I love cooking, and most dishes I cook contain some kind of onions or garlic in varying amounts. Unfortunately, my partner doesn’t handle them well, so I want to replace them as much as I can.
Leek is one decent alternative to onions, and I’ve recently discovered Asafoetida, a spice that creates an oniony flavor. But onions are also important for texture, especially in saucy dishes, and both leek and spices replace that poorly. Fennel works sometimes but alters the taste.
Garlic generally seems hard to replace, although I’ve had some success with only slightly squashing the cloves and fishing them out before serving.
Anyway, I’m looking for suggestions. Anybody know any good alternatives, any cool tips or tricks I could try?
Edit: To clarify, the issue is that my partner can’t digest them properly and they cause pain (likely a mild food allergy). The flavor is not an issue, and we both enjoy the stuff that we cook apart from this issue.
Sometimes issues with onions and garlic are due to allergies.
Some people are allergic to raw/undercooked onion, in which case you make sure to sautee and/or otherwise cook them through.
For garlic, some people are allergic to the sprout. You can kind of “core” garlic, slice it in half and dig out the central bit (which is what sprouts green), and typically it helps.
You could also try a different garlic variety, around here we also get Solo, which taste (slightly) different to garlic and don’t seem to give the same problems with the sprout.
You can also try granulated onion and/or garlic.
If all else fails you can do infused oils, heat some oil with onion and/or garlic, strain and use as a flavouring agent.
(and of course you might try leek, spring onion, red onion. But I feel they’re similar enough to only leave one disappointed about the real dish, rather than appreciating a “new take”).
Maybe consider learning a cuisine that doesn’t use onion and garlic as much, e.g. some Asian cuisine use spring onion instead, and the Japanese are very careful with garlic.
As for the texture, onion and garlic can be chopped very fine, and even grated for less texture.
For equal texture I’d actually suggest rethinking the sauce/dish. Don’t do dishes that are centered around the onion texture (Chaliapin steak comes to mind) and you’ll have a much better time. But: leek, kale, bok choi, wilted spinach, arugula/rocket, bean sprouts, etc all can do the slimy wrappy thing onion does, and even with a little chewyness with careful cooking.
But in a sauce you could just as well add small broccoli trees, finely chopped and/or sautéed cabbage, cauliflower, fresh herbs with sprigs (tender thyme sprigs are very nice, but also Basil, Mint, Coriander, Parsley, etc). If it gets too lumpy, you do a few pulses with a mixer and leave it at your desired texture (works great for both sauce and soup).
Cooking is a lovely expression of yourself and your care for others, and almost all situations can be solved with a little creativity (which of course is easier crowd sourced). I hope you find some inspiration, and I wish you both the best of luck on this endeavour.
Lots of good ideas in here, thanks! The processing of the onions unfortunately doesn’t matter much (fresh onions are worse, but even sauteed or thoroughly cooked cause issues). Red onions and shallots, too. Spring onions is a bit better but not great. Leek is good.
Cabbages et al. seem like a good option for the texture, I’ll try that!
We already cook a lot of Asian food that is lighter in terms of onions and garlic (Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese), but some of our favourite cusines do use them a lot.
I too have trouble with onions, but thankfully not garlic. I can safely use onion powder and even small amounts of dried minced onion from the spice aisle without causing a disturbance. I can eat foods cooked with onions and just pick the onions out. But strangely the delightful onion broth served at teppanyaki restaurants will destroy me.