Portuguese is the New Vegetarian’s Cuisine

Maneuvering your way through possible ingredient substitutions can be daunting, if not overwhelming, even downright discouraging. Once you have decided what type of meatless person (Vegan, Lacto – Ovo, Pescatarian, or Vegetarian) you want to be, you can start with the obvious vegetarian or vegan dishes. At some point, you may find yourself bored with the same old routine of pasta, veggies, legumes and salad.

Maybe it is time to try reworking vegetarian ingredients in a different cuisine, perhaps Portuguese.

Today, the younger Portuguese generation does not want to consume the meat-laden dishes they were raised on. They are more conscious of what and how much meat they are eating. If you happen to be a Portuguese person, like myself, or even if you are not, how do you give up or cut back on meat and even fish dishes?

There was a time when a Vegetarian Portuguese would be unheard of.

No fish? No meat? I can hear my grandmother exclaiming, Meu Deus! What are you saying?

If you have enjoyed some intense flavors all your life, it can be difficult to give up what you were raised on. When that happens, it’s time to start converting some of your old family recipes. I say “some” because not every recipe can be converted and still carry the same exact flavors or even be called the same. However, we already enjoy numerous traditional soups that are meatless. Vegetarianism in Portugal is increasing, including the number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants.

You might wonder how to go about converting Portuguese dishes into vegetarian friendly ones.

Whatever is inspiring people to reconsider their meat consumption, Portuguese cuisine is quite adaptable to a vegetable-forward diet. Yes, this Mediterranean-influenced cuisine is noted to have plenty of seafood and meat dishes, however with a few tweaks here and there, it can be your new favorite cuisine.

Let’s start with Portuguese soups.

Often, sausages like chouriço or salpicão will find their way into a pot of soup. Soups like *Caldo Verde (Green Broth) and *Sopa de Nabiça com Arroz (Turnip Greens with Rice Soup) have minimal sausage, usually sliced. It is easy enough to just eliminate the sausage entirely. However, to retain the traditional flavor of the soup, I look at what flavors the sausage imparts to the soup beside the obvious pork. I look at the sausage seasonings that stand out, which in this case, would be garlic and paprika. So I increase the garlic from one to two garlic cloves and add one to two teaspoons of smoked paprika, adjusting both to personal preference. Adding the smoked paprika brings the smokiness of the sausage to the soup without any meat being added. This works for both soups.

The following soup is another vegetarian friendly one that is a family favorite. Other soups, namely, Bean Soup with Tomato, Carrot Soup, Onion Soup, Fennel Soup and more that do not have meat as the central ingredient, can be made vegetarian-friendly using the meat elimination and seasoning flavor method. Where it calls for chicken, meat or fish broth/stock use vegetarian broth.

Read more about Ana Patuleia Ortins in an interview with Denise Landis.