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- How to use Nutritional Yeast Flakes (nooch / Engevita)
Vegan Alternatives 8th August 2018
Vegan Cheese
Introduction
A lot of people say they could never go vegan because they would miss cheese too much. While it’s probably fair to say that vegan cheese doesn’t entirely match up to the dairy version, it has improved rapidly over the last few years in terms of quality, range and availability. There isn’t yet a vegan cheese that melts in quite the same way as the ‘real’ thing but we’re getting close. Read on to find out about the huge variety of vegan cheese.
Popular vegan cheeses
Violife
Violife is probably the most popular cheese alternative in the UK. It is made from coconut oil, which makes it better nutritionally than soya based cheeses. Violife has a wide range of products. Their basic cheeses come in around 10 flavours in both blocks and slices, and some are available grated. The ‘Violife for Pizza‘ variety is a good melty cheese that’s great for cooking. They also have spreadable cream cheeses, ‘after dinner‘ cheeses, feta-style, Halloumi-style and a Parmesan alternative.
Bute Island Sheese
Bute Island make the ‘Sheese’ range of products. Recently, they have launched a variety of new flavours and are it the process of reformulating their cheeses to be free from soya. They have various flavours but the Mature Cheddar is probably most popular. Their Greek Style Sheese is a great replacement for feta in salads. The Caramelised Onion Sheese and Wensleydale with Cranberries are excellent on their own.
Follow Your Heart
Follow Your Heart (who also make the very popular Vegenaise mayonnaise) make shredded gourmet cheese – their pizzeria blend is possibly the best vegan pizza cheese out there. Their Gouda and pepperjack style cheese slices are also a very popular choice.
Those are the most common varieties you will find but there are many more. Mozzarisella is a white cheese made from rice. This is the one that Zizzi restaurants are using on their pizzas as it melts very well. Cheezly is another brand that was very popular before being overtaken by Violife, but it still has its fans.
Artisanal Cheese
Then there are artisanal vegan cheeses. These are generally made from nuts such as cashew and almonds and use the traditional cheese making process where the nut mixture is fermented with bacteria. Often herbs or other flavourings are added. The end result is a very tasty cheese with an authentic flavour and texture which make great after-dinner cheeses. Naturally these products are more expensive but they are worth it for an occasional treat.
Popular artisanal cheese companies include Tyne Cheese, Nutcrafter, Cicioni and Lettices. If you get the chance to go to a large vegan festival, you will probably find a couple of artisanal cheese makers there. Go and try their free samples!
Cream Cheese
There are also many alternatives to cream cheese. Tofutti plain cream cheese is good when you are baking a cheesecake or something similar. Creamy Sheese comes in a variety of flavours and is particularly nice – the garlic flavour is excellent for making savoury sauces. Violife’s herb flavour cream cheese is great for spreading.
Parmesan alternatives
There are very good alternatives to Parmesan cheese. Violife Prosociano is a wedge of parmesan-flavoured cheese which is a great topping for savoury dishes when grated finely.
Grattugiato is a kind of cheese powder that can be sprinkled onto pasta dishes.
You can also use Engevita (nutritional yeast flakes or ‘nooch’ for short). It so good, we have a whole article about nutritional yeast flakes for you.
Advice for new vegans
There are many types of vegan cheese, too many to list them all here. As with other vegan alternatives, it’s a good idea to try a variety of them to find one you really like. If you don’t like the first one you try, don’t be put off – it may be an acquired taste or it may be that you’ll like a different one much more. If you have just turned vegan you may find that you don’t like vegan cheese at all at first, but by sticking with it then over time your tastes will change and you will start to love it.
If you are trying vegan cheese for the first time, we recommend that you start with Violife Original or For Pizza and then work you way through all the other varieties.
Try some vegan cheese
The V Spot is a vegan shop in Nottingham. You can browse our whole range of vegan cheese online or in The V Spot shop.
More articles
- Gifts
- Vegan badges, cards, & stickers
- Refills available
- Food for travel, camping and festivals
- Veganism and Nutrition
- How to cook with tofu
- Vegan Alternatives
- Vegan Cheese
- How to use Nutritional Yeast Flakes (nooch / Engevita)
How to use Nutritional Yeast Flakes (nooch / Engevita) 6th August 2018
If you are trying a vegan diet, everyone will tell you that you need to try nooch. But what is it and how do you use it? We tell you all you need to know about this vital and versatile ingredient in vegan cookery.
About Nutritional Yeast
Nutritional Yeast (‘nooch’) is made from yeast that has been dried into flakes, which are a pale yellow in colour. It has a cheesy, nutty flavour so it’s extremely useful in vegan cookery and a great substitute in cooked dishes that would normally contain cheese. As you will see from the list below, it can be used in many different ways to replace cheese. It also helps to boost the flavour in savoury dishes. In addition, nooch contains essential nutrients that are tricky for vegans to consume, so it’s a very good thing to include in your diet.
