A lot of my friends and family are allergic to dairy. I've also been forced to keep away from dairy for a few months due to some health problems. But who can live without cheese? Cheese is just one of those things that make everything better. Store bought vegan cheeses arent an option for me due to other allergies as well. Also, the price of that stuff? Um....Ridiculous.
It took a lot of trials and error to finally come up with a recipe I was happy with that resembled cheese enough to satisfy me. But here it is folks.
Mozzarella style cheese made with a few simple ingredients and minimal effort? Yes please!
Quick Note, You're going to want to have a good blender. I love my Vita-Mix! I would not be able to make half of what I do successfully without it. You can grind your own flour from whole grains, puree nearly anything... You name it. It makes it easier! If you are planning on doing a lot of allergy friendly cooking, A quality blender is the first thing I would invest in!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Almonds
- 1 1/2 cups Almond Milk
- 6 Tablespoons Water
- 2 Tablespoons Oil
- 2 teaspoons Sea Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Agar Agar Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- Whatever other spices or flavorings you desire.
Directions:
- Blanch your Almonds by putting them into a sauce pan, covering with water bringing to a boil and then removing from heat. Once the water cools off enough for you to handle with out burning yourself you can just put them out of the skins. Easy peasy.
- Add the nuts with the rest of the ingredients and blend on medium speed until smooth.
- Turn the blender up to high speed and continue to blend until it heats and steams. (Here's when your blender is key. If you have a good quality one like a Vita-Mix, LIke me, I leave the cheese blending for about 5 minutes or until it gets hot and steam starts to come from the blender. This will activate the agar powder. This is clean, quick and easy! If you dont have a good blender and it wont handle that kind of heat without doing something like..catching the house on fire... I'll post stove instructions after.)
- Once the cheese looks like it has thickened and is warm/hot, pour into glass molds of choice. This is where you will have to practice. Depending on how long you blend, you will get different texture in your finished cheese. The longer it blends, the harder cheese you will have. Experiment to find what you like!
- Let sit, uncovered on the counter top until it sets up, about 10 minutes, then cover and refrigerate until firm.
Stove top version:
Follow directions above but instead of continuing to blend on high for a long time, just blend until its creamy. Then pour cheese into a sauce pan and broil to simmer over Medium heat. Watch out, it likes to spit! Stir until it thickens and the spoon leaves trails. Again, depending on how hard you like your cheese, you'll have to experiment on how long this will take. Continue on with the same steps for molding and setting.
This is what it looks like as it sets. Dont worry, cracks are normal!
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