Help! Ideas for sauces without flour and butter ...

MimiJane

My husband has been put on a no-sugar/sugar substitute diet for medical reasons and must also steer clear of "bad fats". This means no cooking with white flour (or anything containing it), butter, marge, cream, etc. I'm OK with cooking most things from scratch, but am completely stumped for ideas for sauces.

I've thought of tomato based sauces or making a puree from cooked veg., but can't see how I can get the right sort of consistency, i.e. a thicker type sauce.

Has anyone got any ideas??

recovering_spendaholic

That is a difficult one. You can actually thicken sauces with wholemeal flour - it is fine in most things except for plain white sauce - but if you add parsley it is okay. I don't know if he can have wholemeal flour though. I never thicken tomato based sauces, I reduce them instead. You can make a lovely tomatoey sauce using tinned chopped tomatoes or pasata, veg stock, herbs and a little chopped onion. You just bung it all in a wide shallow pan and let it boil and it will start to thicken as the water is evaporated. If you keep the heat at just medium it won't stick. I also make soups creamy by adding skimmed milk powder instead of cream - you have to let the soup cool a little but it gives a lovely taste. You can use skimmed milk powder instead of cream in things like chicken in white wine too and it will also make nice "creamed" mushrooms - you just poach the mushrooms in a little stock and then let it cool a minute and add the skimmed milk powder and bring back up to heat. Good luck! Is it a permanent diet thing or will he be able to re-introduce stuff eventually?

apprentice_tycoon

Would you be allowed to use potato flour to thicken with? or try some potato puree to thicken a sauce, particulary if you use a hand blender to smooth it all out.

I have made lower fat sauces with low fat Philadelphia cream cheese, a little chicken Knorr and milk blended together and heated, this is nice with chunks of chicken, mushroom and pasta and the lowest fat sauce I've made is with vegetables like pureed red peppers or celery

MimiJane

recovering_spendaholic wrote:

That is a difficult one. You can actually thicken sauces with wholemeal flour - it is fine in most things except for plain white sauce - but if you add parsley it is okay. I don't know if he can have wholemeal flour though. I never thicken tomato based sauces, I reduce them instead. You can make a lovely tomatoey sauce using tinned chopped tomatoes or pasata, veg stock, herbs and a little chopped onion. You just bung it all in a wide shallow pan and let it boil and it will start to thicken as the water is evaporated. If you keep the heat at just medium it won't stick. I also make soups creamy by adding skimmed milk powder instead of cream - you have to let the soup cool a little but it gives a lovely taste. You can use skimmed milk powder instead of cream in things like chicken in white wine too and it will also make nice "creamed" mushrooms - you just poach the mushrooms in a little stock and then let it cool a minute and add the skimmed milk powder and bring back up to heat. Good luck! Is it a permanent diet thing or will he be able to re-introduce stuff eventually?

Great ideas, thanks, I definitely be trying them out. Yes, he can eat wholewheat/wholemeal flour. The diet will last for a while I think, but not for ever, depending on how quickly he improves.

MimiJane

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

Would you be allowed to use potato flour to thicken with? or try some potato puree to thicken a sauce, particulary if you use a hand blender to smooth it all out.

I have made lower fat sauces with low fat Philadelphia cream cheese, a little chicken Knorr and milk blended together and heated, this is nice with chunks of chicken, mushroom and pasta and the lowest fat sauce I've made is with vegetables like pureed red peppers or celery

Thanks, more great ideas I've been lying awake at night trying to think of interesting ways to make sauces without the normal "essential" ingredients!

Smiley_Mum

You could use soya milk and say brown rice flour, it's not refined, unlike white flour. Are you not allowed to use wholemeal flour?

What about maize meal, maize flour etc.

If you check out Beat Candida Cookbook by Erica White you should be able to find recipes you can adapt etc. Should be able to pick it up in your local library.

squeaky

Cornflower, or arrowroot, or gelatin or agar will all thicken sauces or gravies. As with most things, they take a bit a of practice.

shykins

u can use things like almond flour to thicken sauces

also how about using cream to make sauce ... if hes allowed cheese and cream u can jus mix the 2 together for a cheese sauce

as someone else said tinned toms with herbs also make a good sauce

hth

wishingonastar_3

we have a tin of beans whizzed in the blender for over pasta, my dd likes this lots.

Heth_2

Can he have eggs?
When I don't have cream in the house I make carbonara with plain yogurt instead. Just beat your eggs, add a dollop of yogurt, some chives, and your bacon (or mushrooms) and stir it in with pasta.
Tomato sauce as someone said you don't need to thicken, just reduce it. I'd do it for at least 20 mins (I also add lots of tomato puree). The longer you cook it for the better.

katia

hello
still new at this so bear with me . I was watching masterchef goes large (oh the life of a student:rotfl:) the other day, and someone made a thick soup out of chickpeas, and it was veryyy thick. Don't know if thats any use as a base for a sauce as they have quite a neutral flavour?!

Again, to repeat some of the other posts you cant beat a thick veg pasta sauce, but be careful even with shop bought tins of tomatoes as they add lots of sugar to the sauce, same with baked beans and alcohol also contains sugar. A lot of the healthier pre-prepared sauces hav added sugar to make them taste more appealing.

Another idea :idea:, this is off the top of my head so might be awful, but if you cook potatoes, carrots and other similar veg to a very soft texture and then blend down, u could get some 'interesting' sauces:think:!! Hmmm, maybe ignore that last suggestion? :wall:

But hope the rest has been some use.

K x :wave: