Cheeze! Yummy vegan cheeze!
We've been trying to go more vegan around here, but our biggest obstacle (really our only obstacle) is cheese. Jill and I both love cheese, so I've set out to become a master vegan cheeze maker. I searched the internet for simple recipes for my first attempt and came across this one, Vegan Cashew Cheese Recipe from Ann Gentry. I decided to alter the recipe a bit because I wasn't trying to make 3-5 ramekins of cheeze.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup raw cashews (soaked for at least 8 hours, though i soaked ours for 24)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 Tsp onion powder
1 Tsp sea salt
1/2 Tsp garlic powder
1 3/4 cups plain unsweetened soy milk (any unsweetened nut milk will work)
1/3 cup agar agar flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbs yellow miso (white miso can also be used)
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 Tsp onion powder
1 Tsp sea salt
1/2 Tsp garlic powder
1 3/4 cups plain unsweetened soy milk (any unsweetened nut milk will work)
1/3 cup agar agar flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbs yellow miso (white miso can also be used)
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
Instructions:
 | In a medium sauce pan, combine soy milk, agar agar flakes and olive oil. Bring to a simmer over high heat, then decrease the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the agar has dissolved. |
 | While things are simmering on the stove, this next step can be done. Using a food processor, finely grind the cashews, not allowing them to turn to paste. Add the nutritional yeast, onion powder, sea salt and garlic powder and blend. |
 | Gradually pour the milk mixture into food processor, blending with the cashew mixture. Continue to blend for 2 minutes, adding miso and lemon juice until the mixture is very smooth and creamy. The cheeze will begin to harden right away so once it's fully blended, move to next step immediately. |
 | Pour blended mixture into what ever container you want to shape the cheeze with or (as I did) straight into an air tight plastic container and place that into the fridge. Cheeze should be covered. Let sit this sit in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours to harden. |
 | After 5 hours in the fridge, I could easily remove the hardened cheeze by simply turning upside down and tapping it on the cutting board. This firm cheeze can be graded, chunked or sliced. Keep cheeze refrigerated, covered and it will last 4 days. Enjoy! |
This really was a simple recipe to follow and perform. The results are a mildly flavored cheeze that we've used in a lasagna, a topping for our veggie burgers and mixed in a delicious cous cous meal. There are tons of spices that could be added to it to give it more flavor: chives, more onions & garlic, black pepper, chillies, what ever you fancy. This is really a blank slate that can be taken anywhere. I think I could have used a little less agar agar flakes and that might make it a little more melty, but it's worked out well enough in it's current state. I'm excited to try this recipe again, adjusting it slightly for experimental purposes and seeing what else I can create. In the future, I will be substituting soy milk for my homemade cashew or almond milk. At first I was nervous to try making this, but now I'm just excited by all the possibilities.
I hope you have success and enjoy!
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