Vegan Mofo 1st; Cheese!



As part of my Vegan 1st's, I'm going back to basics, and cheese is totally on the list. I use shop bought Vegan Cheese a lot, so why not have the power to make it at home?

I'm oftern asked; "Whats vegan cheese made of?" and to be honest I have no idea what goes into Cheezly and Scheese.



 This week I made my own cheese, so the next person who asks I'll point this way.
I love how simple the ingredients to this are, except the Agar agar, which I have never used, didn't know where to find and found to be Crazy expensive, but I have found other recipes which call for it, including the Boston Cream pie in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

Hard White Cheese

11 fl oz (300 ml) water
2 tsp Agar Agar powder
3 1/2 oz (100g) Raw cashew nuts
1/2 oz (12g) nutritional yeast flakes
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp sesame tahini
1-2 tsp onion granules
1-2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic granules.

 

 

1. Boil the water and sprinkle agar agar powder on top. Stir and simmer till the flakes have dissolved.
2. Place in a food processor together with the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth. Place in a mould e.g. margarine tub.
3. Chill in fridge overnight. 

 

 

 

Great with Crackers and vegetables Crudités, this makes a lot so you can have it for breakfast, lunch, snack and share a bit, if you are feeling generous.

 

 

 

It’s not a cheese for melting or putting on toast or pizza...sadly these are my favourite uses of vegan cheese!

 

 

So as you can see the cheese is pretty soft, it’s comparable to a cheesy mustardy hummus really, maybe I will thicken the Agar Agar more next time, or use more of it. I also used Dark Tahini, but would trade up for light next time or use a little less.  I would make this again; this is a great Pate style spread or dip for crackers and vegetables. I added a lot of black pepper when I ate it to spice it up a little bit.

 

Vegan Mofo 1st: Parmesan Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

 

I sprinkled this on some TVP mince and GF tomato pasta. Mmmmm

 

Found this on the Vegan Society website;

1 oz (25g) nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 oz (12g) blanched almonds
1 tsp salt

Grind all ingredients in food processor until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.

Use as parmesan cheese. Can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

 

 

Engevita is pretty big in the Vegan world right? To be truthful the last box of this I had went out of date...So I decided to give it another try. I think the taste takes a while to get used to, but can become pretty addictive, so I hear.  The almonds are a nice addition to give it more body, I would probably use more almonds next time to make this even more crunchy

What’s your favourite use of these little flakes?

 

 

Usually I use Life Free From's Parmazano, which is mostly made of Soya Flour, but being able to make Parmesan at home is pretty convenient, if you don’t eat it very often.