Soy and nut free diet?

[PixelxBento]

Yes, you read that correct, soy-free!~

I have a roommate that is allergic to soy and nuts. So when it is my turn to cook dinner, it is rather difficult to think of creative dishes that are soy and nut free. (I don't like cooking the same thing all of the time.)
Before I moved in, I would make lots of dishes that had either or ingredients. (Yoshoku/Japanese, Thai, Korean, etc.)


So far, when all I can think of is:

Hamburgers
Lasagnas/pasta (Taco lasagna, 'traditional' lasagna, spaghetti and meat sauce)
Shepard's pie (mashed potatoes, ground meat, mixed veggies)
Tacos/tex mex
Greek food (Moussaka, Pastitsio

I can see myself getting bored of such a limited menu.
I miss eating yoshoku food like chicken katsu, hamburg steak, etc. Does anyone know of soy-free panko flakes or a substitute for panko?

What are your favorite soy/nut free foods/recipies?

[gfbentomom]

I am soy-free, my son is nut-free. Nut-free is pretty easy as long as the person is not super sensitive to cross-contamination and oils.

Soy-free is more of a challenge but is very doable when you stick with natural, fresh ingredients.

I am also gluten/wheat-free so was challenged to find a soy sauce substitute that had no wheat or soy! I've been using a product called liquid coconut aminos. My son and I think it tastes like teriyaki sauce! It has a natural sweetness and you have to be a little careful because it can burn. I put a little on the top of my salmon just before it's done broiling. We've marinated chicken in it too-just have to be careful not too high heat and not too long cooking time. I'll bet it would be good in the sesame sauce that is used on spinach and green beans-just omit the sugar.

We make our own "panko" because we need them to be gluten-free. Same method would work with soy-free. Take a loaf of your acceptable bread-one that is not overly soft like the typical sandwich bread-something a little more like a country style bread. Process it in the food processor until you get breadcrumbs that are not too fine but not too chunky. Keep them in a ziplock in the freezer. You can use them straight from the freezer. Don't toast them. They don't have the same shape as panko but they should fry up nice and light and crispy. We use them for tonkatsu, croquette etc. The things in my photostream at flickr are made this way.

Any other ingredients or dishes I can help with?

[Pangolin]

My brother went gluten-free, casein-free, and nut-free a few months ago. (There's a variety of other things he can't eat as well.)

One of the solutions for breading that we've used is crunched-up corn flakes - they are a little sweet, but I actually liked them much better than normal breading. We have a philisophy a lot like gfbentomom, we take a recipe we like and adapt it. Having a food allergy only means avoiding that particular food or ingredient - so just switch things out to something you can have.

-Recipes with tofu could use paneer (Indian cheese) or even chicken instead.

-Meals with nuts in them - just leave the nuts out (some people allergic to nuts can handle blanched almonds, so that might be a substitute if your roommate could have those). (We order biryani this way at out "Indian restaurant, and they have no problem with it.)

-Switch out soybeans for snap or snow peas, or even green beans.

-Pasta dishes sound like they would work for your roommate. There are a variety of brands out there that cater to a variety of allergies, just find one that works for you.

If you run into a recipe that you aren't sure how to adapt, come and ask - we're happy to help and we're used to being creative here!