Creamy Chilli Pasta Sauce Without Cream

[Dusty Bin]

Looking for some help and advice, please: -

My daughter is trying to adapt a method for making a creamy sauce without using cream to make a creamy chilli sauce.

Instead of using cream, she substitutes 2oz (57ml) of melted butter with 1/3pint (178ml) milk.

Then to add the chilli flavour, she spoons in some lazy chilli (aka easy chillies) from a jar.

To thicken the sauce she adds a small amount of cornflour.

What happens sometimes, however, is that the mixture begins to curdle, i.e. separates into lumps ruining the sauce.

What is causing this to happen and how can it be avoided, please?

[ubasses]

Does she mix the flour with a little cold milk before stirring it in to the sauce.?

[pastafreak]

Does she mix the cornflour with a small amount of cold water...mixing well until it's smooth? Then slowly pouring into her chilli until it's incorporated. Why does she not use cream?

[gingejbee]

For thickening, arrowroot is superior to cornflour...never goes lumpy and you get a nice glossy sauce.

[TonyV]

Mix cornflour with a small amount of water or milk to make a roour before adding it to to the sauce.

[Buenchico]

The usual reason for sauces separating is heating them too aggressively. The sauce needs to be heated very gradually, with plenty of stirring.

Scrolling down to 'Nondairy Substitutes for Heavy Cream', here, might also help:
https://www.leaf.tv/articles/dairy-free-heavy-cream-substitutes/

[Dusty Bin]

2 good questions.

No, she doesn’t mix the cornflour with milk, she slowly sieves it in to thicken the mix.

She doesn’t use cream because she wouldn’t use a whole pot and wants to avoid waste. There’s always butter and milk in the fridge available to use as an alternative.

[TonyV]

It will always clump or lump if you add it without any fluid

[Dusty Bin]

Thanks for that link, Buenchico. Not looking for a dairy substitute, however.

She melts the butter, removes the pan from the hob and adds the milk. The chilli is then added and the pan is returned to the hob to thicken the sauce with the cornflour being added at this point.

This would be when curdling commences, if it does happen.

[pastafreak]

Then I'd leave the butter out and just use the milk. Definitely mix the cornflour with cold liquid.
She could also mix some full fat cream cheese into the sauce.

[ummmm]

You can freeze cream.

[Dusty Bin]

Thanks for the additional suggestions. My daughter has just corrected me telling me that the curdling occurs before the cornflour so she is sceptical that adding the cornflour as a paste or roux would be a resolution. She thinks it could be too much heat.

[Tilly2]

She could use Mc Dougalls Instant Thickening Granules. They don't need to be slaked. You just spoon them into the hot liquid.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/cooking-ingredients-pastry-savoury-mixes/mcdougalls-thickening-granules-170g

[TonyV]

Quite possibly Dusty

[Dusty Bin]

Thanks for all your replies.

I’ll leave it there for now.

My daughter is going to try mixing the cornflour with the milk before she adds it to the butter.

She’ll have to experiment to learn, I guess.

Your help has been appreciated. Goodnight!

[woofgang]

I buy the individual pots of full fat philadelphia cream cheese. They have a massively long shelf life if left unopened You melt the cream cheese GENTLY into the milk. this alone may make a thick enough sauce or you can reserve some of the milk cold and mix cornflour in and use this to further thicken the sauce. The secret again is gentle heat and patience. Your daughter might also like to consider beurre manie for thickening and adding creaminess. this can be made ib bulk and stored in the fridge or frozen but thaw before use. https://simplehomecookedrecipes.com/beurre-manie-vs-roux/

[pastafreak]

I'd recommend Sainsbury's own full fat. Just milk...no preservatives, and cheaper.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-soft-white-cheese-300g

[Atheist]

Why not make the sauce as a bechamel, ie stir some ordinary flour in with the oil or butter and cook gently, then add cold or hot liquid of your choice and stir heating gently until the sauce thickens. Then proceed with any othe ingrediengs.
The other way is to add cornflour mixed with cold liquid to the already made sauce and stir and heat until it thickens.

[Vagus]

Am I alone in that I’ve never heard of, or made, a creamy chilli sauce??

[woofgang]

Pasta "I'd recommend Sainsbury's own full fat. Just milk...no preservatives, and cheaper."

that's good too but it doesn't come in small portions and I find it goes off quite quickly when opened. I live alone and waste less with the portioned product

[pastafreak]

That's interesting woof, as I've always found it keeps quite well.