Cashews Sliceable Vegan Cheese - Multi Purpose Cheeze

Hi cheese lovers, if this is your first time getting into making vegan cheese, I can tell you its not very difficult. You need to make sure to have a few ingredients that you might not have in your pantry. So go ahead write up your shopping list and mix up this multi purpose dairy-free cheese in no time.

Why we say multi-purpose; here are a few additions you can create once you have made this sliceable cashew cheese. 

1. Use it for a cheese board with grapes, crackers, dried apricots and dark chocolate chunks - this is one of our go-to favorites especially when we have a family or friends gathering. 

2. Make fried cheese sticks, they do not only work well as a snack but also make a nice additional to any mediterranean meal with falafel, different salads, hummus, pita bread and rice leaves.

3. Shredder your sliceable cashew cheeze and add as toppings for pizza, any oven loaf, vegan Mac and cheese. 

Now let's go to the recipe, Shall we?

It is my top 1 in regards to flavor, this sliceable hard cheese is perfect to make battered sticks as well. You can try that if something gets left over from your cheese platter :)

Ingredients to make the sliceable cashew cheese

• 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g)

• ⅓ cup Water (80ml)

• 5 Tbsp Lemon Juice Freshly Squeezed

• 2 Tbsp Vegan Butter (Earth Balance)

• ¼ cup Tahini (60g) can be substituted with potatoes (2 small size)

• ½ Medium Carrot (~30g) peeled and sliced

• 2 ½ tsp Salt

• ¼ tsp Paprika

• ⅛ tsp Cayenne Pepper

• 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

• ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast

• 1 tsp Garlic Powder or flakes

• 1 cup Water (240ml)

• 1 Tbsp Agar Agar Powder must be powder and not flakes*

Instructions

• Add the cashews, ⅓ cup water, lemon juice, coconut oil, tahini, carrot, salt, paprika, cayenne, dijon mustard, nutritional yeast and garlic powder to the blender and blend until very smooth. Leave the mix in the blender and set aside.

• Add 1 cup of water and the agar agar powder to a saucepan and heat, stirring regularly until boiling. Boil it for 1 minute (time it), stirring regularly and after 1 minute remove it from the heat and pour it into the blender on top of the cheese mix.

• Blend until smooth.

• Moving quickly, as it will start setting up very fast, pour the mix out into a round dish sprayed with non-stick spray.

• Refrigerate until set. To remove from the bowl, turn upside down onto a plate.

Notes

1. It is crucial for the success of this recipe that you use agar agar powder and not flakes. Flakes are much less powerful and if you DO use flakes you will need to use 3 times as much (3 tablespoons).

2. This might seem like a lot of salt, but it works perfectly in this recipe.

3. I used a regular round bowl, it was 5 inches round and 2 inches deep. I chose it because it was quite straight up the sides so created a nicer shape for the cheese. But you can really use any bowl or ramekin, and if your bowls are smaller, then just use 2 bowls for 2 smaller blocks of cheese.

4. This cheese can be grated but it tends to get firmer the longer it’s in the fridge. So it’s better for grating on the second day than on the day it’s made.

5. It does also melt. We put a slice on a cracker and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds and it melted. So yes it does melt!

6. We have also tried it on pizza. We tried it grated onto a pizza and sliced. Either way was great. We put it on with all our other toppings before going into the oven and it got nice and soft and melty along with the other toppings. It doesn’t spread or anything, but it’s very good.

7. This recipe makes one 21 ounce (600g) round of vegan cheese.

8. Serving size is 4 slices which is approximately 1 ounce. 

Another recipe we love can be found for this HERE

Pro Tip if you want this to come our more creamy for a cheese platter we recommend adding in some Toffuti Ricotta cheese to make it softer + adding less agar agar.