Well friends, I made my first attempts at death free cheese (cheez) the other day, with mixed results... I didn't have my camera on hand, so sadly have no pictures of the venture. Next time, there will be pictures!
Anyway, I decided to try a few different approaches to making cheez, along with the help of my friend Gayle, a fellow non-dairy soul with a flair for experimental cooking and a vegan fiancee - hence more experienced than I in adapting recipes.
Our first batch involved blending a 12 oz block of silken tofu to a cream.
Added to the tofu cream was:
1/2 cup raw cashew meal
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
We blended the entire mixture and set it in a coffee filter to drain off the excess moisture. It turned out something akin to sour cream; not really similar in flavor, but creamy and tasty in its own right.
The second batch was a cashew based cheez. I was going for something along the lines of chevre; a tangy, relatively firm finished product, but still with a creamy base consistency.
We began by soaking 1 cup of raw cashew pieces in warm water for about 45 minutes (or until soft), then draining well.
After blending as much as possible in the food processor, I tasted the stuff. It had a sweet, nutty flavor that I quite fancied. This would work great with a sweet-hot flavor profile! I headed to the pantry, and retrieved a bottle of just such a sauce, Pickapeppa. This delightful Jamaican product involves not only peppers, but also mango, ginger, tomatoes and raisins among a few other things. It has a wonderful sweet tang, with just a bit of kick. I put about 3 tsp in the food processor along with 2 tsp apple cider vinegar and blended it as smooth as I could get it.
The result was definitely not a "chevre", but an absolutely amazing substitute for savory cream cheese. Definitely going to make it again!
Next up, the challenge was to emulate the best cheez I've found commercially available, Daiya. The stuff is primarily arrowroot starch & tapioca flour, with oil as a binder. It tastes pretty close to "the real deal", and even melts! The melt factor is something akin to Velveeta; a bit slick, a bit stretchy. Not bad!
So, we combined
3 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tsp canola oil
1 tsp coconut oil
1/4 cup warm water
If you ever played with cornstarch and water putty as a kid, you know exactly what the consistency was like. Except with a float of oil on top. Once the oil was cut into the mixture with a spoon, the consistency resembled more of a plumber's putty.
Going for a "pepper jack", I added
1 tsp harissa
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
Flavor? Delicious. Melt factor? not so much. It did melt a little but I think next time I'll cook the mixture before adding the seasonings to get the starches to clarify, and it just might be spot on. Melting problems aside, it did work just fine on a pizza!
Stay tuned for Adventures in Cheez-Making, Episode 2!
2 tbsp arrowroot starch
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