Seasonal recommendations for vegetarian cooking

Every season - spring, summer autumn and winter - produces its own delicious vegetables and fruits. Kikkoman has put together a small selection of these and some recommendations on how to conjure up vegetarian meals with seasonal vegetables that are guaranteed to taste delicious. The perfect seasoning for any vegetarian dish is Kikkoman naturally brewed soy sauce. Made of the four pure ingredients of soy beans, wheat, water and salt, this universal seasoning enhances the natural flavour of foods without masking it.

Spring vegetables
After a long winter it's great to be able to see light and fresh vegetables such as radishes, spring onions and lettuce fresh from the field. Asparagus, which is ripe in mid-April, is without doubt the number one spring vegetable. Very few people know that both white and green asparagus taste delicious when grated raw. There are lots of different ways to prepare asparagus and it's also beneficial to your health because it's a powerful detoxer that stimulates digestion. Turnip cabbage is another universal vegetable. This young white tuber can be peeled and eaten like an apple. If you prefer it cooked, you can boil your turnip cabbage in a pan with a dash of naturally brewed soy sauce, sauté it in cream or put a filling inside it and bake it in the oven. Spinach is another vegetable that is available fresh from the field in spring. It's so tender at this time of year that you can break it off at the stem and eat the whole leaf - either raw in a delicious salad or sautéed briefly in butter or olive oil.

Summer vegetables
Juicy red tomatoes are the most popular summer salad ingredient. The best time to make vegetarian delicacies such as tomato salad, bruschetta, sugo (an Italian sauce made of tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, herbs and other kinds of vegetables) and grilled tomatoes is between July and September. Bell peppers are very healthy because, like tomatoes, they ripen into a delicious-tasting fruit in the sun. Fill them with sheep's cheese and rice for an absolutely fantastic tasting meal. Courgette and aubergine are popular ingredients in Mediterranean cuisine and they're very easy to transform into delicious vegetarian dishes. Zucchini can be grated, fried, barbecued, cooked with a filling or sautéed in its own juices. Aubergines taste delicious when grilled, fried or baked in foil. Fresh peas, snow peas, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and savoy cabbage are the perfect ingredients for vegetarian wok dishes. They are chopped up into small pieces and fried in the wok or seasoned with Kikkoman Sukiyaki stir-fry sauce. This seasoning sauce is very mild in flavour, so it harmonises very well with vegetables. Lastly, there are the typical summer lettuces that taste best when picked straight from the field. Cos lettuce is slightly bitter, rocket has a "peppery" kind of taste and iceberg lettuce is quite mild.
 
Autumn vegetables
Autumn is the season of roots, tubers and cabbages. That's why potatoes are an absolute must on any autumn menu. They can be transformed into a wide range of delicious vegetarian dishes such as salads, soups, purees, dumplings, soufflés, spreads and pastry confections. Potatoes taste fantastic with onions, which are ready at around the same time of year as late potatoes - a time of year when people love to eat onion soup, onion flan and onion gratin. Other autumn vegetables which grow underground are leek, beetroot and turnip. Fresh beetroot is first washed (not cut) then boiled. Then it is just squeezed out of its skin and added to salads, soups or eaten as a vegetable. White cabbage, red cabbage and pumpkin always put in an appearance in autumn. White cabbage has a strong, slightly sweet flavour that goes well with many kinds of meals. Yellowy-orange pumpkin flesh can be fried, deep-fried or, best of all, sautéed in its own juice. But be careful! The delicate flavour of pumpkin is easily masked by seasoning or combination with other foods. Try Kikkkoman naturally brewed soy sauce or the low salt version with 43% less salt for cooking and seasoning – both of them enhance the natural flavour of vegetables without masking it.

Winter vegetables
Sprouts and green cabbage are winter vegetables that taste absolutely delicious when seasoned with sauces like Kikkoman and transformed into delicacies such as green cabbage curry with coconut milk or sprout antipasti. Sprouts shouldn't be steamed or cooked for too long, otherwise they taste too strong and are heavy on the stomach. Icy temperatures don't deter celeriac. In fact, they improve its flavour. You can eat it as a puree, as braised ragout, as fried schnitzel, combined with fruit and dried fruits or fried as crisps. Parsley root is a lesser known yet equally delicious delicacy, as are parsnips (white to cream coloured root vegetables which are often used in soups). Black salsify – also called winter asparagus – is hard work to prepare, but well worth the effort. It is thoroughly washed, brushed, cooked in its skin and then peeled. Then you can cut it into pieces and fry it, steam it or deep-fry it. It has a milky juice that gives it a rich and aromatic flavour and it's full of nutrients.

Kikkoman's tip: Download the Kikkoman Seasonal Calendar for an overview of the seasons and the fruits and vegetables that are available fresh from the field in each season.