I was making fried chicken today, and my sister happened to stop by, and was lamenting that she can’t eat the chicken anymore because of the batter.
She is gluten intolerant and lactose intolerant, and allergic to some form of the protein in eggs.
She has rice flour she can use, and spices, but what are some good alternatives to milk/eggs? Does soy milk work? Almond milk? I’m sure they can, Google says so…but how do they taste? Is it going to taste awful?
I have been using Ener-G Egg Replacer for decades now and can highly recommend it.
Corn flour* makes a nice breading for fried foods and corn starch and water can substitute for mild/eggs as a binder.
*Finely ground corn meal. Corn starch is something different but sometimes called corn flour.
I will forward that on to her. It looks like it would help with the batter issue, as well as some of the baking issues she has had.
Thanks.
If you’re baking them, I have successfully used cooking spray and rice flour with dried spices. But it’s a very different dish.
Low-fat margarine is also usable, as that usually means there is no milk (though check labels.) But, again, it will produce something different from traditional breading, and it won’t be nearly as sticky.
I’ve yet to find anything that really works like real breading. But I’ve also never made traditional breading, and I don’t use a deep fryer.
What I do know is that it’s often easier for me to eat pre-prepared vegan foods, and they always use flax seed oil for eggs, and add xanthan gum to any rice, potato, or sorghum flours to simulate the stickiness gluten. But the first is expensive (and I can eat eggs), so I never use it myself, and the other I’ve just never seen for sale.
You’re very welcome. It makes a lousy scrambled egg or omelet (:p), but for use in baking Ener-G is really amazing. Plus, it keeps forever. I think it’s been more than 10 years since I last bought a box; I just store it in a good airtight container with the instructions written on the outside.
ETA: you can find a 16 ounce box on Amazon for just about $9.
Beer batter might be nice (flour, beer, seasonings). It will usually be more crisp than an egg-based batter, but it definitely works - either for dipping and straight frying, or dipping, then breading.
Has she tried using lactose-free milk?
Some people who are lactose intolerant can eat yogurt; has she tried that?
That crossed my mind, but it’s not (usually) gluten free. Seltzer is, though, and it should work for deep frying.
Flour isn’t gluten free either.
I often make the vegan pancakesfrom Chloe Coscarelli’s book. I’m not a vegan, but when I’m short of milk or eggs, these are dandy. Anyway, she uses maple syrup whisked in water as the binding agent. Something like that might work for your batter, although it might be sweeter than you’re looking for.
There are gluten-free flours made from grains like rice or corn. These can work well for making batter for frying.
Look at some recipes for oven-fried chicken. They usually call for flour, but you could probably use something like corn flakes, or rice flour or some such. Basically, you just coat the chicken with the flour/seasoning mixture, melt butter in a roasting pan in the oven, add the chicken to the hot fat, and cook per instructions. I used to make it all the time. You get a nice, crispy skin without all the fat.
There is a protein in lactose free milk, cheese and even eggs that she can’t eat.
Thanks for the help, I would have never guessed to sub seltzer water for beer. Sounds worth a try.
I had originally suspected she was more than just lactose intolerant. Otherwise you would have considered lactose free milk right away.
(Though, I do wish to point out, it isn’t actually lactose free. It just contains lactase to help you digest the lactose.)
aka tempura – here is a gluten-free version: