My exps in plant based milks and yogurts

Here is a post to make the point about my adventure in the plant-based milk and yogurt world…
That doesn’t go much out of the beaten paths, but for me there were novelties. Also these food are very different so I made my tasting files for each.
If you want wider information about dairy-free cooking, there is a compilation post about it (here).

MILKS :

Soy milk (tutorial)

+Tastes good cold or hot.
++Useful to make tofu, yuba, yogurt, etc.
++ Very cheap ingredients.
-A bit long and complicated to make.

Almond milk (tutorial)

+ Tastes great cold.
+ Useful to make blanc-manger.
- Raw almond are very expensive here.
++ The most convenient and quickest to make.

Sweet corn milk (recipe)
+ Tastes fresh and original cold.
+ Quick and easy to make.
- Seasonal ingredient, no so cheap (I think frozen corn is pre-cooked, I didn’t try)

Sesame milk (tutorial)
+ Tastes great warmed.
+ Convenient and easy to make.
+ Cheap ingredient.

Recipes :
kurogoma tonyu (black sesame paste in soy milk)
hot sesame milk

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Coconut milk yogurt
+ Very tasty
+ Super easy to make
- or + It stays liquid
- A little fat (has to be drunk in small amounts)

Soy milk yogurt (thick type recipe)
+ Tasty
+ Great texture
+ Cheap ingredient
- Some prep needed to thicken it

Recipes :
coconut milk lassi

Le nouveau gâteau truffe au chocolat , with soy yogurt

Not your grandma’s usual yogurt, not her salon de thé ‘s truffe au chocolat. I had no intention to remake them. The cake ended up similar just like that as I was improvising. Lucky !

Freshly made soy yogurt

It’s the greatest soy yogurt for me. Commercial soy yogurt are always on the runny side of creamy, or on the jello side. And the Japanese soy yogurt, oh my, I’d never eat that, it’s over-sweetened and flavored with with stevia that I loath.
This one has a texture of… yogurt. And a taste of soy. It’s perfect.
Don’t skip the sugar, it helps maturation and the result is not sweet at all.

Easy recipe :
-make one liter of thick tonyu soy milk (tutorial)
-in a small cup mix 1 tbs of potato starch, 1/4 of agar, 1/2 cup of soy milk. Cook a few seconds in the micro-wave till its thickens. You get a mess.
-in the blender, mix the warmed soy milk, the cup of starch, 1 tbs of sugar, 2 tbs of store bough soy yogurt
-let overnight in a yogurt maker

Tip : you can take a thermos/thick pot with a lid, place glass bin in the middle, very hot water around…and you have a yogurt maker. I do that for smaller batches.

Freshly made soy ‘Greek’ yogurt.
Drained in a cheese cloth (from the pharmacy), let overnight in the fridge. Drink the whey or use it for cooking, it’s full of healthy probiotics.

Other dairy-like ideas : my diary-free diary.

Now, let’s make the cake : I whip all that to make a chocolate mousse.

A nutty biscuit base (just blend all together).

Composition : the base, a layer of mousse, slices of kumquat, more mousse, cocoa.
The result is really bluffing. That’s not exactly looking like those from the pâtissier‘s, but that’s as close as you dream of getting for some sweet you make like that in 10 minutes. Taste is divine…

These kinkan (kumquats) are still in season and visible in the streets.

Black tofu and agedashi kyo-imo taro

Two small Japanese dishes, passed through the gourmande’s paws as usual. That’s not super original, but maybe you don’t know these two.

age-dofu (recipe here)
Agedashi is a classic way to prepare tofu, that means ageru (fry), then pour dashi (broth) on it. This time I made it with taro.

This is the Kyoto style taro, kyo-imo. I have peeled one, cut in a few rolls, boiled till tender. Then I’ve patted them dry and deep-fried till they get colored.

The dashi is the Japanese basic broth : DIY dashi recipe or plant-based kombu dashi.

I have left the fish flakes (you can omit them), added dry togarashi chili pepper, flavored with soy sauce and reheated slightly. I’ve added a little potato starch to thicken and poured on the hot kyo-imo.

Serve hot while it’s crunchy around.

I have used these black soy beans (kuromame) instead of the white. And I have proceeded exactly as I do for white tofu (recipes here).
It’s zaru tofu, shaped in a basket.

Topped with kezuri-katsuo (fish flakes), and at the side soy sauce to pour on it.

You’ll see the rest of the menu in the next post… (soon here)

Black bean shiso baked empanadas

A satisfying savory snack.

The dough : flour, oil, water, a pinch of salt
The filling : boiled kuromame back beans (half mashed, half whole), black sesame seeds, some bean cooking broth mixed with potato starch, minced garlic, salt, cumin, nutmeg, chili paste. To each I added a shredded shiso leaf.

I painted them with oil, sprinkled paprika and baked about 15 minutes in the oven-toaster (till they make a empty sound when you tick them).

Enjoy them hot with more shiso leaves.

On corn tortillas, quick natto chili

The beans simmer only a few minutes, while I shape and cook the tortillas. Then lunch is ready.

Onion, tomato, natto, garlic, cumin, coriander seed, dry and powdered chili peppers, on the stove.

I’ve mixed half corn grits, half bread flour, added a little oil, wet with hot water, mixed. Let cool 15 minutes. Then knead a little. And it can be spread.