Saturday 9 October 2010

Vegan mozzarella


Since we moved in our new house, I have cooked quite an incredible amount of food: I have baked bread, made brioches (twice), pizza, a sheperd's pie, an apple pie, a pear pie, a coconut pie, a clafoutis, seitan (four times), sausages, recipes from my new book, and... vegan mozzarella! When I though that the world of vegan food didn't have any more surprises for me...

As a cheese lover, I have to admit that the concept of vegan cheese is for the very least...hum...weird. Nonetheless, as time goes by, I am becoming less and less attracted by cheese and more and more tempted to give it up, at least on a daily base. And honestly it's not so hard, especially when you live with a vegan. However, pizza is one of those things that make you forget all about your resolutions.

But recently I stumble upon this recipe and I thought I would give it a go. If not for my sake, for Edvin's. And though I didn't have any great hopes, this "cheese" turned out to be much better than any of the soy-based cheeses I have bought in the past. Even better than the unrivalled Cheezly! Yep!

Vegan mozzarella
For 1 small pizza. Takes about 20 minutes.

2 tsp of potato starch
2 tbsp of nutritional yeast
6 tbsp of soy milk
1 tsp of soy cream
1 tsp of margarine
1 tsp of lemon juice
3 tbsp of soy yoghurt
Salt, pepper

1. In a saucepan, melt the potato starch and the yeast with the soy milk. Add the cream, the margarine and the salt.

2. Mix well and cook on low heat.

3. Once you get the impression the concoction is almost creamy, remove from the heat for a second and add the lemon juice and the yoghurt. Place back on the hob and stir well.

4. Cook for about 10-15 minutes on low heat. It will be ready when the batter becomes a bit stringy and start pulling away from the sides of the pan.

5. Transfer into a small greased bowl, allow to cool down and put in the fridge. It will be ready after 6 to 8 hours.

A vegan pizza that concedes nothing to omnivorous others: aubergines, courgettes, red onions, mushrooms, asparagus, pesto, mozzarella and chorizo! For a pizza this size, I double the cheese quantities.

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