Recipes for a Dysphagia Diet

Preparing safe, delicious and nutritious texture modified meals for people with Dysphagia isn't easy.  That's where Care Food Co. can help.  Our food has been lovingly prepared by our in-house chef to take some of the pressure off you. We understand that it can be a struggle to find healthy texture modified food options.

All Care Food Co. food is available to purchase online. Handy pouches are delivered fresh and ready for you to simply heat and serve. You can mix and match the proteins, and vegetables to suit whatever you feel like on the day. 

For the times when you want to prepare meals for yourself, here are a few of recipes that might help.

Remember to check that the food you are preparing is as smooth as it needs to be. You can see more info about IDDSI compliance by clicking here:

Lamb Casserole

Ingredients:

  • 300g Onions
  • 500g Lamb
  • 300g Carrots
  • 200ml Red Wine
  • 1 litre Beef Stock
  • Thyme Sprig
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 30g Gravy Powder
  • Lamb Stock

Method:

  1. Heat the oven to 160C.
  2. Brown the lamb in a medium casserole dish with a little oil, then remove from the pan.
  3. Deglaze the pan with red wine and boil rapidly for 2 minutes, remove from the pan.
  4. In the same casserole dish fry the onions until caramelised and then add the browned lamb, cubed carrots, beef stock and thyme.
  5. Put the lid on the casserole and cook in the oven for 2 to 2.5 hours or until the meat is tender.
  6. Add the gravy powder until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
  7. Remove the thyme stalk.
  8. To texture modify the recipe, finely process the casserole in a blender until completely smooth.
  9. Season to taste.
  10. Enjoy!

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Creamy Omelette

Ingredients:

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 extra egg yolk
  • 1 tbsp cream
  • 1 tbsp parsley
  • 5 tbsp butter
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Combine eggs, yolk, cream, salt, pepper and parsley & whisk
  2. Let the egg mixture sit for 15 minutes.
  3. Drop 1 tbsp of chilled, cubed butter into the egg mixture. Set aside.
  4. Coat small frying pan with 1/2 tbsp butter on low heat.
  5. Pour in the egg mixture.
  6. Using a spatula stir the egg mixture continuously scraping it off the bottom and the sides.
  7. Once the eggs have firmed enough to remain in place when scraped through with the spatula, spread it over the entire surface of the frying pan and remove from heat.
  8. Cover with a lid and allow to sit for 1-2 minutes.
  9. Starting from one end, use the spatula to slowly roll the eggs into an omelette.
  10. Once rolled into an omelette, push out onto a plate.
  11. Enjoy!

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Beef Bolognese

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 rashers bacon, finely chopped
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, finely chopped
  • 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 2-3 sprigs rosemary leaves picked and finely chopped
  • 500g beef mince

For the bolognese sauce:

  • 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes
  • small pack basil leaves picked
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 fresh bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 1 red chilli deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
  • 125ml red wine
  • 6 cherry tomatoes sliced in half

Method:

  1. Put a large saucepan on medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil.
  2. Add bacon and fry for 10 mins until golden and crisp.
  3. Reduce the heat and add the onions, carrots, celery sticks, garlic cloves and rosemary, all finely chopped, then fry for 10 mins. Stir the veg often until it softens.
  4. Increase the heat to medium-high, add beef mince and cook stirring for 3-4 mins until the meat is browned all over.
  5. Add tinned tomatoes, basil, oregano, bay leaves, tomato purée, beef stock cube,  chilli (if using), ed wine and cherry tomatoes. Stir with a wooden spoon. Bring to the boil, reduce to a gentle simmer and cover with a lid. Cook for 1 hr 15 mins stirring occasionally.
  6. Add the parmesan, check the seasoning and stir.
  7. When the bolognese is nearly finished, cook spaghetti following the pack instructions.
  8. Drain spaghetti and stir into the bolognese sauce.
  9. To texture modify the recipe, finely process the spaghetti & bolognese sauce in a blender until completely smooth.
  10. Enjoy! 
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Chilli Con Carne

Ingredients:
  • 1 onion
  • 1 red capsicum
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder 
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 500g lean minced beef
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • ½ tsp dried marjoram
  • 1 tsp sugar 
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 410g can red kidney beans

Method:

  1. Prepare your vegetables. 
  2. Chop onion.
  3. Cut capsicum in half lengthways, remove stalk and wash the seeds away, then chop. 
  4. Peel and finely chop garlic cloves.
  5. Heat pan and add 1 tbsp oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes until hot (a little longer for an electric hob).
  6. Add the onion and cook, stirring fairly frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft, squidgy and slightly translucent.
  7. Tip in the garlic, capsicum, chilli powder, paprika and cumin.
  8. Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  9. Brown beef. Turn the heat up a bit, add the meat to the pan and break it up with your spoon or spatula. The mix should sizzle a bit when you add the mince.
  10. Keep stirring and prodding for at least 5 minutes, until all the mince is in uniform, mince-sized lumps and there are no more pink bits. Make sure you keep the heat hot enough for the meat to fry and become brown, rather than just stew.
  11. Make the sauce. Crumble stock cube into 300ml hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture.
  12. Add a chopped tomatoes. Tip in marjoram, sugar and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in about 2 tbsp tomato purée and stir the sauce well.
  13. Simmer it gently. Bring the whole thing to the boil, give it a good stir and put a lid on the pan. Turn down the heat until it is gently bubbling and leave it for 20 minutes.
  14. Check on the pan occasionally to stir it and make sure the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan or isn’t drying out. If it is, add a couple of tablespoons of water and make sure that the heat really is low enough. After simmering gently, the saucy mince mixture should look thick, moist and juicy.
  15. Drain and rinse a 410g can of red kidney beans in a sieve and stir them into the chilli pot. Bring to the boil again, and gently bubble without the lid for another 10 minutes, adding a little more water if it looks too dry.
  16. Taste a bit of the chilli and season. It will probably take a lot more seasoning than you think.
  17. Now replace the lid, turn off the heat and leave your chilli to stand for 10 minutes before modifying the texture. 
  18. To texture modify the recipe, finely process in a blender until completely smooth.
  19. Enjoy! 

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Other Handy Resources for Texture Modified Food Recipes

BEYOND THE BLENDER - DYSPHAGIA MADE EASY
30 EASY TO FOLLOW RECIPES
Simone Howells & Griffith University Master of Speech Pathology Students.
Click here

For more information about Care Food Co, call us on 1300 251 890, email info@carefoodco.com.au or fill in our Contact Us form.