Gluten free Lactose free Béchamel style* white sauce

Forgive the quality of pictures the SD reader is broken so tweeting pictures from phone and downloading.

I made Moussaka with Gluten free , lactose free Béchamel on Friday for an everything eating friend who LOVED it and claims that unless I had told her she would not be able to tell. Not sure how true that is but the sauce WORKED and it DID taste good.

Since I discovered Gluten free pasta I have been DETERIMINED that I would get a decent lactose free béchamel/white sauce. My family are big fans of pasta, lasagne, Maccrona Béchamel, Kosa Béchamel and macaroni cheese. I also happen to LOVE Mossakka with béchamel. Even before the Gluten became an issue different ways of making white sauces was a point of interest, and over the years I have acquire different recipes which I have messed with to lower the lactose. But this is my first 100% lactose free sauce. (besides the margarine but that is almost negligible.)

My mum has an odd way of making white sauce, she uses no butter or flour, instead she thickens powdered milk with cornflour. This method has never worked for me I end up throwing it down the sink cursing and yelling for the flour and margarine.

So to be clear as far as I am concerned white sauce involves Milk+fat+flour

The Lactose Bit

When the idea first came to me I tried to use the INSTA-SOY powder I use for most things and rice flour. BIG mistake, what I ended up with was a type of rice pudding. Very tasty but also very sweet! (incidentally INSTA-SOY also does not make very good yoghurt) I realised then I would need to use natural soy milk but thinking I would have to make that from scratch, while not exactly difficult is off putting none the less. THEN Alpha opened a new branch in Heliopolis, a new branch that just happens to have a whole section of dairy free milks (and a new Gluten free cereal!!) the old one doesn’t. Incidentally this new branch is in Midan Heliopolis and best part on the main road so you don’t have to stagger down the road with shopping to get a taxi.

I also had a carton of Eden Organic Rice and Soy Beverage. From Health Harvest.

The Juhayna carton is to give you idea of size.

I now had Soy milk all that was left was the thickener. The fat section I use margarine because I have found over the years this makes me less ill than butter.

The Gluten Bit

Bean, chickpea and lentil flours all have too strong a taste for me to like them in a white sauce. Tapioca and rice make it taste like something it isn’t. We already established cornflour, white sauce and I don’t mix so instead I used potato starch, which is more widely available and cheaper.

White sauce.

150 ml Silk pure soymilk

250 ml (one small carton) of Eden Organic Soy and Rice Beverage

3 tablespoons margarine

3 tablespoons potato starch.

Salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter in a pot, and the starch and mix till it forms a dryish paste. Add all the milk. Stir the whole time to avoid lumps and the starch sticking to the bottom, it boils much faster than dairy milk so watch for this. Once thickened to your liking turn off.  Spice it however you like.

DONE (This made too much for the following moussaka recipe)

Moussaka

Meat sauce.

I am a great believer in leaving a stew to stew and that sitting in its sauces in the fridge over night only makes it better so whenever I am doing a mince sauce for lasagne, moussaka, or any béchamel I always make it the night before.

1/4 kg minced beef

3 medium tomatoes

3 tablespoons tomato paste

Cinnamon

1 medium white onion

Chili powder

3 big cloves baladi garlic (if not baladi  double)

Herbs  I am currently using a readymade mix I love (All Natural Meat Supreme Mill) but otherwise, bayleaf, rosmerry, basil, oregano, thyme.

Salt  and pepper

Brown chopped onions then add the meat cinnamon, chilli powder when it begins to brown add herbs. Blend the tomatoes, and garlic cloves in food processor and add to the pot. Add the tomato paste. Add very little water ONLY if it looks like it will burn and stick otherwise. Leave the meat simmering for 20 minutes it should have no sauce but be moist when it is done.  When it has cooled stick it in the fridge.

Tomato Sauce

3 tomatoes,

2 tablespoon tomato paste

1 clove garlic

dry basil

splash of water.

Blend all in the food processor. This will be added raw over the meat layer when assembling the moussaka.

Aubergines (eggplants)

Traditionally these are deep fat fried (aka fried to death) but since a) too much oil after fasting all day makes me sick b) I happen to like the taste of Aubergine and c) most of all I hate standing around watching them fry for ages I never fry them all ‘properly’.  This means my moussaka is generally lighter.

¼ of the aubergines used are deep fat fried until brown and oil filled.

