When Life Gives You Lemons....Make Tabouleh!

Gluten free tabouleh??  Can't be done you say.... But that uses bulgur wheat you say.....  That can't possibly be made gluten free you say....  Well I say poppycock!

There are other grains besides wheat that work just dandy in cold salads.  Millet is one of them and one of my favorites!  I don't even remember where I first learned about cooking whole millet, but I buy it at the local Asian market.  Organic whole millet.  It's easy to cook - pretty much cooks up like brown rice.  In fact, I toss it in my rice cooker on the brown rice cycle and walk away....just walk away til the thing beeps and tells me it's done.

To get a nice nutty flavor, I toss the dry millet in a medium non-stick pan over medium heat and let it get all nice and toasty.  I start with a cup of millet.  Once it's toasted, toss it in the rice cooker bowl.  Add 1 3/4 cup of water or stock (chicken or veggie).  Add a pinch of salt and about a tablespoon of olive oil or butter.  Set it on brown rice and let 'er rip!  If you need to cook it on the stove, put the toasted millet, liquid, salt, and fat in a pot w/ a tight fitting lid.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat and put the lid one.  Simmer for 20 min.  Lift the lid and check to see if all the liquid has been absorbed.  If so, turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.  If not, simmer for another 5 min and check again...rinse and repeat.

Once the millet is cooked and done with the 10 min steam, unlid it, drizzle on a little more olive oil, then fluff it.  If I'm serving it as a side dish, I'm done!  If I'm using in a salad, I set it aside to allow it to cool more.

Millet Tabouleh

Makes a lot!

1 cup whole millet
1 3/4 cup water or stock (chicken or veggie)
1 Tbsp olive oil or butter/margarine
1/2 tsp salt
3 medium tomatoes, finely diced
1 medium cucumber, finely diced
1 large bunch parsley, minced
2 lemons, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Cook millet according to above directions.  When done steaming, drizzle on a little more olive oil and allow to cool.  I stir it occasionally to help the process go faster.

Meanwhile, dice the veggies and mince the parsley.  Toss all of that in a large mixing bowl along with the lemon juice, olive oil, and S&P  Go easy on the salt for now.

Once the millet is mostly cooled, add it to the marinating veggies.  Toss to combine.  If it's too dry, add a little more oil.  Taste and adjust for S&P.

That's it!  This makes a great side dish and will keep in the fridge for several days.  I usually like to make this at least an hour before serving so the flavors can meld.  Bring to room for serving to bring out the flavors.

Dairy & Egg Free Baking

How it all began.....

I'm resurrecting a write up that I did for my local cake club a while back.   This was included in a fundraiser cookbook that we sold.  It is a compilation of various substitutes and strategies for baking dairy and egg free.  New brands of things like non-dairy yogurt and soy free margarines have come on the market since this was written.

Dairy

In recipes, dairy usually comes in the form of liquid (or powdered) milk, butter, sour cream, yogurt and cream cheese.  There are many substitutes and replacement for all of these things.

Cow’s milk is composed of about 85% water.  The other 15% is a combination of milk sugar (lactose), two main kinds of protein (whey and casein), fat and a combination of salts that add flavor but also promote protein coagulation in eggs.  Dairy in baked goods provides moisture, tenderness, emulsifiers and a preservative against staling.

In general, liquid dairy (cow’s milk) can be replaced 1:1 w/ liquid soy or rice milk.  There are lots more options these days also.  Unsweetened So Delicious coconut beverage is one of my go-to choices.  If you can have nuts, almond milk is great in baked goods.

Another alternative is a product called Dari Free which is a powder that needs to be reconstituted w/ water.  If you are not able to find this locally, it can be ordered on-line.  It is dairy, soy and rice free – based on potato maltodextrin and corn based crystalline fructose.   In addition to Dari Free, there are also powdered rice and soy milks that can be used to replace powdered milk.  Powdered milk can also often be replaced w/ sweet rice flour (mochiko) or ground almond meal.

All of these alternatives are lower in fat and protein than whole milk, but are generally sufficient in most baking recipes. These lower fat alternatives will not work if the recipe is relying on the fat content (such as whipped cream).  When a “heavier” dairy product is called for, sometimes full fat coconut milk makes reasonable substitute.

Most milk alternatives will change the taste and possibly color of a baked good.  Sometimes they will also change the texture which will be less tender.  Most milk alternatives tend to be rather sweet and not as neutral as cow’s milk.  Most tend to have a tan or “off” color in light colored dishes and baked goods.

Buttermilk is an acidulated dairy product.  It provides a tart flavor and often the acid component is used to activate baking soda in a recipe.  To make a buttermilk substitute, place 1 Tbsp of vinegar or other acid (lemon juice works) in a measuring cup and fill to the 1 cup line with whatever milk alternative you prefer.  Stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes before using.

Butter can be usually be substituted w/ a dairy free margarine.  Many (if not most) margarines are not dairy free and contain some form of whey or milk solids.  Look for a margarine that is marked Kosher Parve.  When substituting margarine for butter, be sure to use a high fat content margarine.  Do not use “light” or whipped tub margarines as these are too high in water content and will not work well for baking.  My favorite dairy free margarines for baking are Nucoa sticks and Saffola Unsalted sticks.  These are both based on hydrogenated soy oils.  There are other dairy free margarines out there.