The most common brand of nutritional yeast in the UK is Engevita, made by Marigold Health Foods. They have four varieties available: Original Engevita, Engevita fortified with B12, ‘Super’ Engevita fortified with vitamins D and B12, and Organic Engevita. They come in big cardboard containers that seem to weigh nothing but they are well worth the price. There are other brands available though be careful if you are gluten intolerant as some of them contain wheat (Engevita is gluten free).
It sounds amazing, where can I buy it?
You buy Engevita nutritional yeast flakes from The V Spot. Visit our shop or buy online and collect your order or have it delivered to your home.
What makes it so nutritious?
Nooch is a good source of protein. Protein is made from various types of amino acids and there are nine amino acids that are essential in the diet. Nooch contains all nine of these. Nooch also contains a substantial amount of iron and vitamins B1 and B2. Some varieties of nutritional yeast are fortified with Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is essential in the diet and difficult to obtain from vegan food so eating fortified nooch is a great way to make sure you are getting enough. Vitamin B12 can survive high temperatures so there’s no need to worry that you will destroy it when cooking with nutritional yeast. Super Engevita is fortified with vitamin D as well as B12.
If you are interested in vegan nutrition, or concerned about your diet, we recommend a thorough read of the Vegan Society’s nutritional information pages. The Internet is full of wild, unproven theories and poor quality health information but The Vegan Society provides reliable, complete, easy to understand, evidence-based advice.
How do I use nooch?
Nutritional Yeast is very versatile. It’s can be used as a substitute for cheese when cooking sauces. It’s not a complete replacement for cheese, though: if you are making a pizza when we recommend trying a vegan cheese such as Violife.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
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Cheesy Toast
Toast bread slices on both sides under a hot grill, then spread one side with vegan margarine and sprinkle nooch on top. Put them back under the grill until the nooch starts to brown.
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Parmesan
Make pasta with tomatoey sauce and sprinkle nutritional yeast flakes over the top as a substitute for Parmesan. Tastes much nicer than the real thing (not hard to be fair). You can also use it in risotto.
We also love to use Grattugiato as an alternative to Parmesan.
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Pesto
Use nooch as a substitute for Parmesan in fresh pesto. Follow our vegan pesto recipe.
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Lasagna
Make a white sauce by frying some flour in a little oil and then slowly stirring in soya milk until you have a smooth mixture. Add salt and pepper and then some nooch to give it a cheesy flavour. You can use the sauce when making lasagna.
If you don’t have time to make your own cheese sauce, try the Free & Easy Cheese Sauce Mix. It’s very tasty and gluten free too.
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Sandwiches
Spread hummus over bread slices, sprinkle on some nutritional yeast and add cress or any salad veg of your choice.
If you want a really cheesy sandwich, we recommend Violife slices.
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Seitan
Add nooch to your dough when making seitan to boost the flavour. Check out our seitan recipe to see how it’s done. We sell a seitan making starter kit that includes some nooch so you don’t have to buy a whole jar.
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Scrambled tofu
Scrambled tofu is another dish where nooch is a great flavour enhancer.
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EVERYWHERE
Once you start using nooch, you will use it on everything!
Other kitchen essentials
While we have your attention, here are some other kitchen essentials we think you should try.
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Liquid smoke
A great way to give savoury dishes a smokey, meaty, barbecue-y flavour.
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Vegan Worcestershire sauce
Regular Worcestershire sauce contains fish but the vegan alternatives are just as good. Or, try some Henderson’s Relish.
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Liquid Aminos
Another great all-purpose flavour enhancer, similar to soy sauce.
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Marigold Bouillon
Another brilliant product from Marigold, the makers of Engevita. Just mix with hot water to make a really tasty stock for use in any savoury dish.
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Tahini
Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds. It’s used in making hummus but it’s also great as a sandwich spread and a thickener for sauces. Light tahini is most commonly used but whole dark tahini has a richer flavour and is more nutritious.
We hope you enjoyed this article and that you have been inspired to try some nutritional yeast flakes in your cooking at home. If you have any questions, the friendly, knowledgeable staff at The V Spot are happy to help – just pop in for a chat.
More articles
- Gifts
- Vegan badges, cards, & stickers
- Refills available
- Food for travel, camping and festivals
- Veganism and Nutrition
- How to cook with tofu
- Vegan Alternatives
- Vegan Cheese
- How to use Nutritional Yeast Flakes (nooch / Engevita)
Categories: Articles Tags: advice, cupboard essentials, Engevita, how to, nooch, nutrition, nutritional yeast, nutritional yeast flakes, pesto, yeast flakes
Vegan Pesto Recipe
Fresh pesto is delicious. It’s not just for pasta: use it as a sandwich spread or as a sauce for all sorts of food.
- Category: Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 75g washed basil leaves, stalks removed
- 90g pine nuts
- 3 cloves fresh garlic
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- 100ml olive oil
- 3 tbsp. Engevita nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- Salt, to taste
Method
- Combine the basil, pine nuts and garlic using a hand blender or food processor.
- Slowly add the olive oil and mix together until you have achieved a smooth consistency.
