Dairy-Free Delicious by Katy Salter

Katy Salter is an award-winning food writer and editor who contributes
to The Guardian, Sainsbury's Magazine, Elle and many others. She has twice been shortlisted for Food Journalist of the Year at the Guild of Food Writers Awards, and for World Food Journalist of the Year at the 2010 Le Cordon Bleu Awards.

Katy was diagnosed with lactose intolerance after months of unexplained stomach problems and was forced to rethink her diet. She began devising recipes using alternatives – coconut milk, cocoa, olive oil, almond milk, oat cream and more. Her successes are to be found in her new book, Dairy-Free Delicious.

The recipes in the book fall largely into two categories. Classic dishes made with dairy which Katy has devised dairy free alternatives for and recipes from cultures where dairy is not generally found, such as Vietnam, Thailand and Japan. Everything from lasagne, pizza and jammy doughnuts to Bombay colada and Mojito salmon with plantain fries; all with very clear, easy to follow instructions.

There is a particularly good dairy-free store cupboard section with honest sumeries of the pros and cons of various ingredients, how to use them, their taste and behaviour during cooking. Although not all of the recipes have photos, the book has a bright and breezy feel. There are nice chatty introductions to start each recipe and a clear style that entices you to give the recipes a go.

Dairy-Free Delicious is published by Quadrille, 5 March 2015, £18.99

Visit her dairy-free website at www.dairyfreedelicious.com

You can also buy Dairy-Free Delicious from Amazon.

Eggs Benedict
dairy free, soya free, nut free

Banh Xeo
dairy free, egg free, soya free, nut free

'Buttermilk' Chicken
dairy free, egg free

Bread and 'Butter' Pudding
dairy free, soya free

Eggs Benedict
Serves 2

Brunch is a minefield for the dairy-free. Everything on the menu sounds delicious, but the granola is smothered in yogurt, the pancakes are full of milk and as for the eggs Benedict – there’s a lake of clarified butter in the hollandaise. I was initially nervous about making this butterific dish dairy-free, but was delighted with the results I got with sunflower spread. It tastes absolutely as good as the real thing…

Ingredients:
2 English muffins, split in half
4 eggs
4 slices good-quality ham, such as Yorkshire

For the sort-of Hollandaise:
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
120g dairy-free sunflower spread, melted
1 tsp lemon juice
small bunch tarragon, leaves only, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. For the sort-of hollandaise, place a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water set over a low heat, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
2. Add the egg yolks and vinegar to the bowl and whisk constantly until thickened.
3. Slowly pour in the melted spread, whisking continuously. If the sauce looks like it’s about to curdle, remove the bowl from the heat for a minute and keep whisking, before returning to the pan.
4. When the sauce is thickened and glossy, remove from the heat, whisk in the lemon juice and season to taste.
5. Whisk in the tarragon leaves and cover with a tea towel to keep warm.
6. Meanwhile, toast the muffin halves (it definitely helps to put your breakfasting companion to work here – that way they can assemble the rest of the dish while you stand guard whisking the hollandaise) and poach the eggs.
7. Place two toasted muffin halves on each plate. Spread a little hollandaise on each, then top with a folded slice of the ham, then a poached egg.
8. Drizzle the hollandaise on top and serve.

Banh Xeo
Serves 4

Banh xeo is a crisp and lacy pancake from Vietnam. This savoury crepe is traditionally filled with pork and prawns (though for an easy lunch I've left out the pork), vegetables and bean sprouts. Depending on where you are in Vietnam, it is made with or without coconut milk. I was taught to make it with just water but prefer the subtle coconut flavour that comes from using a mixture of the two.

Ingredients:
200g rice flour, sifted
2 tsp ground turmeric
200ml coconut milk
generous pinch of sea salt
250ml water
Vegetable, groundnut or rapeseed oil, for frying
½ onion, thinly sliced
75g shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
180g raw king prawns
150g bean sprouts
1 spring onion (white and green part), finely sliced on the diagonal

For the dipping sauce (Nuoc mam pha):
2 tbsp lime juice
50ml fish sauce
200ml lukewarm water
50g caster sugar
1 large red chilli, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

