Giving up dairy can be difficult, especially in India where chai and coffee are breakfast staples. But guess what’s not difficult? Making plant milk at home. Buying plant milk can be heavy on the wallet which is why making it at home is a big YES–it’s just more economical.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Servings: 1
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup soy/almond/cashew/grated coconut/oat/rice/peanuts/chickpea/hemp seeds/hazelnuts
- Optional:
- Vanilla essence
- Sugar
Instructions
- Soak your choice of base in water overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours. If you are using grated coconut, you can skip this step.
- Add an equal quantity of water in a blender and blend till smooth.
- Strain the mixture using a cloth.
- Boil the strained milk on a medium-high flame and add sugar and vanilla extract if you wish.
Tip: For coconut milk, add cornflour and heat the milk till you get custard-like consistency because coconut milk tends to separate into two layers: Water and cream. Additionally, avoid boiling coconut milk as this can change its taste.
You can mix 2-3 combinations of bases to suit your taste/recipe. For example, cashew + oat milk for tea/coffee and peanut + rice milk for making curd.
You can choose milk which suits your requirements. For example, if you’re making ice cream, you don’t want ice crystals to be in it, right? So use cashew or coconut milk as they are comparatively thicker. So many types, so many tastes, and so many textures! Ditching dairy makes a lot more sense when you see the world of plant-based options. Additionally, you can also customize your plant milk according to your nutritional requirements.
This recipe was contributed by Vaibhavi lonkar, one of our long-term volunteers. You can check more of her work here: Guide to everything vegan
Reach out to us on Instagram if you have any questions or if you want to contribute vegan recipes.
