Vegan almond “cheese” with garlic powder is as satisfying as dairy cheese and is also a good choice for cheese connoisseurs who are net yet eating a vegan diet.
For the almond “cheese” mixture
Blanch the almonds in boiling water for 1 minute and then remove the skin.
You can also soak the almonds overnight in a bowl with warm water and then remove the skin.
Squeeze the lemon juice using a citrus juicer and then pour the juice in a bowl.
If you don’t have any fresh lemons, you can also use about 3 tbsp of store-bought lemon juice (for a recipe that serves six).
Grind the cumin in a mortar. Add the almonds, spices, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and the salt to the blender.
If you don’t have a mortar or an (electric) coffee grinder, you can also use a meat mallet (the flat side) or a rolling pin to crush the cumin seed. It works well to put the cumin seed in a sturdy plastic bag so that it is then ready to be used or transferred to a container for storage.
For the consistency
Place the agar-agar and the water in a saucepan and heat 3-4 minutes until it begins to thicken. Then add directly to the other ingredients in the blender and puree until the mixture is smooth.
Grease a round glass baking pan with a little oil and then pour the mixture in. Let cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Serve and enjoy.
Detailed Nutritional Information per Person for this Recipe
The majority of the nutritional information comes from the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). This means that the information for natural products is often incomplete or only given within broader categories, whereas in most cases products made from these have more complete information displayed.
If we take flaxseed, for example, the important essential amino acid ALA (omega-3) is only included in an overarching category whereas for flaxseed oil ALA is listed specifically. In time, we will be able to change this, but it will require a lot of work. An “i” appears behind ingredients that have been adjusted and an explanation appears when you hover over this symbol.
For Erb Muesli, the original calculations resulted in 48 % of the daily requirement of ALA — but with the correction, we see that the muesli actually covers >100 % of the necessary recommendation for the omega-3 fatty acid ALA. Our goal is to eventually be able to compare the nutritional value of our recipes with those that are used in conventional western lifestyles.
Vegan almond “cheese” with garlic powder is as satisfying as dairy cheese and is also a good choice for cheese connoisseurs who are net yet eating a vegan diet.
Agar-agar: The ingredient agar-agar is a natural thickener that is extracted from the cell walls of certain species of algae. Like pectin, it is a good vegetarian/vegan substitute for gelatin. For example, it can be used to thicken panna cotta or for making jam. Both agar-agar and pectin have to be heated in order to dissolve and work as thickeners. You can learn more about agar-agar by reading the information we have provided for this ingredient.
Tips
Gelling properties: The gelling properties of the various agar products vary quite a bit. It is therefore best to first try out new products by heating the agar-agar and water mixture for about 2 minutes and then spooning about 1 tbsp of the mixture onto a cold plate. The mixture should gel within 3 minutes. If the result is not firm enough, you can add more agar-agar (first mix with cold water and let cook for 2 minutes). If the result is too firm, you can add a little liquid.
Lemon juice: If you don’t have any lemons available, you can also use store-bought lemon juice. A lemon that weighs about 60 g yields around 3 tbsp lemon juice.
Alternate preparation
Alternative to blanching: Instead of blanching the almonds, you can also soak them overnight in a bowl with warm water and remove the skin the next morning.
Vegan “cheese” varieties: You can also add spices, herbs, and nutritional yeast to the almond “cheese”. Experiment with different varieties.