Dairy and soy free margarines are very difficult to find.  There is margarine that is made Kosher for Passover that is generally available in the spring that based on hydrogentated cottonseed oils.  These margarines are dairy, soy, corn and gluten free due to the restrictions at Passover.  These can be very difficult to find out of season.  These margarines freeze very well and can be stockpiled in the spring.  They come in both salted and unsalted versions.  Again, you want the sticks for baking and not the tubs.

There is also a version of Earth Balance that is dairy and soy free, but it does have corn based natural flavors and pea protein which is an issue for some.

Yogurt – there are many soy yogurts out there and generally, an unflavored yogurt can directly replace dairy yogurt in a recipe.  Be aware, that some soy yogurts still contain trace amounts of dairy because they contain cultures that were grown on dairy.

Sour Cream – there a number of soy based sour cream substitutes available.  Be sure to look for one that does not contain any dairy.  A good one to use if you can use soy is Tofutti brand.

Cream Cheese – Tofutti makes a good soy cream cheese substitute.  This will even work in cheesecakes.  It is rather expensive though compared to dairy cream cheese.
Daiya now makes a dairy and soy free cream cheese, but it is not as smooth as Tofutti.

Eggs

Egg is a complex combination of fat, protein, and water.  They play many roles in baked goods which often make them difficult to substitute.  Eggs provide structure, moisture, leavening and emulsifiers to a batter.  The egg white is mostly water and a lot of protein along w/ a few vitamins, minerals and some sulfur.  The egg yolk contains all of the egg’s fat, cholesterol, phospholipids, and the emulsifier lecithin.  The yolk also contains some water and proteins.

To effectively replace eggs in a recipe, it is important to determine what their major role is in the batter.  In the majority of baked goods, eggs provide moisture, leavening, and some structure as a binder or emulsifier.  Egg whites in a batter generally provide more protein structure.  Egg yolks provide fats and emulsifiers to keep things more moist.

In batters based on egg foam, it is nearly impossible to replace the protein structure and leavening power of the egg whites.  Sometimes these can be reworked w/ gelatin to provide the foam structure.  Eggs provide gelling power and are difficult to replace in low flour/flourless recipes such as brownies and flourless chocolate cakes.  These generally do not work w/ any type of egg replacer.   You wind up w/ a bubbly brownie soup that has no structure.  There are some tried and true vegan brownie recipes out there that do work, but they tend to produce a drier, cakey type brownie and not fudgy, chewy one.

There are many different egg replacer concoctions, but there is no universal egg replacement that works for everything.

EnerG Egg Replacer – this is a commercial product that comes as a dry powder.  It’s a combination of starch, gums, and leavening agents.  The directions on the box call for 1 ½ tsp of powder plus 2 Tbsp water mixed to replace 1 egg.  I have found that it works better by doubling the amount of powder used per egg.  Use a rounded Tbsp of powder to 2 Tbsp of water per egg.  This product works when replacing 1 or 2 eggs in a recipe.  Replacing 3 or more eggs is not recommended.  Egg replacer w/ cake mixes is not always predictable.  It will work in some, but not others.  The only way to know it to try it.  I have found that Egg Replacer generally produces a drier, gummier product.  Adding a little extra oil can sometimes help this.

Applesauce – this is a good egg replacer when eggs are needed to provide moisture in a baked good.  This works well in heavy batters such as quick breads and cookies.  A neutral tasting, unsweetened applesauce will have the least effect on the taste.  I have found that using ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce plus ½ tsp baking powder works very well in most applications.  I have found that this combination provides a good source of moisture and the natural fruit pectin seems to work well for the structure.  In cake batters, this works very well in recipes that call for cake flour.  It can sometimes get heavy and gooey w/ recipes calling for AP flour. 

Fruit Purees – other fruit purees such as pear sauce, prune puree, apricot puree, pumpkin and banana can also be used to replace eggs.  These work best in quick breads and cookies.  These will affect the taste, so be sure to choose one that will compliment the flavor the baked good.  Use ¼ cup fruit puree or 1 small banana per egg.

Baking powder, oil, and water – this concoction consisting of 1 ½ tsp oil, 1 ½ tsp water, and 1 - 2 tsp baking powder works well for recipes where the egg is mainly there for leavening.  This concoction works well in cookies.  I have found that this does not work well in cake mixes that call for oil.  Since there are no emulsifiers or proteins, the final product tends to be very heavy and greasy. 

Gelatin – mix 2 tsp of gelatin w/ 1 cup of water, bloom then bring to a boil and allow to cool.  Use 3 ½ tsp of this mixture to replace 1 egg.  This concoction works very well when the eggs provide structure and binding in a recipe.  This works very well in gluten free baked goods to provide structure and hold moisture.  This concoction does not provide much leavening.  Regular animal based gelatin can be used or Kosher/vegetable based gelatins.

Flax seed goo – a mixture of 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds combined w/ 3 Tbsp of water is used to replace 1 egg.  Flax seeds go rancid very easily and should be stored in the fridge or freezer.  It is best to buy whole seeds and grind them as needed in a coffee or spice grinder.  Flax has a lot of lipids and proteins that works well as binding agents and emulsifiers. 

Tofu – ¼ cup of whipped soft tofu will substitute for 1 egg.  This works well in recipes where the egg is providing a lot of the moisture.  Be sure to whip or puree this to avoid any lumps in the final product.