Over the years, I've experimented with using various types of non dairy milks in cooking and baking. The three that I keep coming back to though are rice milk, coconut milk and nut milks.
Rice milk is very thin with the consistency of skimmed milk and with a sweetish flavour. It's rarely my first choice in savoury dishes, however, I do find that it's a useful milk for allergy friendly baking, particularly in cakes, muffins and pancakes. And, although it does have a thin consistency, I have successfully developed a creamy vanilla ice cream recipe using rice milk. The flavour of plain rice milk isn't to everyone's taste, mine included, so in recipes where it's the predominant ingredient, adding another flavour, such as vanilla, makes it taste so much nicer.
1. Chocolate, Hazlenut & Cherry Muffins
3. Cherry, Sultana & Walnut Cookies
Coconut milk, the full fat tinned variety, is fantastic for adding a rich creamy consistency to dishes in place of pouring cream. So, this is the milk that I frequently use in ice creams, both sweet and savoury sauces and creamy desserts - rice pudding made with coconut milk is delicious! For more of a full fat or semi skimmed milk consistency I simply thin down the coconut milk with water. If the coconutty flavour isn't required in the dish, adding vanilla extract, orange/lemon juice and zest or spices, where appropriate, helps to disguise the flavour in sweet recipes. For savoury dishes, adding garlic, onions, herbs and/or lemon usually does the trick.
1. Smoked Haddock, Leek & Butter Bean Chowder
2. Blackcurrant Ripple Ice Cream
3. Passion Fruit & Coconut Creams with Poached Rhubarb
Nut milks are brilliant alternatives as, if you make them yourself, which is incredibly easy to do, you can vary the consistency depending on the amount of nuts that you use. So, you can create milks that range from a skimmed milk consistency right through to thick cream. Nut milks are very easy to make by simply blending nuts with water. Here's a recipe. Cashew nuts are the easiest to use for a smooth creamy milk as the soft nuts blend smoothly plus they also have a neutral flavour. I often use almonds, macadamia and hazelnuts too but they don't blend smoothly and need to be strained. This leaves you with a nut pulp which I usually try and incorporate into the recipe where possible. Otherwise you can dry the pulp in a low oven or in a dehydrator and use it in cakes and cookies.
3. Nectarine & Almond Verrines
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