Moxarella – Homemade Vegan Mozzarella

Here is our little offering to the coming of Spring. A simple vegan cheese recipe which is so versatile and can be enjoyed on pizza and melts nicely. As you may know, the way a vegan cheese melts can be quite an issue, we don’t want cheese like rubber on our pizzas!! I also like this as it is, especially with these kinds of accompaniments, this is like a rainbow ploughman’s really!! The texture of this cheeze is similar to Mozzarella and the flavour is light.

We enjoyed this in the garden, with bright sunshine and birds singing. After the recent snow storms, it really feels like Spring is finally on the way in Snowdonia. We’ll see….

Some vegan cheeses can go a little off piste. Not much like their namesake, cheddar or blue cheese style, you’ve probably been there. But this one delivers! A cheese that is simple to make, pretty healthy actually and also similar in texture and taste to the original. We’re using a handful of cashews here, so don’t expect over to top creaminess, but I love this and for an inexpensive, fuss-free, vegan cheese, I think this is top truckle!

ALL THE WAY FROM UTAH!

My friend Somer over at Vedged Out (coming straight outta Utah) calls this recipe ‘Foxy Moxy’. Which I like, but when punched into Google, you get some pretty unappetizing results!! So we’ll stick with Moxa. This is basically Somer’s awesome recipe, given a slight tweak, but when a recipe is this good, simple and tasty, why mess with it? Thanks for the inspiration Somer!!

EXCITING CHEESE!

Moxarella is so simple to make at home and has the stretchy texture of Mozzarella, coming from the flour we use. You’ll have to seek out some Tapioca Flour, found online or in your local health food shop. You can use other starches/ flours to make cheeses, but this one is the very best for Mozzarella style cheese. I’m going to be sharing one of my favourite Mexican-style Queso recipes soon, where we’ll use corn flour, the texture is subtly different, but perfect for a slightly thinner cheese. It’s exciting playing with these cheese making techniques!

If you’ve bought a bag of tapioca flour, you can also use it a a thickener for soups, stews and the like or it adds a really interesting, springy texture to baked goods. Ideal in bread I’ve found. It may be known as ‘Tapioca Starch’ where you are. Same thing.

The sun shines and spring is in the air, time to prepare ourselves for picnics and eating outside, what a joy! We’re coming out of the dark winter and bright platters like this really help to wake us up; eyes, tastebuds all tantalised by the colours an textures and it only takes a few minutes to make special.

Please feel free to share this recipe and leave us a comment below if your like the look of it or try it out. It’s always wonderful to hear from you!

Recipe Notes

A little more salt and lemon will really bring the flavours out, experiment with your preferred quantities.

If you’re not using oil, that’s cool, leave it out, it will still be a hit!

Somer likes to add a little nooch (nutritional yeast flakes) to the recipe. If you like them, go for it!! They will add a little more savoury cheesiness.

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Moxarella – Vegan Mozzarella

The Bits – For One Small Bowlful

75g cashews (soaked for a few hours in water, then drained)

250ml/ 1 cup hot water

2 tbs tapioca ﬂour

1 teas extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed)

½ tbs lemon juice

¾ teas salt

Do It

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.

Pour into a saucepan, warm on a medium heat and stir constantly. The mixture will thicken and become gradually more elastic in texture. Keep stirring throughout to ensure the moxarella does not burn on the bottom.

Stir and cook for 10-12 minutes until thick and the edges leave the pan. Remember it will firm up even more when cooled.

Line a small bowl or ramekins with cling film/ baking parchment, once the cheeze has cooled a little, spoon in the moxarella mix and tap on a surface to remove any air bubbles. Smooth the top with the base of a spoon, once cooled enough, cover and pop in the fridge to set for an hour.

Keeps well in the fridge for a few days and can be used for pizza, cheese on toast or on your rainbow ploughmans…….you know how you like your mozza!

Foodie Fact

Tapioca flour may be a new one for some of you. Tapioca is made from the root of the Cassava plant, its a big knobbly tuber basically. Being a starch, this is high in carbs and has a smidge of calcium in there. It’s low in calories and fat and is something that will become really popular in vegan/ gluten-free baking I reckon.