and broccoli sounds fantastic right now. Thank you again!

LowCarbInScotland

Oh yes! Definitely on the coconut cream, I totally forgot! Lime juice and fish sauce too for that Thai flavours. And some cilantro and Thai basil. Okay, now I'm getting hungry

Curry powder is another good option for lots of flavour, also goes nicely with a bit of chicken stock and coconut milk. Though be cautious of carbs, blended herbs often have hidden carbs, so either create your own curry powder or buy a brand you can trust.

Cheesy567

Thank you! I already make my own curry mixes due to allergies, but good point about the hidden carbs, many brands add sugars, and the stabilizers are usually corn based.

Mmmmmm... Lime