team @ veganblender
Brined Vegan Mozarella Balls
Soft, fresh vegan cheese that goes great with olive oil and balsamic!
This vegan cheese is so great that you'll be eating Caprese salads for weeks. I think mozzarella cheese is one of the hardest textures to mimic with dairy-free ingredients, so I'm glad to share this recipe with you all! This nut cheese is super tasty on it's own, but also works really well on plant based pizza.
How do you make vegan cheese?
Some vegan cheeses are more involved than others, but in general they only use a few key ingredients.
Cashews
Cashews are the base of most vegan cheese. Raw cashews are are mild in flavor and extremely creamy. With the help of a high powered blender you can all sorts of non-dairy creams and sauces, some of which are a great base for vegan cheese.
Tapioca
Tapioca starch or tapioca flour is super unique starch and an absolutely vital component of this recipe. While other starches, like potato starch or corn starch, can be used to thicken the cashew cream, no other starch will create such a stretchy and melty consistency.
Agar Agar
Agar agar is a vegan substitute for gelatin that comes from seaweed. Agar agar helps firm up the liquid cashew mixture once it's placed in the brine bath. This recipe give the mozzarella it's unique jelly-like consitency.
Great uses for these non-dairy mozzarella balls
This cheese is honestly great on it's own, but it can be used in a wide variety of recipes. It's melty and stretch, so it goes great on pizza, pasta, or casseroles.
It also tastes great cold, and it can make an excellent capresse salad or fresh mozzarella sandwich.
It's a great 1 to 1 substitute for fresh mozzarella, so feel free to try it in any recipe that uses cheese.
Mozarella Balls
Instructions
Step 1
Soak cashews in filtered water overnight
Step 2
Rinse almonds, and cover them in cold filtered water overnight
Step 3
Prepare a brine solution by bringing the water to a boil and adding 4 tablespoons of salt. Stir until the salt dissolves.
Step 4
Transfer the brine to a ceramic bowl and place it in the fridge
Step 5
Boil four cups of water. Add the almonds, and blanch them for 1 minutes. Remove the almonds and remove their skins by pinching them through your fingers.
Step 6
Drain the cashews. In the bowl of a Vitamix, place the cashews, almonds, water, modified tapioca starch, coconut oil, salt, and agar-agar.
Step 7
Blend on high for one minute or until smooth
Step 8
Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and, stirring continuously , heat over medium-low heat until it becomes thick and cheese-like in consistency. (You can use a thermometer and heat the mixture to about 145 degrees F)
Step 9
Scoop the warm cheese from the saucepan with an ice cream scooper and drop it into the brine
Step 10
Add 1 cup of ice to the brine and refrigerate overnight
Ingredients
- 12 cups of filtered water
- 5 tablespoons of kosher salt
- ¼ cup of tapioca starch
- ¼ cup of refined coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons of agar-agar flakes
- 1 cup of cashews
- 1 cup of almonds
Tools
- high-speed blender