Vegan MoFo Day #2!!

Holycrap…after a lot of experimenting I did it! I made a vegan cheese that worked well in a grilled cheese sandwich AND nachos. KABAM!! This recipe is based on this one from Sweet Roots. I made the recipe there once exactly as written, but I didn’t like the coconut milk as the base and can only find agar agar powder, so I used soy creamer and agar powder in this one instead! I also used rice vinegar instead of the white balsamic mentioned and used smoked salt instead of liquid smoke.

I think the magic combination is using agar AND tapioca starch, then it’s solid, but still melts. Yay! Here’s a bad picture of the block after setting and me cutting into it:

In case your not convinced, here is some more melty cheesy food porn:

Hungry yet? I thought so. To the recipe!

Melty Delicious Vegan Cheese…get in my belly!

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 500 ml soy creamer of choice
  • ~50ml soy or non-dairy milk of choice
  • 3 tsp. agar powder
  • 1 tsp. rice vinegar can probably use any white vinegar, I like the rice one
  • 2 tsp. smoked salt
  • 4 Tbsp. tapioca starch
  • 1 tsp. smoked paprika
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
  • pinch of turmeric optional, for color

Instructions
 

  • Bring the creamer and soymilk to a boil...but watch it! Both times I made this I looked away for a second and it completely boiled over the saucepan and made a huge waste! It gets very big and bubbly if you don't stir!
  • Once boiling, remove from the heat briefly to add the agar powder, rice vinegar and smoked salt.
  • Mix the tapioca starch in a small cup or bowl with a few tablespoons of soymilk and set aside.
  • Put mixture back on the heat, bring to a boil again, then add the rest of the ingredients, including the tapioca mixture, stirring as you go.
  • Cook for 10 or so minutes, make sure it comes to a boil at least once, then remove from heat and pour in a Tupperware or other container to set.
  • After it cools a bit you can store it in the fridge. Mine lasted a bit over a week!

I ate lots of this:

Nachos are my weakness.

There you have it, my best vegan cheese attempt yet! Have you ventured into the art of vegan-cheese making? Please share! What is your secret ingredient? I still long for re-creating one of those expensive, hard, aged almond cheeses…anyone?

For those interested in more vegan cheese experimentation, here are some vegan cheese-making cookbooks I own:

Some books about vegan cheese I don’t own yet, but have my eye on: