Dairy Free Feta Cheese

Cheeses.  Yes, we do miss cheese.  But I’ve found a pretty good stand in for feta cheese from The Gluten Free Bible.  It’s not exactly the same as real feta cheese of course, but you can experiment with the spices and salt and adjust it to your liking.  It’s a good stand in that adds flavor to salads that would otherwise be bland and sad.

Dairy Free Feta Cheese

1 block of Tofu – firm or extra firm

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Oregano

Basil

Fresh lemon juice

Garlic salt

Dehydrated onion powder

Salt

Cut the tofu into 3/4 inch thick slices and lay on a glass pie plate lined with paper towels.  Put another layer of paper towels on top of the tofu slices and put some weight on top.  If you have another glass pie plate of the same size that works well. Leave the weighted tofu for about an hour so that the water presses out.

I like my feta to be in small cubes so after the water is pressed out, I cut the tofu into 1/4 inch cubes.

Now add the olive oil and other spices to make it as tart, spicy, and salty as you like. The tofu feta cheese keeps in the refrigerator for several days, so enjoy!

Dairy & Gluten Free Breakfast

Dairy Free Tandoori Chicken

I prepared a dairy and gluten free dinner at the spur of the moment when I had unexpected guests.  A dairy and gluten free meal is not that difficult to prepare and everyone (that includes the non-dietary restrictions people) enjoyed the meal immensely.  Tandoori chicken may seem out of the question if you are dairy free since yogurt is required to marinate the chicken.  But by using Kefir, a beverage further fermented from yogurt rendering the product 99% dairy free makes it tolerable for my digestive system.    Kefir is  full of probiotics so its good for your digestive system.  I can’t tolerate milk or cheese and can eat yogurt to a certain extent, but the processing of kefir renders it lactose free.  Kefir is from the middle east and has been around for centuries.  It’s available in better grocery stores located in the dairy section.  Lifeway brand is fairly universal, but other brands also are on the market.  Kefir has become my go to product for smoothies, and to accompany granola. I highly recommend to anyone who is dairy free to give kefir a try to see if you can tolerate it.

The meal ended up being an international festival on a plate – Indian tandoori chicken, American corn on the cob, Greek salad with dairy free feta cheese (yes, dairy free feta!  See one of my later blogs for the recipe) and brown rice infused with Indian star anise. It was the perfect summer meal and the freshness of the vegetables complemented each other well, no matter what their ethnic origins.

Tandoori spice mix is a combination of chilli, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cloves, cumin, garlic and ginger.  You could make your own mix but I’ve been using Raja All Natural Color Tandoori Spice Mix for years and it has become a family favorite.  I get mine from the Indian grocery store, but I’ve seen it in better supermarkets.  I just add garlic and ginger to the dry powder spice mix and kefir.

Most tandoori is marinated for at least 6 to 8 hours, but since I was in a rush, I marinated the parboiled chicken for about 1 to 2 hours and it was delicious.  Marinating it longer could have improved the taste and I do recommend the longer marinating if you don’t parboil the chicken. It will help to tenderize the chicken.   But in this instance the parboiling shortened the marinating time as well as the grilling time as the chicken was already half cooked when I put it on the grill.  Besides that I got a bonus of a pot of chicken stock that I can use for tomorrow’s dinner.

Dairy Free Tandoori Chicken

3/4 cup kefir

5 teaspoons Raja Tandoori Spice Mix

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 tablespoon minced garlic

8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on

To parboil the chicken, bring lightly salted water to boil in a large pot, leaving room for the chicken.  Add the chicken to the boiling salted water and boil for 15 minutes.  Remove the chicken from the pot and drain and cool for about 10 minutes, then put into the kefir, spice, and ginger, garlic marinade.  Marinate for a minimum for 1 – 2 hours for parboiled chicken, or 6 to 8 hours for raw chicken.

Cook on a hot grill until the chicken is cooked through, and the skin is crispy and browned.