4 quick recipes with turmeric to take advantage of its properties

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a plant of the ginger family of which we use the fresh, grated or powdered rhizomes or roots as a spice in cooking. It is native to Asia, where it is widely used in all kinds of preparations.

Its flavor, if we use it in small amounts, is very mild and barely noticeable. It has aromas similar to mustard and black pepper, although it is not spicy.

The color is given by its curcumin content, a yellow-colored chemical produced by the plant and widely used in the food industry as a colorant, under the name E-100.

It is known that 4000 years ago it was already used in India, in the Vedic culture, as a spice and as a medicine. If you want to know more about its properties, this guide on turmeric will help you.

Turmeric reached China around AD 700, East Africa around AD 800, and Jamaica in the 18th century. Until Marco Polo described this spice as similar to saffron. Today its use is widespread throughout the world and we can find turmeric powder in any supermarket, at the same price as other spices and herbs.

What is turmeric used for in the kitchen?

The truth is that turmeric is a very interesting spice in two main aspects:

when you do paellas and other rice dishes that require yellow or saffron coloring, you can use turmeric in the same amount instead. Being little, it hardly gives flavor but it does dye our preparations yellow.

It is also good for making scrambled eggs with tofu and making it yellow, for stews, soups, purees, pasta, muffins, cookies, etc If you spend a lot of turmeric, it remains a very strong yellow color.

Many asian recipes they use turmeric as a spice, both fresh and powder, and both sweet and salty, since it tastes neither salty nor sweet.

You can find fresh turmeric in Asian supermarkets and some other supermarkets. It looks a lot like ginger, but is smaller and orange in color.

in indian kitchen it is used a lot, it is one of the bases of its flavors and colors and it is used in most dishes. It is one of the essential ingredients of curry.

4 quick and very tasty turmeric recipes

You can use turmeric in anything you want, Asian-inspired or not. You can add it to your vinaigrettes, your sauces, legumes, vegetables (especially white or light-colored ones like cauliflower), broths, etc.

Here I propose 4 recipes with turmeric that are very quick to prepare and they are very tasty and healthy.

If you want more ideas of healthy recipes full of vegetables and tasty, you can download the ebook “Healthy lunches and dinners: 100 vegetarian recipes” from Cuerpomente.