Welcome to Kitchen Queries, where the nigella.com team will answer your cooking or food related questions.  We’d love you to submit some of your recipe problems, dilemmas or queries for us to get our teeth into!

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• Buttermilk subsitute

  I cannot seem to find buttermilk in supermarkets. Is there anything I can use as a substitute or a recipe to make my own?

  Posted by Levanah1. Answered on 20th Nov 2010 at 12.00

  From the nigella team:

  There are a few things that can be used to stand in for buttermilk if it is not available. If you have some regular, plain yogurt to hand then use 200mls (2/3 cup) yogurt to 50mls (1/3 cup) milk. If you have Greek yogurt only then use equal quantities of Greek yogurt and milk. The yogurt/milk combination is particularly good as a substitute for buttermilk in marinades.

  Alternatively you can sour some milk by adding some acid. Pour 250mls (1 cup) milk into a jug and stir in 1 (15ml) tablespoon of lemon juice or white wine vinegar. Stir well and leave to stand for 5 minutes before using as directed in the recipe. Full fat (whole) milk or semi-skimmed (reduced fat) milk work best here as skimmed (non fat) milk tends to turn a little watery.

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