Makes 6-8 balls
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cashews (once soaked this will become 1 1/8 – 1 1/4)
- 100 ml water
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons agar agar
Method:
- Soak cashews in enough fresh water to cover them overnight, or for at least half an hour in boiling water. Drain.
- Place all ingredients except for the agar agar into a blender and blitz until very smooth. Taste and add salt if needed. At this point you have a liquid cheese.
- If you’re making pizza, simply pour a little cheese sporadically in circles on your base to create buffalo-style bursts of cheesiness. Or pour as a cheesy layer in lasagne.
To set into bocconcini balls:
- Prepare an ice bath and 6-8 squares of plastic wrap.*
- Pour the mixture into a heavy-based, non-stick pan. Add agar agar and heat gently, whisking continuously until starting to bubble. Switch to a silicone spatula and keep stirring to avoid the mixture sticking to the bottom, until it thickens and becomes stretchy. You’ll notice it will start moving as one lump rather than a liquid. At this point take the pan off the heat and spoon a little of the mixture into the centre of a plastic square. Form into a ball and twist (or tie off) to hold in place.
- Pop your wrapped ball into the ice bath and repeat with remaining mixture. If using 1/4 cup of cheese for each ball you’ll get 6 balls. Place the ice bath into the fridge and leave to set for at least 2 hours. Once set, remove plastic and place balls into heavily salted water (brine) and keep in the fridge for up to 10 days. (Mix 1 tablespoon of salt for every cup of water you use to make the brine.)
*You can use anything strong and non-porous for this step. Compostable plastic wrap works great or reuse any kind of soft plastic or fabric you have – simply use small rubber bands to hold the spheres.
This recipe is extracted from The Grater Good by Flip Grater, Koa Press, RRP $44.95 NZD