Dairy Free Recipes for Rosh Hashanah

Special diets can be a nuisance around the holidays.  Delicious feasts meant for sharing have the potential to house many unknown ingredients.  Yet, armed with a few dishes of your own, and some recipes to offer to the other family chefs, creating a meal that everyone can enjoy is downright feasible.  Whether keeping kosher or dealing with food allergies and intolerances, you will likely find a recipe or two among the pareve selections below for this fast approaching holiday:

The Healthy Recipe Doctor at WebMD is cooking up some good ideas for Carrot Tzimmes and Potato Kugel.  Both recipes are dairy-free and gluten-free (choose your broth wisely), and the Carrot dish can also be shared with vegans.

We can always count on Gluten-Free by the Bay for a great selection of dairy-free/gluten-free recipes.  For this special holiday she is serving up a beautiful nut-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and of course, gluten-free Honey Cake.

Giori Shimoni, Your Guide to Kosher Food at About.com, shares a Pomegranate Apple Salad for a lighter dish that is free of the top eight food allergens and vegan-friendly.  On a slightly more indulgent, yet Vitamin A loaded, note, he has also posted up a wonderful looking recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes.

A hungry bunch at Chowhound has kept a lively discussion goin on what to serve for the holiday.  While there are a few dairy-laden recipes, scroll through for some wonderful Honey Cake, Beef Brisket, Chicken Pomegranate, and other great recipe and menu ideas.

Of course, we can always count on Isa Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero of the PPK and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for some fabulous pareve and vegan / egg-free recipes (posted in the Jewish Exponent):

Your Basic Chocolate Cupcake
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
3. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl. Set aside for a few minutes to curdle.
4. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and almond extract to the soy-milk mixture. Beat till foamy.
5. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
6. Add in 2 batches to wet ingredients. Beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are okay). Pour into liners, filling three-quarters of the way.
7. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely.
9. Frost with Chocolate-Mousse Topping.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Chocolate-Mousse Topping
2 packages (2.3 oz.) extra-firm silken aseptic tofu, such as Mori-Nu, drained of excess liquid
1/4 cup plain soy milk
2 Tbsps. agave syrup or maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 package (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Crumble tofu into a blender.
2. Add the soy milk, syrup and vanilla. Purée until completely smooth. Set aside.
3. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Use a rubber spatula to mix the chocolate as it melts. Once melted, remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the chocolate to the tofu and blend until combined. Use the spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender every so often.
5. Transfer mousse to an airtight container.
6. Chill for 1 hour before frosting cupcakes.

Tagged vegan