½ are lightly fried thick wedges so oily on the outside but rawish on inside

¼ are grilled on a skillet.

To assemble grease an oven casserole dish/ pan with olive oil. Put a layer of aubergines (make sure you evenly distribute the different types) then put a layer of meat, you will likely need to spread it with a spoon as the cold may have made it solidify somewhat. Then add the tomato sauce. Then second layer of aubergines again make sure evenly distributed. Cover in béchamel sauce. (I like to stick knife down the sides and bleed it down but that is just a personal preference.)

Stick it in hot oven about 40minutes- hour depending on thickness of aubergine.

*So the Purists don’t attack me.

How to make Gram (chickpea) flour

I kept promising myself I would put off this experiment until I had bought a grinder or at least a cheap-o separate mini blender, but this morning I couldn’t resist. My tummy still hurts from the goats cheese, I’m hoarding my Chex-mix and I REALLY REALLY wanted peanut butter for breakfast. So the only thing I could think of, Gram flour chapati.

On a recent visit to Saudi Arabia I cornered my friend’s Indian cook (who is really part of the family now) who was one of the people to introduce us all to such a mix of flavours from childhood. I wanted to know where to buy gram flour to make pakoras/bhajis as you can’t buy it in Egypt. I got told off for wasting money make yourself she told me, just put the chickpeas in the food processor and blend.

So that is what I did, I only used a very small amount of dried chickpeas, as my mum’s dire warnings about breaking food processors was echoing in my ears, and I only have a mini thing.

The add on to my hand blender- not designed for this!

It took a while and didn’t come out very fine at all, but I think with a stronger processor (ie if I wasn’t using my handblender) or a grinder it would be brilliant. I then tried rice but my blender just didn’t take that at all.

Ta-da!

I took the gram flour and this recipe  as an idea source. (DISCLAIMER: I don’t generally follow recipes if I am baking especially bread I’ve always just gone with my gut and fingers. On theother hand I am manic about stew/sauce recipes.)

I had about 2 handfuls of grainy gram flour added about 1/2 a handful of Gluten free ‘Sweet’ white Sorghum flour, available from Health Harvest, which I have read is widely used on the Indian Subcontinent as a substitute for wheat as it is cheaper. a few cumin seeds, salt, a drizzle of olive oil and enough water to make it hold together as a ball.

The weird thing about this and every other Gluten Free baking dough I have tried to make is that it doesn’t stick, I can’t figure out how to kneed it let alone roll it out and pick it up. I was starting  to loose my temper with it when I remembered another trick I had read about for making tortillas- roll it onto a piece of grease proof paper!

Obviously that is not avilable here (that I have found anyway) and I’ve always found tin foil works just as well so that is what I did.

Dumped it in my chapati pan (tin foil up obviously) and peeled away tin foil.

Less than 5 minutes later …

Yum Yum YUM

I write this while munching on the last part of it. Several things, this is not flexible soft chapati, perhaps with practice I will get there, but it is crunchy and tasty and the grainy texture of my gram flour adds to the feel of multi grain toast (my favourite) as does the slightly nutty taste. It’s alright with peanut butter, though I think the peanut butter itself is a bit overwhelmed by the flavour of the chickpeas, I think this would definitely be better with a sharp Dhal curry or maybe spread with mango chutney. Though actually a spicy lemony Baba Ghanosh would also probably be great.

NOTE: This recipe is also low GI and VERY filling. 🙂 

Rice Pancakes

I’ve said it many times and will probably say it many times more, I have been incredibly lucky to have grown up and lived in contact with a variety of different .

2010-2011 I had a wonderful Chilean flat mate who introduced me to Rice Pancakes a family recipe I am about to share with the world ( I hope you don’t mind Lorena).  These wonderfully filling (great left over user) have become my standard bread substitute.

The main ingredient is cold boiled white rice, left overs basically. (Though I have been known to make a pot of rice just for pancakes!)

The original recipe calls for mixing the rice, with plain flour, eggs and milk ( or milk powder and water). Which creates a thick lumpy batter which you fry as you would a standard pancake (very little oil), dry on a chapati pan (which is what I do) or in oil as you like.

I simply substitute rice flour and soya milk. Easy as easy.

These generally make thick savory pancakes (especially if you have spiced your rice in the slightest) which can not be rolled, but which like oat pancakes taste good hours later cold. We often had them for breakfast piled high with a meat and vegetable sauce, to keep us going through the day, or with eggs.

