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Post by SA Hunter on Jun 17, 2020 11:11:32 GMT 10
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tomatoes
Senior Member
Posts: 1,065 
Likes: 1,089
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Post by tomatoes on Jun 17, 2020 11:55:01 GMT 10
Cheese is something we can do without in my household, so I don’t stockpile it apart from the cheap little bags of powdered Parmesan. But when everyone was home all the time, it did serve as a nice comfort food. I found that a few companies who normally sell to restaurants opened to the public so I was able to buy 2kg bags of grated mozzarella, grated tasty and block tasty, as well as large bags of grated (not powdered) Parmesan and large blocks of butter. I divided grated cheeses into smaller bags, vacuum sealed them and froze them. The blocks were just cut, vacuum sealed and refrigerated. It worked very well and more cheese was eaten than usual!
I know most people here love meat and dairy, but you may want to consider alternatives for cheese in case of long term supply issues, as the ingredients are much easier to store than milk unless you have a cow or goats. I haven’t found store bought non-dairy cheeses that are worth the money. They’re usually fairly tasteless.
Homemade substitutes can be nice but the thing to remember is that they are to use instead of cheese but they won’t be exactly like cheese - still nice. It’s a bit like drinking a cereal beverage instead of coffee - it tastes nothing like coffee but it doesn’t mean it’s no good - we have coffee, hot chocolate, teas and cereal beverage (like dandelion tea) (don’t lose the point of that analogy just because you don’t like dandelion tea!) - it’s a different drink and I’m not going to pretend it’s coffee!
For a cheese to use like haloumi, I make something that uses cashews, salt, tapioca flour, agar agar and water. It’s softer than haloumi and I make it less salty but it tastes good. It also works well in making cheesey bread scrolls and you can put it on pizza like people put broken up bits of fresh mozzarella. I just made focaccia using this cheese, garlic and pesto as a filling and it was really good.
For a cheesey sauce like you might use on lasagne or macaroni or cauliflower, I make a normal white sauce (using whatever type of milk) and blend in a large dollop of light coloured miso.
For a sprinkle on top of pasta, give walnuts, a little salt and some nutritional yeast a quick blend. For a lasagne topping if you don’t have (or can’t have) cheese, use this mix but add extra walnuts or breadcrumbs.
There are lots of other substitutes. These are just to get you started thinking about them and maybe trying a few. All of the ingredients store a lot longer than dairy and are easier to get than powdered cheese.
I’m happy to post recipes but I expect very few here are likely to be interested, so ask if you are. There are lots of recipes online but I’ve tried quite a lot of terrible ones (especially for cheese sauces that people say are the best but I end up throwing away).
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Post by SA Hunter on Jun 17, 2020 14:36:22 GMT 10
Post away - I'm curious to see these recipes.
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tomatoes
Senior Member
Posts: 1,065
Likes: 1,089
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Post by tomatoes on Jun 18, 2020 12:33:46 GMT 10
Please let me know if you try this.
Vegan Halloumi/Mozzarella
Keep in mind - this is a lot softer than halloumi and I make it less salty. It does not taste the same as halloumi. It can just be used in the same way - sliced and fried - which tastes really good. It can also be sliced and put on pizza (not to cover it - just in blobs) or put in bread scrolls (add lots of garlic and spinach), etc.
1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight (I put them in the fridge)
1 cup water
3.5 tablespoons tapioca flour
3 tablespoons olive oil or a plainer one
1.25 teaspoons pink salt
1.25 tablespoons agar agar powder
Drain and rinse the cashews. Put everything into a good blender. Blend until smooth.
Poor into a saucepan and heat, stirring, until it thickens. At first it will look all lumpy, but keep heating and stirring and the whole thing will come together in a smooth ball. Continue to cook and stir for about 2 min longer.
Put into a container (like a small rectangle glass dish with a lid) and leave about 8 hours before using.
Cook with about 2 days or use within 3 days. This doesn’t keep for long, but it’s quick to make!
To use:
Slice and fry until golden
Or slice and add to pizza or whatever else
*Loaf cheesey bread - make normal wholemeal dough (could use white), roll out into a rectangle the width of your bread pan. Spread with garlic (eg crushed from a jar, or chop lots). Slice the cheese as thinly as possible and lay slices over the dough. Add a layer of baby spinach leaves. Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll and put into the bread tin.
Rise and bake as usual.
Eat fresh or Slice and freeze the leftover so you can toast it as needed. Don’t keep out of the fridge overnight.
*if you have a non-stick saucepan, use that for the cooking. It is fine in a normal stainless steel one but you may have to soak the pan later.
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Jul 7, 2024 11:02:41 GMT 10
Jul 7, 2024 11:02:41 GMT 10
