One of the hardest thing to find, is a good, hard, tasty, sliceable yet meltable yellow cheese. The struggle for a good plant based cheese is real. I keep hearing the dissatisfaction of my fellow vegan friends with the current products and it made me kind of blue
There is really nothing you can do about it... except make your own! This is my take on a yellow hard sliceable cheese and let me tell you, it is gooooood
Look no further, all you need is just to make sure to check my recipe out and you'll be making blocks of this beauty
It is based on one of my favorite products, Pea Milk.
I ended up choosing to stop my experiments when I found this ratio of kappa to liquid for the recipe. I found that it mostly resembled cheese because the end result is firm enough to be sliced nicely, but still melts when heated properly.
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Variations:
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Add 1 tsp of garlic powder and 2.5 tbsp of liquid smoke to the recipe to give it a Smoked Gauda feel.
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Brush a mixture of oil and your choice of spice on the sides and bottom of your mold/ container before you pour the cheese mixture in. After the cheese will firm up, you'll have a beautiful looking spiced cheese.
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Nutritional yeast
Fortified nutritional yeast is a great source of complete protein, B vitamins and other nutrients. Nutritional yeast contains high amounts of vitamin B12 and just consuming a small amount of it daily, helps prevent deficiency in vegans.
Whenever I go into the kitchen, whether it is for cooking or baking, I need to have my music with me. I thought it would be nice to share with you the exact song that describes my feeling towards each recipe. That way you can have a similar experience while cooking...
Recipe's song:
This recipe is a long time awaited recipe, We have been waiting for a good hard cheese alternative for a long time. I feel like the only song that fits this recipe is Money for Nothing by Dire Straits. It is an innovative classic, much like the cheese.
Let's start:
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Prep time: 5 minutes
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Cooking time: 15 minutes
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Difficulty: simple
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Servings: 1 loaf (Approx. 500 g)
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Instructions:
- Weigh all ingredients before starting to cook. Pre-oil your cheese mold by spraying or wiping it with an oiled paper towel. You don’t want excess oil.
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Pour the milk and the water into the saucepan, add the Kappa-carrageenan and whisk well.
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Place the saucepan on medium heat. The Kappa-carrageenan fully dissolves at 140 F/ 60 C temperature.
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Incorporate the rest of the ingredients while still whisking the mixture.
- The mixture will slowly get thicker, you are looking for a stretchy (melted cheese like) texture.
- Fix seasoning according to taste.
- If you want to make the cheese more yellow you can add a little bit of turmeric. The cheese in the picture above has no turmeric in it.
- Pour the mixture immediately in to the prem-oiled cheese old, using the rubber spatula, make sure to get everything.
- Let the cheese cool down at room temperature.
- Seal the mold /container with a lid or plastic film and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
- The cheese will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.
- Enjoy!
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Notes:
- If you want to make those pretty holes that give the cheese more of a classy look, You can use a round piping tips to make the shape. I used several different tips with different diameter holes and played with the angles, to make the holes look more authentic.
- The Kappa carrageenan sets pretty quick, don't wait too long before pouring the mix into the mold. Quick work will help you avoid lumpy texture.
- Soy milk will work just as well for this type of cheese, I have never tried almond/oats milk.
- I love this ratio of Kappa for the cheese because the end result is firm enough to be sliced nicely, but still melts when heated properly.
- If you are looking to make a slightly more cheese like melt, you can reduce the amount of kappa by 2 grams, that would result a in a slightly less stable cheese but a great cheese for melting.
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Let me know what you think of the recipe in the comments section :)
8 comments
For your question about pea milk. it is just my preferred milk to use at home, I practically use it for everything but for this recipe there is no real advantage. There isn’t a remarkable taste that you are missing out. Soy milk is excellent.
Thank you for your question.
I tried this recipe and it really reminds me of dairy yellow cheese.
Will the pea milk give it a better taste? I tried it with soy milk, but is it worth trying it with homemade pea milk?
Also, mine did not come out as hard as in your pictures; it hardened, but not enough.
Next time I make this recipe, can I fix this by letting it boil on the stove for a couple more minutes, until it thickens just a bit more?
Or maybe add 1-2g of Kappa-carrageenan? What do you think?
Thanks for the recipe!
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