In their original form they ARE pancakes though and so even if you do manage to fold them you need a knife and fork to eat them.

But recently I have been craving a pick up and bite sandwich and made several attempts at different gluten free flat bred/tortilla style doughs. All of which failed miserably , probably because I have not been using any gum.  Finally I decided to experiment with the recipie I have and by gum IT WORKED!

Almost a Sandwich 🙂

Well almost.  I had a couple of lovely goats cheese and sandwich pickle sandwiches. YUMMY!

There are three parts to the  trick 1) is to make the batter more runny and add a bit of margarine to it. Though I will be trying it again sans the marg.

2) When you are frying make one side slightly undercooked. This will always be the second side as the ‘rice settles’ while the first side is frying . This means you can fold it without it snapping in two.

3) Cool it fully, a cooling rack would be best but I just used a plate.

Lightside up

Dark side

Health Harvest

After my last blog I got information on where to buy things from the most unexpected sources, several people phoned or messaged me with helpful information , goes to show just how little we really know about each other doesn’t it? It was unexpectedly nice and useful. One of the earliest phone calls was about Health Harvest.

I had heard about Health Harvest and their provision of Gluten free products but the only branch I was sure of was the one in Mohendiseen, which was just too far for me to get with my cupboard full of lovely gluten free products courtesy of my recent trip to Saudi Arabia. I had heard that one existed in Nasr City but no one was sure where-until this phone call. Turns out I had walked past it over a million times and never registered as the name is written in Arabic and the shop window is empty. In fact at first glance I thought the shop was abandoned or closed. If you know Bikya (the original branch) it is near there!

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How to find it

The Nasr City branch is behind Tiba mall, or more accurately if you are on Nasr st (there is some question as to the name of this road, the main on with Rab3a el 3dawiya , Midan el sah3a and the beginning of Abbas el Akkad, Makram Ebeid and Nozha streets. So if you are on that street heading towards Abbas from Salah Salem, take the first right after Raba3a el Adawiya mosque before he Traffic Police thinngy building (Morooor). It is a very short narrow road there is koshk at the end of it. Turn left. You can actually park and walk from here. Right after the traffic building on your left hand side are several shops one of the first is Health Harvest. The sign is blue with red writing.

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Once you get in there is a whole array of gluten free choices, almost entire section is dedicated to it.

LOOK BROWNIE MIX!

Including several bread and pizza base mixes. I had the apple and cinnamon mix while I was visiting my parents and it is very nice, so go wild! They have other things too including miso, sea salt, wasabi powder (which I obviously HAD to buy), sesame oil, gluten free pasta and Soya Milk.  It’s an expensive trip I spent nearly LE 400 on not alot of things.

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The Biggest Surprise find:

Agave Syrup: Before the whole Gluten Lacto free malarkey last year I was looking at the GL diet recipe book and gave up primarily because all the ‘new’ recipes called for Agave syrup which I didn’t think was available here. It tastes rather like عسل اسود or black honey which I am guessing is molasses but not 100% sure.

 

Potentially Most Useful Finds

Buckwheat Berries (can be used to make GFflour) , Sorghum flour, GF baking powder and GF rolled oats.

Disappointments

Sadly they don’t carry Xanthan gum and not all  the flours in the Gluten Free section ARE gluten free the biggest glaring error of all is their cornmeal. For some unknown reason though non-GF  cornflour is availbe here AND Bob’s Red Mill produce a Gluten free version they have chose not to import that but instead to import the ‘normal’ one. If you ever get a  chance to go in do me a favour and make a point of mentioning this to them and suggesting they get the other kind in!

http://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-corn-flour.html

http://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-medium-cornmeal.html

http://www.bobsredmill.com/gluten-free-corn-grits_polenta.html?&cat=15

Make sure you read the labels carefully!

Best of All

Definitely and without a doubt, Eden Organic Yellow Mustard  it is expensive but out of this world GORGEOUS. Take a word of advice, hide it from anyone who doesn’t need it you are not going to want to share.

ALL MINE!!!

So that was Health Harvest hope it was useful to you. : )

It’s isn’t all bad: Or what you can actually fill yourself up with instead

If you have looked at the list of things you can no longer eat you may be daunted and somewhat sad, but cheer up! GF/LF food is not bad, in fact given the need to cut out processed junk food , you will probably  be shocked not only at the variety of food you can eat but also the amount of money you can save. (I’ll admit to being a rather wallet conscious individual.)

