Seasoned Advice is a question and answer site for professional and amateur chefs. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
There's a recipe I grew up with, that I would like to try to make a vegan version of. Basically, it's mushrooms sauteed with onion and paprika, and then sour cream.
Since my kitchen is now vegan, I'm wondering what would work as a substitute for the sour cream.
I'm happy for ideas to be composite, and include something for flavour and something else for texture.
You can thin vegan mayo with lemon juice -- it gives you the blend of creamy and sour that you expect from sour cream.
I don't know how it behaves if you heat it too much, but it works well for sauces that are added at the end.
Personally I use an off the shelf substitute Tofutti: Better Than Sour Cream. So far I have used it in several baking recipes and sauces; it has worked perfectly for everything I have tried and I routinely get compliments from my non-vegan family members when I use it.
A couple of ideas:
Cashew cream
blend cashews and water in a blender on high speed. If you have a vitamix, this is all you need to do. With a regular blender, soak cashews in water, and then blend and maybe run through a nut milk bag.
Sautee garlic and shallots in olive oil, add cashew cream, reduce till you have the right consistency, add black pepper cayenne and nutritional yeast.
I've used this for a mushroom stroganoff, which sounds similar to what you are making. No one had any idea it was vegan, and everyone really liked it.
Vegan Sour Cream
(recipe is from 'The homemade vegan pantry' -- which is a nice starting place for a lot of vegan basics... would highly recommend it.)
1 can of coconut milk
2 tbsp non-dairy yogurt (store bought is okay)
Leave in a non-permeable container outside for 24-72 hours, until the taste is right (texture will be off). Refrigerate for 24 hours for it to thicken.
