Is there a way to make homemade veggie mac ‘n cheeze?
Posted by admin
I know you can buy the soy or almond cheese at the health food store, but does anyone have a recipe how to make this from scratch without using animal products?
I know you can buy the Amy’s Macaroni and Soy Cheeze, but it still has a bunch of preservatives.
Thanks!
February 9th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I you have a melting veggie cheese, try this: Cook your pasta. Then make a bechamel sauce by heating a knob of olive oil or marge until it melts, and add double the amount of flour. Mix and leave for one minute. Take off the heat, and whisk dairy-free milk in (I use soy) a little at a time until it’s whisked in and no lumps. Use enough milk to get the amount of sauce you want. Put back on the hob and add grated cheese. Some people like to add mustard powder here. Add the pasta to the sauce, and voila! Macaroni cheese! You coukd grate some cheese on top as well.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
The way dairy cheese is made from cow’s milk is to add an agent which separates the protein curd out from the milk. However doing this same process with soy milk makes tofu.
Part of the reason that you get cheese when you do that to cow’s milk, and tofu when you do it to soymilk, is that cow’s milk is high in fat in general, and saturated fat in particular. This makes a product which is rich, tasty, and firm at room temperature.
So the short answer is no, you can’t produce a soy cheese the way you do a dairy cheese. This is most likely why most of the soy cheese products contain so many preservatives.
On another note if you want to make your own tofu here are the steps.
Step 1: Ingredients
To produce about 400 g of tofu you need:
- 2lt soy milk
- 2 teaspoons natural calcium sulphate
Step 2: Boiling the milk
Pour 2 lt soya milk into a pot and simmer soya milk for 5 to 10 minutes. Cool down to about 70°C.
Step 3: Preparing the coagulant
Dissolve two teaspoons natural calcium sulphate in one cup of warm water. Less coagulant produces softer tofu, more produces harder tofu.
Step 4: Curdling the milk
Pour the prepared coagulant solution slowly into the hot soya milk while gently stirring the soya milk. If there is still some milky area after adding all coagulant solution, mix some more to use.
Step 5: Forming the tofu
Once all soya milk is separating into small white curds of tofu and an amber liquid, transfer coagulated dispersion into a mould lined with cheesecloth. Any plastic container with small holes can be used as mould. A lid is placed on the forming container. A small weight of 1 kg is placed on the lid of the container and allowed to sit for 20 minutes or so. Empty the resulting block of tofu into a tub of cold water and store it in refrigerator and change soaking water daily.
And here is a good recipe for mac and cheese.
1 package elbow macaroni
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 1/2 cups soy cheese, shredded
1 tomato, diced
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup bread crumbs
Bring water to a boil and cook macaroni according to package instructions.
Rinse with cold water and stir. Set aside.
Cook onion in butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in nutmeg, salt,
pepper, and flour. Add milk and cook, stirring occassionally until thick and
bubbly. Add diced tomato and broccoli (or any other veggies you like). Stir in
shredded soy cheese until melted. Add macaroni and stir.
Pour into a casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes in a 350F (175C) degree oven.
Top with bread crumbs for the last 5 minutes of baking.
February 13th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups plain soymilk
1 cup water
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
1 1/2 cups nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt
3 ounces firm tofu
1 cup canola oil
1 1/2 lbs macaroni noodles
2 teaspoons mustard (optional)
Directions
1Preheat oven to 350°F.
2Boil water in a big pot for the pasta.
3All of the ingredients sans pasta can easily go in a blender (liquid and powdered) — this is by far the easiest way.
4Once pasta is cooked, drain and put it in the baking pan pour the cheese sauce over the pasta.
5Bake until the top of the pasta looks slightly browned and crispy about 15 minutes.
OR
Ingredients
3 cups macaroni
1/2-1 cup soy margarine
2 cups nutritional yeast
1 cup soymilk
1 cup soy cheddar cheese, grated (follow your heart cheese)
1 dash garlic powder
1 dash paprika
Directions
1Cook macaroni until soft or al dente.
2Drain and put back into pot.
3Blend soy butter, nutritional yeast, soy milk, garlic powder and paprika until smooth.
4Add blended ingredients to macaroni.
5Stir in HALF of the soy cheese.
6Put rest of soy cheese on top of macaroni.
7Cover and let it sit for 5 minutes so cheese can melt.
8Enjoy!
February 15th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
I like this sauce the best. The scramble is delicious and you will have plenty of sauce left for mac and cheese.