Dal’s from the Indian subcontinent, so naan is great with it (though flatbreads like roti or chapati are more common I’ve heard). The nuttiness of accompanying basmati rice is also a classic (a combo known as dal bhat; for this, imo a thicker, pastier dal works better). Add some lime and/or cilantro to the rice for freshness, or have raw veggies like broccoli or cucumber with a yogurt dip to cool off from the warm spice flavors.
“Dal” is basically the hindi/urdu word for any legumes (beans, peas, lentils, etc) that are cooked straight from the dried form. Since there are many different types of beans, and many preparations, they are pretty varied. For a good easy recipe to try, I like Priya Krishna’s recipe. In her book, she has a flowchart of how you change the recipe to accommodate for different types of lentil (like cooking time and amount of water).
Depending on the variety you’re growing they can be extremely sweet. Like candy. This is because heirloom varieties in particular, when frozen, will convert their starches to sugars in an attempt to survive.
Most carrots sold to supermarkets or grocers are not able to do this, and they’re less sweet (but still fairly sweet, for a vegetable.).
part of the science of why we’re so keyed for sweet things… is because sweet meant it was ‘in season’.
In addition to what Jet said (agar, xanthan gum, gelatin,); you can add starches like corn starch or potato starch. a little goes a long way.
another thing is, for sauces, you can just cook off most the liquid and call it good. Especially for pan sauces made by deglazing fond- drain off excessive oil/grease and then add in some sort of liquid- vinegar, lime juice, straight water. scrap the pan and whisk until the fond is smooth.
Edit to add: you can also mix and match, to get the texture you want. Like with pie thickeners, it’s usually a mix of sugar, corn starch and some gelatin; to give it the perfect texture
Just to add to this, fruit can be used to both cut out a lot of the sugar and to thicken sweet sauces as well.
Also, I just realized I could make date paste. (Something that never crossed my mind til reading your comment, 🙄. I’ve blended them fresh, but have never softened them).
As for caramel, I can find lots of things about sugar-free, but nothing on lowering the sugar content. “3 Ingredients Sugarfree Caramel Sauce” However, this video makes me think I could easily thicken and lower the sugar content of at least a buttery caramel. (Mental note to self; give that idea a try).
Based on the wording of your post, there’s a few different questions it seems like you could be asking.
How to make this already existing syrup less sweet?
How to make future syrups less sweet?
How to make future syrups with less sugar?
To make the current one less sweet, I think you could add something with bitterness or acidity. They literally make black walnut bitters, and you could look into adding some of that ino the syrup. Depending on how you plan to use it, you could serve it with an acidic component.
To make future syrups less sweet, you could use glucose, which is less sweet than sucrose or fructose. To make them less sweet and have less sugar, you could use many different thickeners depending on how you want the texture. Xanthan gum, gum Arabic, maltodextrin, pectin, etc.
Caramelize the following.
1/4 c. Sugar
2+1/2 Tbls. Water
Then whisk in a little at a time
1 c. Water
1 Tbls. Cornstarch
1 tsp. Vanilla
pinch of salt
bring to a boil then remove from heat mixing in
2 tsp. Ground unsalted sunflower seeds
1 tsp. Ground black walnuts.
So far not too bad. The sweetness is perfect (i’m guessing I used about two or three tablespoons of the sauce on a buckwheat and sunflower seed pancake). Will have to wait til tomorrow to see how it cures overnight.
There was one hiccup. I mixed in the cornstarch into the water, and the water really needed to be boiling (which wasn’t possible with the cornstarch). Though, so far it seems fine. So maybe it won’t be a problem.
Never use salt and soy sauce in the same dish. Soy sauce by its very nature is very salty. Use it sparingly, and it does add a wonderful umami element to your dish. Works great with rice noodles, chicken, beef, pork, veggies, and is complimented very nicely with sesame oil, shaoxing wine, rice wine vinegar, and hoisin sauce. Chinese cooking is a complete game changer and it’s so damn easy.
I cook mostly asian food at home, and a lot of the dishes I make have sauces that are soy sauce based. I usually add it around the second half of cooking time, after cooking the meat/protein and mixing in the sauce ingredients (soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, etc.). As the other comment said, be careful with the salt as soy sauce is already salty to begin with. I usually season with garlic, onions, and pepper only as the soy sauce takes care of the saltiness.
You always need to salt each element individually to get the correct salt level. When you are cooking most vegetables you add the salt on top when you first add it to the pan. Same with meats but those usually get some salt earlier or as part of the marinating process.
While soy sauce is a source of salt it is more importantly a source of glutamate which is a flavor enhancer. Other items such as anchovies, mushrooms, miso, kelp, etc. contain glutamate naturally which was refined into MSG. MSG is just the crystalized form of naturally glutamate from kelp. I use soy sauce usually when things are simmering or as a finishing touch. I usually add it right at the end after adding my finishing touches of an acid. If your food tastes flat it usually missing an acid first before adding more soy sauce since you should add only a few tablespoons or so to most dishes.
Soy sauce does have lots of salt, and you can sub one with another if you so desire. It won’t be healthier, but it’ll taste different. From my experience the ratio is around 1 tbsp of salt = 8 tbsp of soy sauce, but keep in mind that this varies a lot depending on the soy sauce brand (cheaper ones tend to be saltier).
Personally I avoid subbing all salt in a dish with soy sauce, because the taste of soy sauce gets a bit too strong, and sometimes it introduces too much water. (Except obviously if the dish works around soy sauce, like yakisoba. But then that’s not subbing salt with soy sauce, it’s simply using soy sauce.)
What would it make more sense? to add the soy sauce with the other ingredients before the mix boils, while boiling or only to add it before serving?
Either sounds fine for me. It depends on what you want to achieve - add the soy sauce before boiling and the ingredients will get salted through, add it before serving and you’ll get some contrast.
I have yet to notice anythig different about the time to pour soy sauce in a dish. In any case, soy sauce first, then salt.
Unless you happen to have made a soup that taste bland (we all make mistakes), then a dash of soy sauce can help.
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