One of my relatives has GERDs (acid reflux). I'm trying to find / make a salad dressing that avoids
- acidity
- large quantities of oil
- spiciness (i.e. anything with capsaicin or peperine)
But I'm struggling to accomplish this because I don't know what type that would be. I bought a book called Garde Manger by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).
For "cold emulsion sauces", they listed
- temporary emulsions (e.g. vinagrettes)
- stable emulsions (e.g. mayonnaise)
However both of those examples involve high amounts of fat or acid.
For "dairy-based dressings", these seemed to rely on primarily cheese and cream, both of which are high fat.
Salsas it said tended to have fruits and/or vegetables combined with an acid (e.g. citrus juice, vinegar, or wine). Again, won't work.
So the options left were
- coulis and purees
- coating sauces: aspic
Would either of these last two options work? It seems plausible since the book doesn't mention high fat or acidity as a requirement for them, but I wanted a second opinion since I've never made either.
Best Answer
Yogurt comes in low-fat variations and in my experience they work pretty well.
Yogurt can be used as a dressing. In a lot of instances you can make a nice dressing just by taking the recipe of a mayonnaise based dressing and then replacing the mayonnaise with yogurt. (I don't mean it will taste the same, just that the recipes will produce a still nice but different tasting dressing.)
Also something like a traditional Greek Tzatziki is a real nice dressing.
For spicy-ness look at adding fresh garlic, horse radish or onions.
Here's a nice recipe: Get some no-fat yogurt, some mustard, honey and garlic, add salt and pepper to taste. You now have a real nice base to work off. It's a really fresh flavor because of the yogurt but also full because of the honey and garlic.