Broccoli Rising and What We Dream About
“Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese — toasted, mostly,” sighs Treasure Island’s Ben Gunn. Many’s the long night vegans have felt the same way. So hallelujah for artisan brands like woman-owned Catalyst Creamery. Catalyst founder Katie Jones has cracked the code for vegan cheese with all the flavor, funk and mouthfeel we once only dreamed of.
Meet Katie at 5pm ET this Wednesday for the debut online chat, Broccoli Confidential, a special part of Broccoli Rising programming. We talk vegan cheese, factory farming, and resilience. Katie knows all about that. When Hurricane Ian wiped out her business, she started over from scratch.
Cuz I love ya extras:
Learn to make homemade vegan yogurt.
Get a special offer from Catalyst Creamery.
This event is free to all Broccoli Rising subscribers.
Catalyst applies traditional cheese-making techniques and cultures to hemp seeds, so you get a creamy mouthfeel, protein, magnesium, Omega-3s and more. What you don’t get — dairy and the digestive issues it causes.
Almost two-thirds of the world’s population is lactose intolerant. Maybe that includes you. It’s not your fault, it’s how we’re made. Consuming lactose, the primary sugar in cow’s milk, once safeguarded us as a species against famine, sickness, stuff like that. We still need to digest milk in early development. But once the need goes away, so does our ability to metabolize dairy without feeling miserable. Yet people keep on consuming milk and cheese, anyway. Honeys, this is not productive. Not when there’s vegan cheese like Catalyst.
I make vegan cheese, too. Sometimes. Sorta. It’s definitely vegan. It’s cheesy-tasting, thanks to nutritional yeast and gooey, thanks to tapioca starch. What it isn’t is cultured, and that’s what sets Catalyst apart. That said, it’s quick, easy, goof-proof, and upgrades your Taco Tuesday.
Queso Fundido Vegano
1 cup raw cashews
4 teaspoons tapioca starch
1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon chile powder (optional)
sea salt
First step — soften cashews. Soak them in a bowl of water to cover for several hours or up to overnight. Rinse and drain.
Pour cashews into a food processor or high-speed blender. Add tapioca starch, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, turmeric and and chile powder, if using. Give everything a quick whiz until smooth, processed and pourable. It should be of a milkshake-like consistency.
Pour into a medium-sized saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly. The cheese mixture will thicken in a matter of minutes, pulling away from the sides of the pan and magically turning stretchy and cheesy.
Let cool, pour it into an airtight container, cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour. Cheese will continue to thicken but still be spoonable or pourable, perfect for vegan nachos and quesadillas. Slather on chips and tortillas.
Queso Fundido Vegano Variations
Fundido sounds like fondue because it is. It’s Spanish for molten, or melted together.
True Mexican queso fundido is mild melted cheese with chorizo and roasted poblanos. I made my own melty vegan cheese, swapped spiced-up black beans for chorizo and kept the poblanos.
There’s so many more ways to have fun with fundido. Possible adds and swaps include:
shredded cabbage
shredded lettuce
diced tomato
mild or hot chiles
thinly sliced scallions
chopped cilantro
corn off the cob
sliced roasted onion, roasted peppers, roasted zucchini and/or roasted mushrooms
toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
Looking for a printable version of this recipe? Grab it here.
More Vegan Magic from Mexico
Vegan cheese enchiladas from Jason Wyrick
Taco-loving Chef Nina Curtis shares her recipe for Vitaliz Haystacks, a tower of Mexican flavors featuring lentil-walnut “meat.”
Spicy eggplant from Eddy Garza
And a sweet finish with Mexican chocolate love bites
Big, slobbering thanks to all who attended last week’s Vegan Means Business virtual presentation. It was a dream come true.
Thanks to Les Dames DC for hosting.
Enormous thanks to my amazing all-star Vegan Means Business panelists, Fran Costigan, Chef Nina Curtis, Kathy Gold and Aviva Goldfarb.
And don’t miss Broccoli Confidential : The Catalyst Creamery Episode 5pm ET this Wednesday.
Psst. Here’s the Zoom link .
Starting this fall, Broccoli Confidential programming will be part of Broccoli Rising content exclusively for paid subscribers. This debut episode is the first of many delicious things paid subscribers can enjoy.
Can’t wait! See you soon!
You can also visit SoulfulVegan.com to find more recipes and connect with me online at YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Substack Notes.