I’ve been experimenting with making vegan cheese. I’ve read hundreds of articles about making cheese to get a feel for the types of replacements available that can be used and what they add to the result. For instance, nutritional yeast is often added to impart a “cheesy” flavour, while lemon juice and cider vinegar add tartness.
I didn’t want to end up with a hundred disasters so I’ve tried to be careful since the ingredients are expensive and some, such as nutritional yeast, are almost unavailable or absolutely ridiculously overpriced if you do find a stockist. Anyway, what I’ve discovered is that Marmite is an excellent replacement for nutritional yeast (since it’s made using it) and that, although also scarce in South Africa, it can be found at a relatively reasonable price, and besides, it’s one of my favorite spreads - so, win, win😊🙃
This cheese is the first I’ve actually made and I’m pleased to report that it has a good flavour and even a dash of character. This is delicious served with toast or freshly baked olive ciabatta rolls. It’s, also, extremely easy to make and doesn’t take much time.
Ingredients
_80g of cashew nuts
_ ½ tablespoon of lemon juice
_ ½ tablespoon of cider vinegar
_ 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (use a flavourless variety)
_ ½ tablespoon of marmite
_salt and pepper to taste
_water to cover the nuts and a few tablespoons to add to the mix (about 4-5)
Method
_Cover the nuts with boiling water and leave to soak for about 1 hour.
_Drain and add to a blender with all the other ingredients except the water.
_add 2 tablespoons of water and start blending the nuts. This may take several minutes and you need to scrape down the sides of the blender as you go and add water, on tablespoons at a time as you go until you achieve the consistency that you prefer.
_Adjust the seasoning and serve as you would for any soft spreadable cheese.
That’s it, quick and easy and absolutely no fail!
All images are my own shot with an iPad and manipulated using PicCollage and Art Studio
Recipe developed by me
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