Cooking without onion - serious allergy

rich.d.berry

Hi all you foodies. I'm a new visitor to this side of the forum, brought here by a need. I've searched for previous posts of this nature but can't find anything helpful.

We have a guest coming to stay tonight who will be with us for the next three weeks. She has a serious allergy to onions, garlic, shallots, leeks etc. Any of the bulbs in this family can kill her and even the aroma of it cooking causes her throat to close and causes breathing difficulty.

She has given us some advice, but she confesses to not be much of a cook and tends to stick with dishes she knows. I asked her if there was anything that she could recommend as an alternative to onion, but she had no suggestions. I find it difficult to even imagine cooking without onion, it goes in nearly everything I cook and adds to the texture of minced meat dishes.

Just to give you an idea of how sensitive she is, she reacted very badly to what they thought was an onion and garlic free dish but they added a Knorr chicken stock cube. She was hospitalised and needed to use 2 epipens to keep her airways open while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Also, every time she has an attack it increases her sensitivity, so this is no joke and I'm extremely nervous about providing food for her that will harm her.

Last night we went through our cupboards and removed anything that we new was unsafe or thought may be a risk.

The garlic and leeks etc. are not difficult to forego, but I'm at a loss as what to do about onion in cooking. I'm not looking to reproduce the flavour, just the texture. I've considered, adding coarsely grated carrot to minced meat for a bit of the texture that onion brings, or maybe bean sprouts would work better.

Any suggestions will be gratefully accepted.

livinsane

I saw this on an allergy website as recommendations to replace onions in cooking:

Fennel has a licorice-like taste but onion-like texture. Try it with chicken or fish.

Celery is among the most common aromatics.

Bell peppers are often used in Cajun cooking. Green peppers and celery are a good base for rice dishes or savory stews.

Carrots are used as an aromatic in French cooking in combination with celery.

Celeriac, or celery root, is the knobby root of one variety of celery. Peeled and diced, it can be used as an aromatic in sauces or stews.

tricky D

Hare Krishnas use Hing/Asafoetida as an onion/garlic substitute as they grow at night so have bad karma. However the stuff stinks until cooked and needs a good air-tight container. Most good Indian stores will have it, usually in a yellow round container.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida

Faith

rich.d.berry, the moderators have discussed this and unfortunately we've decided we need to close this thread. Given the serious nature of the allergy, we cannot risk someone giving you advice that turns out to be incorrect. We recommend you speak to a professional - perhaps a doctor or dietician - about suitable replacements and also any processed things that you need to be aware of. Best of luck with it.