Posted by Savneet Singh on Sep.07, 2010

ⓒ iStockPhoto - JKendall

Are you Gluten intolerant? You or you family might have thought that you will not enjoy the pizza, lasagna, biscotti, pasta, pretzels, cookies and many varieties of bread anymore, but there is no reason for disappointment. A whole gluten free world waits for you. Gone are the days when there were a limited choices. There are many mail-order gluten free food companies and gluten free stores out there. But, just in case you prefer to eat at home, you should stock up your pantry with the food which is gluten free and can get you all you want to eat. There is a list of things which can help you make whatever you love to eat.

Cornstarch: This is a great thickening agent for sauces and gravies. It is less prone to lumps than wheat flour.

Cornmeal: This can be used for cereals, crusts, accompaniments to roasts, soft or grilled polenta and gluten free batters. Corn bread makes an excellent addition to stuffing, meat and other ground meat dishes. It also replaces the bread crumbs in standard recipes. You will surely relish cornmeal- crusted fish or soft shell crabs sauteed in a little butter or olive oil.

Corn -flour: this is smoother than the cornmeal.It has right texture for corn muffins and other baked goods.

Potato -flour: This is something different from the potato starch flour. Potato flour is made from whole potato. A very small amount of it is equivalent to other flours like rice flour. For example 1 teaspoon of potato is enough to redefine the texture of half cup of rice flour.

Potato starch flour: This is thicker and is interchangeably used with cornstarch.

Rice: You can use or experiment with a wide variety of rice- basmati, brown, wild rice, white rice, arborio. Keep in mind not to use the commercially prepared rice mixes, as they may not be safe.

Rice Bran: This comes out from the polishing brown rice and is loaded with all kinds of minerals, vitamins B and E in addition to fiber. This can be added to cereals, muffins and smoothies. This should be stored in freezer.

Sweet rice flour: This is an excellent thickening agent as it has more starch than regular rice flour. This can usually be purchased from Asian food markets.

Tapioca flour: This flour can be used where you need a lighter texture as in pancakes and waffles. It is at par with wheat flour.

Soy flour: Soy flour has heavy flavor so it is wise to use it with other flours. It is high in fat and proteins. It adds moisture to the dry recipes. For example- if you need two cups of wheat flour-mix 1 cup rice four, three fourth cup of potato starch flour and one fourth cup of soy flour.

Arrowroot: This blends well and makes for silky gravies.

Baking mixes: You can get commercially prepared gluten free baking mixes. But can have a mix of two parts of rice flour, two-third part of potato starch flour and one third part of tapioca flour at home.

Cereals: Keep gluten free cereals handy so that you don’t get to the other ones and invite trouble.

You can have gluten free cold cereals, hominy grits and hot rice cereals on the nearest accessible shelf. Always keep some at your work place. Mix a handful of nuts, raisins and pretzels to it and get a good snacking item.

Gluten free bread: You can get gluten free bread in shelf-stable package. Get some and freeze. They are available in health store, whole food markets, specialty stores or my mail.

Gluten free pasta: There are spaghetti, lasagna, penne, fettuccini, ziti and others available in stores. Stock all of them.

Rice sticks, rice wrappers and noodles: These are easily available in Asian markets and special markets. You might require a little preparation like some frying and that’s all.

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Posted under Food, Nutrition & Recipes, Gluten Free, Reading Labels.