Vegan creamy tofu cheese

If you have ever managed read through my really long Bio, you may have realised I am not a vegan. I became a vegetarian 5 years ago and since then swing between vegetarian and vegan on a day to day basis. As I grew up in Asia, my family mostly ate very traditional Asian meals. Dairy products such as butter, cheese and cream never really interested me and cows milk was only for babies or kids. We would eat soy, plant-based milk and tofu instead, regardless of being a meat eater or a vegetarian.

To be honest, I do like the taste of cheeses, but they are rarely on my shopping list, I just have no craving for it. And most of the time, they upset my stomach. I don’t think I am lactose intolerant, I just think I eat it so rarely that my stomach doesn’t know how to process it.

My first discovery of vegan cheese (found in a supermarket) was about 4-5 years ago. I still remember the taste was awful and the texture as very rubbery. The experience put me off trying it again for several years. Then about 2 years ago, out of curiosity I went to a vegan workshop run by Mels Kindness Kitchen. This workshop completely blew my mind! Her cheeses were so tasty and so simple to make and I was instantly converted to a vegan cheese lover!

I’ll admit I initially found it difficult to wrap my head around using tofu and miso to make a vegan creamy tofu cheese. But…I am Asian, so it was not a surprise that I felt comfortable with this combination pretty quickly. Over the last couple of years, I have been making this cheese again and again. The method hasn’t really changed from what I learnt from Mel, however i have adjusted the flavour a bit so it tastes just how I like it.

If you’ve never tried to make vegan cheese, I bet you properly can’t wait to start making your own.

For this recipe, you must use a firm tofu, the silken one is not going to work.

Before you start making the cheese, you MUST press out all the excess water from the tofu. Normally I wrap it in a kitchen towel, place it flat on a chopping board and apply a weight (like a couple of thick books) for last least 5 minutes to squeeze out as much water as possible. If your tofu is still watery, you may need to replace the wet kitchen towel with a dry one 2-3 times.

Break the tofu by hand into a small food processor and blend for 30- 60 seconds.

Add all the rest of the ingredients and blend for another 60 seconds or more, until the tofu has turned into a smooth paste.

If you are very serious about making vegan cheese, you can use a professional cheese mould. But if not just use any small container as your cheese mould (I just got mine from IKEA), something around 10cm and this will be the final shape of your cheese.

Line the container with cling film and add the tofu paste.

Press down hard on the paste making sure it fills all the space of the mould and feels firm.

Seal the top with cling film and press even more.

Place it in the refrigerator overnight and it will be ready to serve.

Cheese can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or stored in the freezer for up to 1 month (defrost at room temperature before serving).

Because miso is a fermented ingredient, the flavour of this cheese is going to continue to develop if you store it in a low temperature between 5-15C. You can also experiment with different flavours by adding extra ingredients such dried cranberries, dill or Italian herbs… etc

Good vegan cream cheese is expensive, it costs £5-6 per block, with this recipe you will only spend around £2-3 with very minimal effort (the blender does most of the job) and you get 3 blocks of very delicious creamy tofu cheese.

This cheese recipe is super simple to make but has a mind-blowing intense flavour, it goes with toast, crackers, wraps and flatbread. This really is a MUST-TRY recipe.

This recipe was created for Veahero, a cool new (free!) meal planning platform for vegans and vegetarians.

If you have followed and made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and take a picture, tagging it with #k33_kitchen and share it on Instagram! I’d be very excited to see what you come up with. Cheers, hope you enjoy my recipes!