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.
Can’t help you with replacing the texture, but I have gotten shallot infused olive oil for imparting the flavor. They also have garlic oil, of course.
It’s the onion solids that offend most people, and often when thoroughly cooked, the proteins are denatured(?) enough to not cause me issues.
Raw onion and onion powder will mess up my system.
This was suggested in another comment, too. I’ll try that. At least for garlic, this seems to work.
Unfortunately, actual onions are always an issue for her, no matter the processing (fresh, powder, sauteed, thoroughly cooked… I tried it all).