To serve
Lettuce leaves
A handful of fresh coriander, mint and Thai basil leaves

1. Whisk together the rice flour, turmeric, coconut milk and salt. Slowly add the water until you have a thin, lump-free batter, about the consistency of single cream.
2. Leave to stand for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, to make the dipping sauce, whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce and water.
4. Add the sugar and whisk until it dissolves, then add the chilli and garlic and stir to combine.
5. Check that all the sugar has dissolved, then leave to stand.
6. Heat a non-stick frying or saute pan (that has a lid) over a medium-high heat.
7. Heat 1 tablespoon oil, then fry the onion and mushrooms, until the onions are softened and the mushrooms are turning golden, then remove to a plate.
8. Add the prawns to the pan and fry until pink and cooked through. Remove to the plate.
9. Pour a little oil into the pan, swirl the pan around, then pat with kitchen paper to give the base an even covering.
10. Turn the heat up to high then, when the oil is very hot, pour enough pancake better to make a thin coating on the bottom of the pan.
11. Swirl the pan around so the batter evenly coats the base, then add a small handful of the cooked onion, mushrooms and prawns, with some bean sprouts and spring onion.
12. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until the pancake turns very crisp. It should be golden at the edges and coming away from the pan.
13. Remove the lid and use a spatula or fish slice to fold one half of the pancake over the other.
14. Carefully slide onto a plate and serve immediately with plenty of lettuce leaves, coriander, mint and Thai basil (if you can get hold of it), with the dipping sauce in small bowls on the side.
15. The traditional way to eat banh xeo is to take a lettuce leaf, pile some herbs onto it, then break off a piece of the pancake and place it inside the leaf. Roll it up like a spring roll and dip into the sauce.

Buttermilk Chicken
Serves 4

What if you could get the tenderness of fried chicken without all the deep-fried grease? Enter 'buttermilk' roast chicken, adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe. Thighs and drumsticks (so much more flavoursome than chicken breasts) get a long marinating in garlic, spices and dairy-free 'buttermilk' - the result is chicken with burnished-gold skin and succulent meat. No deep frying required.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp lemon juice
300ml almond milk
2 tsp plain soya yogurt
3 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tsp mustard powder
4 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed with the flat
of a knife
2 tsp sea salt and plenty of freshly ground black
pepper
2 tsp maple syrup
1 kg chicken thighs and drumsticks
olive oil

1. Add the lemon juice to the almond milk, stir, leave to rest for 5 minutes, then stir in the soya yogurt.
2. To make the marinade, add the cayenne pepper, mustard powder, bashed garlic cloves, salt, pepper and maple syrup to the almond 'buttermilk', whisking briskly with a fork to combine.
3. Place the chicken thighs and drumsticks in a large, sealable freezer bag. Pour in the marinade, seal and place flat in a baking dish in the fridge, making sure the chicken is well coated.
4. Marinate in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 220oC/425oF/Gas Mark 7.
6. Remove the chicken from the marinade and shake off any excess liquid.
7. Space the chicken pieces out in a roasting tin, drizzle with a little oil and roast for 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is golden brown with dark, burnished patches.

Bread and 'Butter' Pudding
Serves 4

Bread and butter pudding is a traditional British pud, often made by clever homecooks as a way to use up slightly stale bread. I've adapted my mum's recipe to make a dairy-free b&b (the butter had to go, obviously) with rich, thick coconut oil and a nutmeg-flecked almond milk batter. The result is every bit as carby and comforting (think golden, crisp bread on top and a thick, curranty custard underneath) as the original.

Ingredients:
60g currants
60g coconut oil, plus extra for greasing
6 slices day-old white bread
50g golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
470ml almond milk
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 vanilla pod (or ½ tsp vanilla powder)

Approx. 26 x 18cm baking dish

1. Soak the currants in boiling water for 10 minutes to soften and plump them up a bit. Drain and put to one side.
2. Warm the coconut oil in a small saucepan over a very low heat, just until it is a spreadable consistency.
3. Spread onto each slice of bread and then cut each slice into 4 triangles.
4. Use a little extra oil to grease a medium sized baking dish, about 26 x 18cm.
5. Arrange half of the bread triangles in the bottom of the baking dish.
6. Scatter the currants and sprinkle a third of the sugar over the slices.
7. Top this layer with the remaining bread triangles, this time arranged in overlapping rows. Sprinkle with half the remaining sugar.
8. Beat the eggs and almond milk together and stir in the nutmeg.
9. Split the vanilla pod in half with a sharp knife. Scrape out the seeds and add these to the beated eggs and almond milk (or add the vanilla powder).
10. Pour this mixture over the bread, leaving the tops of the top layer of bread triangles exposed. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top of the bread and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170oC/325oF/Gas Mark 3.
12. Bake for 45 minutes or until the custard is set and the bread is golden brown.
    

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