Rosie_0801 Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Hey vegans! Is there any non-soy alternatives to products like yogurt, buttermilk and sour cream? I'd hate to give up my mushroom stroganoff. ;) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janna Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Hmmm....are those things necessary for the thickening, or the taste? If it's for the thickening, can you just use some flour and water (or mushroom broth)? Or, if it's just for the taste, can you add some vegetable broth, or mushroom broth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Hey vegans! Is there any non-soy alternatives to products like yogurt, buttermilk and sour cream? I'd hate to give up my mushroom stroganoff.;) Rosie Try it with coconut cream. I've never done it or heard of it, but that's what I'd try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 Ok, it's not just the mushroom stroganoff, where the sour cream is for taste as well as thickening. It'd be quite nice with coconut milk, but that would make it taste like mushroom curry, not stroganoff. I'm fishing for people's techniques so I can see how much of my recipe collection is able to be veganised. Do milk alternatives curdle if you add vinegar or lemon juice? I don't suppose they would... :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfOneFunOne Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Yeah, there are alternatives to all of those but the question is, can you stand the taste? For milk we all like soy (Westsoy Plus either plain or vanilla) but I would like to limit it. We've tried almond and I like the taste buy my family does not. I tend to think that the almond does better in recipes (it doesn't separate as much in coffee/tea/chai either). For yogurt, alas, I think the few offering are pretty disgusting. I haven't had one I like. My daughter will have one now and then but doesn't like them enough to have often. Since we do like soy milk I often wonder if it would be worth trying homemade but I've never tried it. Sour cream wasn't good several years ago when I tried it but it may have improved since then. Again, if you find that you like one of the milk alternatives, you might have luck making them. I have never seen a buttermilk alternative but I made one once. It didnt' really taste like buttermilk but the recipe turned out to be pretty good. I can't really remember what it was, though. As I recall, I just brought the milk to room temp and added lemon juice??? I can't really remember. sometimes the best way is to find an alternative recipe. www.vegweb.com is a good place to look. When looking for milk alternatives, it really is worth going to the alternative market (Whole Foods and Akins in these parts) b/c 1) they have many more milk choices (rice milk, soy milk, almond milk, oat milk et c), 2) more brands (West soy, Silk [blech!], Diamond, et c.), and 3) believe it or not, it's usually cheaper! Soy milk at WF is cheaper than the same stuff at the local grocery. I think this is because at WF it's just milk. At the local grocery, it's some kind of specialty item. I don't actually know, though. I'm sure it would be worth checking out the sour cream, et c. b/c back in the day, the cheese was pretty gross, too. It has come a long, long, way since then (it actually melts now!) so maybe the sour cream has, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lighthouseacademy Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Actually, milk alternatives do curdle with vinegar or lemon juice. I make my own almond milk and then add vinegar for "sour milk" and it works just the same. As for sour cream- as long as you are looking for the effect and not the exact taste of sour cream, I use raw cashew pieces (1 cup) and 3/4-1 cup water, a pinch of salt and 1 T apple cider vinegar in the vitamix. It works very well in chili or cream sauces etc. You can also make thick almond milk (or other nut milk) by lowering the water to nut ratio. There are some recipes for almond milk yogurt, etc but I haven't had much success with them. I have had a little success with almond "cheese" using some raw vegan recipes. Basically a very thick almond milk not strained and then fermented for about 6 hrs. Cashews or sunflower seeds are creamer. I make a fabulous cheesy sauce using nutritional yeast, sesame seeds, water, lemon juice, and a few other ingredients out of the Uncheese Cookbook. It is fabulous on potatoes, veggies, curry, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted November 21, 2008 Author Share Posted November 21, 2008 I guess one just has to experiment. Something I'm rather looking forward to, when the time is right. In the meantime, I'm happy to have any hints anyone wants to share. Especially if they don't require soy! I wasn't familiar with nutritional yeast, so looked it up. Do all brands have msg included? Or is unusual? Cheers, Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 I am NOT a vegan, but I remember looking at this website, Manjula's Kitchen, and she don't use onions for religious reasons, whatever, the point is that when making a spinach dish, she made some sort of a paste with cornstarch (flour given as an alternative) to thicken it, but this was an alternative to the traditional onion paste. So if you can stand my train of thought -- sauteed onions (cooked very well, possibly caramelized) that have been pureed, as a thickening agent. I don't know how to do it, but it sounds like the taste would work, and combine with additional flour as required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lorna Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 We once had a product called 'oatly'. It was as close to milk in taste as soy and I think it would work well in mushroom stroganoff. It worked great in other cooking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 It'd be quite nice with coconut milk, but that would make it taste like mushroom curry, not stroganoff. Coconut cream and coconut milk are not the same animals. OTOH, I make my stroganoff very spicy with lots of chili peppers, and since I never tasted the sour cream, I don't think I'd taste coconut, either. Since I'm done with my hot, chili days and current hubby won't eat mushroom, I haven't made the recipe in a while, but were I to make it now, I'd use Aleppo pepper instead of HOT chilis. Hmmmmm. Maybe I'll try a small pan of it after I get back from our trip.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cedarmom Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Where do you buy coconut cream? I can't do dairy or soy and I miss stroganoff> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted November 21, 2008 Share Posted November 21, 2008 Where do you buy coconut cream? I can't do dairy or soy and I miss stroganoff> Asian markets, or you can make it. I think I even saw a recipe on wikipedia! You make coconut milk, let it chill and take the cream off the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lighthouseacademy Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 I guess one just has to experiment. Something I'm rather looking forward to, when the time is right. In the meantime, I'm happy to have any hints anyone wants to share. Especially if they don't require soy!I wasn't familiar with nutritional yeast, so looked it up. Do all brands have msg included? Or is unusual? Cheers, Rosie What were you looking at that had MSG in it!? I did a quite google search to understand what you were talking about and here is my take on all of it- Nutritional Yeast is a byproduct of fermenting molasses or cane sugar and is similar to Brewer's Yeast. MSG is a refined product, possibly from refining further nutritional yeast. One site I found stated that both nutritional yeast and Brewer's Yeast contain high glutamate levels. However, that doesn't mean that MSG is a component. Does that make sense? I react poorly to MSG. I have never had a reaction to nutritional yeast. I did read on one supplier of nutritional yeast "Does not contain MSG". The first google site that comes up under Nutritional Yeast and MSG seems to be from a rather disgruntled former student of Richard Schulze and (commercial competitor using very similar products). Furthermore, the argument presented as to why nutritional yeast must contain MSG showed similarity but did not show proof, in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted November 22, 2008 Author Share Posted November 22, 2008 What were you looking at that had MSG in it!? It was just a Wiki article! They mentioned that some brand (un-named) had MSG in it, so I was wondering if that was usual and something to keep an eye out for. Speaking of coconut cream, we can buy it from any supermarket. :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cedarmom Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Speaking of coconut cream, we can buy it from any supermarket. :) Rosie I will have to try some. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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