Thursday, November 8, 2012

More "Cheese Making": Vegan Pepper Jack "Cheese"?

I know that you guys love vegan cheese recipes, so I figured that I'd put another one up. This cheese is really good. The chiles in it give it a nice, Pepper Jack-type flavor. Melt it on a grilled panini with roasted red peppers, and you're good to go!

Ingredients:
1 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp. agar powder
3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least an hour
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tbsp. sesame tahini
1 tsp. chile pepper, chopped (or more, to taste)
1 tsp, salt
1/4 tsp. roasted sesame seeds (optional)
1/4 tsp. thyme
Nonstick cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Add the almond milk and agar to a medium sauce pan. Dissolve the agar in the almond milk, and bring it to a boil. Boil for 7 to 10 minutes, whisking almost constantly.

2. Next, add the cashews, garlic, nutritional yeast, tahini, chile pepper, salt, sesame seeds, and thyme to the food processor. Briefly pulse. Pour the almond milk and agar mixture in, and process until smooth.

3. Taste the mixture, and add more ingredients to taste (chile peppers, tahini, salt, etc.).

 4. Grease a small bowl or container, pour the cheese mixture in the container, and let it cool uncovered for 5 minutes. Cover, and let set in the fridge for at least 6 hours.

14 comments:

  1. Another amazing cheeze! I am SO glad that I crammed your blog into my rss feed reader. I love where you head off to in your culinary pursuits and look forward to more cheezy goodness in the future. For now..."Off to the pantry Robin...we are about to make Cheeze!"

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    1. Glad you like it! Let me know how it turns out...adding you to my reader as well. :)

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  2. Where the recipe calls for agar, do you use agar flakes or agar powder? Thanks in advance!

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    1. Agar powder. Thanks for asking! I'll have to edit my posts. :)

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  3. Did you pre-soak the cashews?

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    1. I must have been having an off day when writing this post...yes. Raw cashews, soaked for at least an hour (a few hours is best).

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  4. Do you add the liquid to the food processor when it is still boiling hot or do you let it cool before blending?

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    1. I let it cool briefly. Move it off of the burner and let it sit for 2 to 3 minutes, whisking if it starts to firm up.

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  5. Can you use Soya milk instead?

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  6. I just made this - had to do a lot of substitutions because of a limited pantry - but I think it's going to work perfectly mixed with mashed white beans tonight in taquitos. I didn't have any agar on hand, so did a little reading and subbed in gelatin (1:1; we aren't vegan, just trying to limit dairy.) I also added a splash (teaspoon-ish) of Bragg's, which I've done with cashew alfredo before and like the taste of. I didn't have any raw chiles, so I used what was left of some pickled jalapenos = the perfect fire-y kick. Lastly, I only had about a half a cup of cashews left (roasted ones at that) so I added some raw sunflower seeds to finish the measurement off.

    My question, though, is why do you boil the milk + gelling agent? Is it to reduce the water content of the milk? Having never used agar before, perhaps it's what agar calls for to "set up"? I'll definitely be sharing this recipe with all my DF friends - thank you so much!!

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  7. Hi! I'm new to the blog, but I had a question. Have you come across any non-dairy cheeses that are also nut-free? Or at least cashew-free? Unfortunately, I have a cashew-free house due to a nut allergy and it turns our cashews make incredible non-dairy cheeses. :) Thanks!

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  8. hi, can you use agar flakes instead of agar powder?

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  9. I do not have sesame seeds. Can I use about 1/2-1 tsp of sesame oil?
    for the chiles - - do you mean the canned ones? or the dried ones?
    Thanks!

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