Fruit and vegetables:

Anything you like, I would stick with the ‘expert’ advice of 5 a day, meaning 5 colours a day. The colours on your plate will cheer you up no end, trust me!

If you are mourning bread for dipping in your oriental dips try vegetable sticks instead they have an added crunch which just makes it all more interesting in my opinion.

Carbohydrates

**Please note all the flours are GF but not CF (due to cross contamination risks) UNLESS specifically labelled Gluten Free by manufacturer (ie imported and expensive) if you choose to use any of the locally manufactured flours you do so at your own risk.

Another alternative is to make your own flour at home.

Rice: As much as you like but it might pay to start using a variety of types, Egyptian short grain, Basmati, Jasmine, brown as each one has a different taste and can be used differently. Also Rice flour should now become a cupboard staple  See different ways with rice.

Corn: Corn flour is your new best friend and popcorn your easiest risk free snack, learn to love it. There are several types of corn flour readily available in Egypt:

1)      What is called Corn flour in the UK or Corn Starch in the US,  Nisha (نشا) in Egypt: Very fine powder used for thickening, and used in breading and sealing in meat flavours.

2)      ‘High quality’ white corn flour/corn meal: To look at this has the consistency of standard plain cooking flour. I have generally begun substituting a mix of this and

3)      High quality yellow corn flour/corn meal: Same as above but good for when you want the food to actually look yellow and corn like. I generally use it for tortillas and Jamaican cornflour porridge.

4)      Corse corn flour: This grainy very yellow type I have only found in supermarkets like Metro, Spinnys and Royal house. It is imported and the most expensive on the list, however I only every use very little at a time and then mixed in with other flours to create a ‘breadcrumb’ feel to battered meat.

Potatoes: Just don’t batter them or buy ‘crispy’ potatoes at a resteraunt and you should be OK. Also as far as crisps/chipsy go the best thing to do is go for expensive such as Kettle as they are CF.

Chickpeas: A great way of bulking up food or a salad and make you forget all about ‘where is the bread’. Also, though not available in Egypt commercially that I have found, chickpea flour (Indian gram flour) can easily be made at home and is needed to make yummy crunchy pakoras and bhajis.

Deglutenise Your Kitchen

In my opinion the best way to get started is to clear all temptation, accidental I forgot that had gluten in it and cross contamination risks out of your kitchen. It has taken me weeks to complete this as I am constantly finding ‘hidden gluten’ in unmarked products. The problem in Egypt is that there appears to be no laws enforcing ingredient labels on food substances, therefore the ones that do are vague at best. That combinded with the fact it appears that wheat may be added to almost EVERYTHING that is processed nowadays makes it a daunting task but worry not it is not that bad.

This is a list of things I got rid of when I was deglutenising my kitchen. (Remember there are always poor people in Egypt who are happy for the food you no longer want. )

• Flour
• Bread
• Macaroni
• Vermicelli (sh3riya)
• Baking powder
• Coffee mate
• Dairy free ‘fasting’ creamer
• Soy Sauce
• Maggie/ knorr etc stock cubes
• Mustard
• Ketchup
• Salad dressing
• Cornflakes (no corn in them apparently)
• Musli
• Barley (freek)
• Rye
• Diet crackers
• Malt drinks:  Fayroz, Schweppes Gold, Birell (yes you can’t استرجل  anymore, sorry guys) etc.
• Breadcrumbs
• Haribo sweets: According to their website http://www.haribo.com/planet/us/info/main/faq.php at least some are GF/CF HOWEVER to be safe I would advise if you want to buy these buy imported ones manufactured in a country with strict food prep regulations as ‘starch’ is an ingredient.
• Frozen burgers, hotdogs, sausages and kofta
• Pringles
• Powdered soups including cup of soups
• Canned soups
• Powdered cooking sauces : ( eg béchamel)
• Chocolate: Don’t worry I will get to ‘safe’ chocolates soon.
• Fruit juice from concentrate

Lactose  products which may contain glucose (surprise!!)

Yogurts other than plain natural yoghurt

Processed cheese (La Vache, Kiri, Puck etc)

Yoghurt/milk shake drinks

I haven’t tested Zabado as I am lactose free if you know the answer to this PLEASE get in touch.