I have been kind of obsessed with making our own vegan alternatives to commercial products lately. As I mentioned in a previous post we have been making sour cream and cream cheese to use in our recipes at the bakery. This was motivated by the so-so taste of the commercially available products, as well as their use of palm oil. I was pretty much working off a standard, functional internet vegan sour cream recipe. Yesterday I decided to see if I could make a tasty condiment as well as a functional baking ingredient.
The internet recipes I have tried taste a lot like tofu, as does the Tofutti product “Better than Sour Cream”. The Tofutti product was also really, really firm and kind of unpleasant tasting on its own, although fine to bake and cook with. It is much whiter than what I came up with. I tried to select my ingredients with the goal of producing something as close to white as one expects sour cream to be. Alas, it is a tiny bit beige. But let’s focus on the flavor, which I think is quite good.
behold the "sour cream"
I am hoping this recipe will be included in the updated “Dining With Friends”, as it is featured in a couple of the recipes Gone Pie has contributed to the book.
Vegan Tofu Sour Cream
1 pound organic soft tofu
2T fresh organic lemon juice
2-3T organic brown rice vinegar
2T organic brown rice syrup
1/2 t sea salt
1-2T organic coconut oil
1 T mild organic vegetable oil
1/4 t xanthan gum
Gather your ingredients. Put them in your food processor and whirl away until you have a super smooth final product. I let it go several minutes. Patience in the processing will serve you in the final product. The longer you process the tofu etc., the smoother, lighter and better the final product. I definitely recommend letting the sour cream sit over night so the flavors can coalesce.
I used the maximum amount of vinegar and coconut oil. It was nice and sour and I think the coconut oil gave it a nice finished taste. You can definitely use all vegetable oil to replace the coconut oil, if you prefer. I am pretty sure the sour cream will have a hint of tofu flavor if you do that. The brown rice syrup is very mildly sweet and adds a nice sheen. Trust me on the salt and xanthan gum. The recipe really works out well once everything blends together.
I haven’t had non-vegan sour cream in over 20 years, so I am totally not sure if this tastes like the item it is based on. It definitely tastes better than the Tofutti product or the sour creams I made using on-line recipes. As I taste tested it during the day for texture and flavor, I found myself enjoying it more than I expected. It even had a nearly dairy after taste, although I am not sure if that is a good thing!
I was pretty pleased. Hope you will be too!