Question
Karina S
Cashews are touted as the closest match for plant-based creams & sauces. How can I improve on using silken tofu or white beans or something else for a person with nut allergies?
Answer
Okay, so, uh, to put that into context, um, I like to mention that, uh, nuts in general work well for, uh, you know, plant-based creams and, and sauces. But cashews I think work particularly well because of their neutral flavor. You can certainly use walnuts or pecans or something else, but you will have a distinctly almond, uh, or walnut or, or maybe almond's pretty mild too, but, but pecan or walnut flavored sauce. And so anyway, that's why, uh, cashews are often the, the first choice, uh, in the case of making a fairly neutral flavored cream or sauce from nuts. And, you know, one of the nice things about using nuts is that they have a relatively high fat content, which starts to mimic the fat that you find in the dairy based creams, or half and half or whole milk, you know, that you might use for, uh, traditional creams and sauces. So, uh, if you want to use something that's bean based, which includes tofu, you certainly can, the one characteristic that is typically a little bit different is that those bean based products have a little lower fat content, and they're, they have a some extent of, of, uh, astringency. And so this is where the addition of some fat, uh, can help balance that overall product. But, uh, give it a try and, uh, try it without the addition of any oil, any, any fat. And then try it with the addition of your favorite fat, keeping in mind whatever flavor, uh, comes along with the fat that you might use. So, in other words, you might, uh, use some sort of a neutral oil, uh, or you might try something, uh, with a distinctive flavor, like a certain kind of olive oil and see how you like the results. Okay? But otherwise, um, you know, beans, uh, any sort of bean or, you know, legume product can work very nicely.
