A WFPB Cheese you can appreciate!

Add this WFPB cheese to your wheel house! Cashews, plant milk, a steamed vegetable and seasonings are blended then firmed up with agar agar to make a sliceable cheese! Agar agar is a natural gelatin that is seaweed based. It is flavorless and easy to use!

I used Daikon radish for this particular recipe because I wanted a funky white cheese. Butternut squash, potato, carrot, or other starchy root vegetable would work equally as well. The squash, potato and carrot work best but I would not rule out smoked beets, kohlrabi, celery root or sunchokes.

Crushed pistachio’s lend visual and textural interest to this cheese! Any nuts or combination of fruit and nuts could be used for endless variations. Try my Smoked Aleppo Pepper cheese too!

I found some recipes on Lovingitvegan.com for a sliceable cheese. From Alison, I learned the technique of using agar agar in plant cheese blends. Agar agar is considered the WFPB gelatin and proves to be a terrific and tasteless agent for WFPB dishes.

Image of a cheese wheel with pistachios and grapes

Pistachio "cheese"

I used pistachios instead of cashews to make this cheese wheel. I added crushed pistachio's to the top for textural interest. I used sage and onion seasoning to mimic Sage Derby Cheese and I loved it! This recipe fills two 4" ramekins. The cheese wheels can be sliced but are also spreadable which is really cool!
Print Recipe
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Refrigerate4 hours
Total Time10 minutes
Servings10
AuthorSnap Pea Sheep

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Raw pistachios (shelled)
  • 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Plant Milk So Delicious Coconut Milk
  • 5 TBSP Lemon juice
  • 1 TBSP White balsamic vinegar
  • 1 TBSP Apple Cider vinegar
  • 2 TBSP Coconut Oil
  • 1/4 Cup Tahini
  • 1/2 Cup Raw parsnip or daikon radish I used daikon radish
  • 2 1/2 TSP Himalayan Salt
  • 1/2 TSP Ground Sage
  • 1/2 TSP Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 TSP Onion Powder Fresh 1 TBSP green onion
  • 1 TBSP Dijon mustard
  • 3/4 Cup Water
  • 1 1/2 TBSP Agar agar powder

Instructions

  • This recipe made enough for two 4" ramekin's with 2" sides. Use a little coconut oil to grease the ramekins and set aside. 
  • Sprinkle crushed pistachio's on the bottom of one or both ramekin's. When they are set, you will invert the cheese wheels and the pistachio's will be on the top..
  • Add all remaining ingredients except the 3/4 cup water and agar agar to a blender. Pulse three times then blend until smooth. You may have to stop, push ingredients down and restart several times. Let the blender run on low a few minutes while you heat the water and agar agar. 
  • Add the agar agar and 3/4 cup of COLD water to a sauce pan and set the burner on medium heat. Use a whisk to incorporate the agar agar. The water needs to come to a boil and boil for at least 2 minutes while stirring to keep the agar agar from sticking. 
  • Moving very quickly, pour the agar agar water into the blender with the cheese and blend about 30 seconds to incorporate the agar agar with the cheese. IMMEDIATELY pour into the ramekins. Smooth the cheese and press down into the dish to eliminate air pockets. 
  • The mixture will start setting up rapidly so get everything in water for clean up immediately after filling your ramekins. 
  • Refrigerate until firm. (4 hours or overnight).
  • Loosen from the sides with a knife and invert onto a plate. Enjoy. 

Notes

Used logo
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.
I have seen a lot of recipes for cheese using cashews and Agar Agar but decided to try pistachios!
Boiling the Agar Agar separately and blending it into the cheese mixture is much easier and safer than heating the entire mixture on the stove top. 
For variation, you might try chopped fresh rosemary and black pepper instead of the pistachio's for the second ramekin.  
After doing this a few times, I bought some 4" springform pans. Much easier than ramekins and no oil required.
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