Non soy cream and milk?

[Ruz]

After cutting soy out of my diet, I'm a bit confused as to the best alternatives.
For drinking and eating cerials, I love almond milk. However, its a little sweet and doesn't work well in soups.
I also love almond cream for sweet dishes and oat cream for cerial dishes.
However, I still can't find anything to use instead of milk in soups..what do you guys use?
And I haven't really found anything which works as well as soya cream in curries, such as korma... someone just suggested doubling up on the coconut..have you guys tried this?
And which in your opioions are the best non-soy selections for cooking different things?

[lobsteriffic]

I can't stand rice milk for drinking, but I've used it in cooking and baking before and it seemed to work out well.

I haven't tried hemp milk because it is so expensive here.

I've made curries with just coconut milk and they are delicious. I usually use the light coconut milk, but it's not as good as the full fat stuff.

[brandon]

I've been experimenting with making my own "milks" with various nuts. Many raw food books have recipes for these.
Soak nuts overnight, discard used water, and blend with fresh water. About 3/4C nuts to 4C water.

good raw chocolate shake recipe... this is tasty and it gives the basic idea
http://www.aniphyo.com/?s=mylk

I've made curries with just coconut milk and they are delicious.

Agreed!! Coconut milk is awesome!

[Marcina]

Yeah I just use coconut milk in curries too. I use it in mashed sweet potatoes as well.

[Ruz]

I've been experimenting with making my own "milks" with various nuts. Many raw food books have recipes for these.
Soak nuts overnight, discard used water, and blend with fresh water. About 3/4C nuts to 4C water.

good raw chocolate shake recipe... this is tasty and it gives the basic idea
http://www.aniphyo.com/?s=mylk

I've made curries with just coconut milk and they are delicious.

Agreed!! Coconut milk is awesome!

Wow thanks everyone!
That recipe looks good but although I've thought about making my own nut milks before, when I stop to calculate it doesn't seem to work out much cheaper that buying and I know it'll leave crap all over my kitchen which I then have to clean up LOL! Soy alternatives are really expensive! I saw some hazelnut milk the otherday, but at over 4 euros a ltr it could never be more than an occasional treat
Thanks for the advise on rice milk for cooking and coconut milk for curries, gonna try them out asap.
Cheers everyone!

[Aaron]

I've tried the coconut milk and the hemp milk and found them to be ok on cereal but my favorite is usually ricemilk.

[Vegan Joe]

I'm not a Oprah fan, but the women of the house are. Last week they brought to my attention and I watch her spotlight Vegan Chef Tal Ronnen, and part of his presentation adressed just this question.
There is also a spot about it on her web site.

Link to page>>> http://www.oprah.com/menu/food/menus/20 ... nnen-vegan

Cashew Cream
Recipe from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen


Cashew cream is a vegan-chef staple that stands in for dairy in a variety of ways.

In the raw-food world, where it originated, it's used in lots of desserts. When you cook with it, though, it can be so much more—from cheese filling in ravioli to heavy cream in soups. It can be stored 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator and can be frozen for up to 6 months (although after it's defrosted it can be a bit lumpy, so it's good to give it a spin in the blender to smooth it out before using it).

The trick when making cashew cream is to use raw cashews. They have no flavor of their own; they're just a vessel for fat and creaminess. (It's the roasting that brings out the familiar sweetness in cashews.) Because it has a nice fat content, cashew cream reduces in a pan even faster than heavy cream. (Soy milk, which some people use in vegan cooking, has no fat, so it doesn't reduce into a thick sauce—it's really not an alternative.)



Ingredients:Makes about 2 1/4 cups thick cream or 3 1/2 cups regular cream


2 cups whole raw cashews (not pieces, which are often dry), rinsed very well under cold water
Put the cashews in a bowl and add cold water to cover them. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.

Drain the cashews and rinse under cold water. Place in a blender with enough fresh cold water to cover them by 1 inch. Blend on high for several minutes until very smooth. (If you're not using a professional high-speed blender such as a Vita-Mix, which creates an ultra-smooth cream, strain the cashew cream through a fine-mesh sieve.)

To make thick cashew cream, which some of the recipes in this book call for, simply reduce the amount of water in the blender, so that the water just covers the cashews.

[Ruz]

Thanks!
I actually just made cheese with cashews and it was REALLY yummy..so I'll def give this a if I manage to get my hands on some raw nuts..they are suprisingly hard to find in spain!

[Ruz]

OMG!!!! I just tried hazelnut milk for the first time! It was heaven!!
Its a shame it's SO expensive..it could turn out to be a nasty vice
You just HAVE to try it to make hot chocolate! mmmmmmmm!!
Must be nice in mushroom soup too...

[seitan_man]

Cashews are great for dairy alternatives, especially cheese and ice cream. I bet the cream is great too!

[Ruz]

Cashews are great for dairy alternatives, especially cheese and ice cream. I bet the cream is great too!

Yeah, I know! The cheese recipe I made used just cashews, red pepper, garlic and agar..its much nicer than a lot of the vegan cheeses you can buy!
I've also been experimenting with using coconut milk as suggested. I've found a great simple pumpkin soup recipe with little more than garlic, pumpkin and coconut milk. I also tried shitake boiled in coconut milk and chopped coriander, simple and delish
But I'm still flipping out with hazelnut milk personally...

[godisagnostic]

coconut milk is your best choice for replacing cream.

I hate hemp flavor but hemp milk is very popular. Hazelnut milk is pretty good, not too sweet. Rice milk is very sweet and watery but still yummy. I've never tried oat milk.

[TripleH]

Have you bought the unsweetened almond milk?

[seitan_man]

I would heartily recommend making your own almond milk, sweetening it with agave nectar. It is perfect chilled as a drink in it own right, or used on cereal such as muesli.

Just take care to strain it through a fine mesh, to ensure the milk has no almond meal in it.

[HawaiiDolphin]

There's a product out there called Mimicreme, it's soy free and pretty good if you're willing to shell out like $6 per carton.