What can I replace this with? Alternatives and substitutions.

zippychick

Hi!
I have a recipe for hot and sour soup - which contains mushrooms,medium dry sherry, soy sauce, fresh coriander, cooked meat, spring onions, baby sweetcorn , white wine vinegar and pepper. Now I am cooking it for a veggie, and have a few questions

* What can i put in instead of meat (will be tofu in the main course so don't want to use that)

* What can i sub the mushrooms with? I really can't stand them (or do you think the taste would suffer too much?)I might be ok to remove from my portion - i detest the texture but might be able to "con" myself into eating it with no obvious mushies?:o

* Can i sub the sherry (100mls) for something else? Or just man up and buy a bottle? If so, what am i looking for?

Bongedone

zippychick wrote: »

Hi!
I have a recipe for hot and sour soup - which contains mushrooms,medium dry sherry, soy sauce, fresh coriander, cooked meat, spring onions, baby sweetcorn , white wine vinegar and pepper. Now I am cooking it for a veggie, and have a few questions

* What can i put in instead of meat (will be tofu in the main course so don't want to use that)

* What can i sub the mushrooms with? I really can't stand them (or do you think the taste would suffer too much?)I might be ok to remove from my portion - i detest the texture but might be able to "con" myself into eating it with no obvious mushies?:o

* Can i sub the sherry (100mls) for something else? Or just man up and buy a bottle? If so, what am i looking for?

Won't be the same soup!

You don't need a meat. Carrot battons, mange tout pieces, anything really. Dry white wine or Chinese rice wine instead of the sherry.

Mushrooms do release flavor. You could fish them out once they release their juice but don't liquidise them into it.

If I was making a Chinese stir fry I would use vodka in the marinade instead of dry sherry but I don't think the sherry is being used as a tenderiser here.

EDIT: How about a few scraps of egg noodles
EDIT AGAIN!: Fine pieces of ginger would enhance this as would a few chilli

zippychick

i know! I was very aware when typing that i was trying to make too many subs!

I might just buy sherry (how and where and what to look for?), and use the mushies but remove from my portion. Curious as to why you wouldn't liquidise them?

Hmm yes , egg noodles could do..... Very new way of cooking for me, so quite scary and daunting:eek::D

Bongedone

zippychick wrote: »

i know! I was very aware when typing that i was trying to make too many subs!

I might just buy sherry (how and where and what to look for?), and use the mushies but remove from my portion. Curious as to why you wouldn't liquidise them?

Hmm yes , egg noodles could do..... Very new way of cooking for me, so quite scary and daunting:eek::D

Liquidised mushrooms look awful and Chinese soups are mostly thin.

Any dry sherry will do. Manzanilla is nice if you want to finish the bottle off. Manzanilla is not a brand but a type I think. Supermarkets have their own brands of it.

You never know you may like Chinese mushrooms if you can get a hold of them. They are normally dried.


Not sure if you have seen this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1616107

cuddles123

I haven't tried it, but my sister liquidises a tin of macaroni cheese to use as a sauce in lasagne.

zippychick

Bongedone- i didn't think those flavours contained much hot or sour components either, but it's a Good housekeeping chinese cooking book from the day (1989 he he) so i thought it would be a good source?

Yes had followed that thread but back then it seemed to contain a lot of ingredients I didn't have if that makes sense! Will read again now with fresh eyes Thanks

[Deleted User]

<<<:rotfl::rotfl:

Penelope_Penguin wrote: »

If you've run out of gin for your G&T, it can be replaced with vodka :beer: If you've also run out of tonic, bitter lemon makes a refreshing change :beer:

>>>

If I ran out of gin:eek: I would run out of the house asap and buy some more :j:D:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

zippychick

I am making a malaysian chicken korma and it asks for white poppy seeds. It suggests a sub of slivered almonds - but i don't have those either. How you use these ingredients is - soaking in boiling water for two hours, then adding to the mix as part of the korma paste (the nuts/seeds get whizzed up with the soaking liquid). Anyone any other ideas on what I could use to substitute these?

CCP

I usually use ground almonds when making a korma*, so have you got any of those? Or some whole almonds you can whiz up before soaking? If not, something coconutty - coconut milk, possibly? - might work - I've had korma made with coconut rather than almond before and it's still good, although with a different (and probably not as authentic) flavour.

I'm glad to say that I've got curry for dinner tonight, too, or I'd be getting very jealous at about this point...


* I should point out I've only ever made korma using a ready-made paste that I've then jazzed up with extra ingredients, so I don't pretend to be an expert here!

zippychick

thanks CCP! It does also have coconut milk in. Ill double check and see if i have almonds but I don't think i do ! Recipe is here so you can see what else it contains

HMm thinking out loud here, it was GS1967s post about replacing almonds in a korma that started this thread (or gave me the idea). I think people suggested it was a thickener rather than a flavour..... ill searchy