- Add Engevita, lemon juice and salt to taste.
- Refrigerate (or freeze covered with oil) until ready to use.
For a quick meal, cook some pasta and drain it. Put some pesto in a saucepan and warm it through on a medium heat. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and stir to cover the pasta in sauce. Serve sprinkled with a Parmesan substitute such as Grattugiato.
The ingredients in this recipe are available from The V Spot. If this is all too much effort we also sell jars of ready-made pesto.
Comments Off on Vegan Pesto RecipeChestnuts and Sprouts 2nd December 2017
Brussels sprouts have a bad reputation, mainly because they are often served after being boiled into a squidgy and disgusting mess. It doesn’t have to be that way! Here a way to serve crisp, tasty sprouts with the added bonus of Christmassy chestnuts. They look and taste great and you might even convert some people to loving their sprouts.
Ingredients
- 200g Chestnuts (vacuum packed)
- 200g Brussels sprouts
- A few vegan bacon rashers
- A few vegan Margarine
Method
- Drain the chestnuts.
- Peel the tough outer leaves from the sprouts and cut off the stalks. Cut them in half.
- Cut the vegan bacon rashers into thin, short strips.
- Heat a knob of margarine in a frying pan and add the chestnuts, sprouts and bacon. Fry for around 5-10 minutes until the chestnuts and sprouts soften and start to brown.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Buy the ingredients
Mushroom & Chestnut Wellington
This is a great centrepiece for a special meal and it’s really easy to make. Delicious served with roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy. The ingredients are available from The V Spot.
Ingredients
- 2 large onions, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 225g chestnuts (vacuum packed)
- 225g ground almonds
- 225g wholemeal breadcrumbs
- 500g Jus Rol puff pastry
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 2 tbsps soy sauce
- 2 tbsps lemon juice
- 2 tsps dried tarragon
- 1 tsp yeast extract
- Soya milk for brushing
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ / Gas Mark 6.
- Chop the onions and garlic and roughly slice the mushrooms.
- In a large saucepan, fry the onion in the olive oil until tender.
- Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are tender.
- Put the mixture into a blender and blend to a purée.
- Grind the chestnuts. Put them in a large bowl with the ground almonds, breadcrumbs, puréed mushrooms, soy sauce, lemon juice, tarragon and yeast extract and mix well.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Roll the puff pastry out to a 15” square.
- Place the pastry onto a greased baking sheet and heap the mixture into the centre, forming a loaf shape.
- Make diagonal cuts in the pastry about 1cm apart on each side of the mixture, then fold these over the mix to make a kind of plait. Tuck the ends in neatly and trim off any extra bits.
- Brush with soya milk.
- Bake for 40 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden brown.
Buy the ingredients
Easy Vegan Banoffee Pie 6th October 2017
A super-easy recipe for Banoffee Pie, using the wonderful coconut-based sauces from Nature’s Charm.
Ingredients
- 250g vegan biscuits (you can use gluten free biscuits if you like)
- 100g margarine
- 200g Nature’s Charm Coconut Caramel Sauce
- 1 large banana
- 200ml Nature’s Charm Coconut Whipping Cream
- Dark chocolate, to garnish
Method
- Put the coconut whipping cream into the fridge to chill it.
- Crush the biscuits and place them in a bowl.
- Put the margarine in a pan and heat gently until melted. Mix with the biscuits.
- Press the mixture into a serving dish or loose bottomed baking tin. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Spread the caramel sauce evenly over the base.
- Cut the banana into slices and place over the caramel sauce.
- Whip the chilled coconut cream with an electric mixer until it’s light and creamy. Spread over the bananas.
- Decorate the pie with grated or shaved chocolate.
- Keep chilled until ready to serve.
The ingredients in this recipe are available from The V Spot.
Comments Off on Easy Vegan Banoffee PieBanana Flower ‘Fish’
Beer battered vegan fish made from banana flowers(!)
Source: The Hunger Grains
Ingredients
- 1 tin of banana blossoms
- 1 tablespoon seaweed flakes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- 180g rice flour, plus more for rolling
- 1 teaspoon of celery salt
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 360ml vegan beer
- Sunflower oil, for frying.
Method
- Drain the banana blossoms.
- Straighten out the banana blossoms and put them in a bowl. Cover them with hot water.
- Add seaweed flakes, lemon juice and dill.
- Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- To make the batter, put rice flour, celery salt, paprika, and pepper in a bowl.
- Gradually add the beer, mixing with a balloon whisk as you go to make a smooth batter.
- Chill the batter in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Heat some oil in a deep pan or a deep fat fryer.
- Gently squeeze the moisture from the banana blossoms, then roll them in rice flour.
- Mix the batter again and dip the banana blossoms in the batter so they are well coated.
- Gently put one of the blossoms into the hot oil and fry, turning occasionally, until the battered is light brown. Repeat for the other blossoms.
The ingredients in this recipe are available from The V Spot.
Comments Off on Banana Flower ‘Fish’Baked Bean Bake 27th August 2017
This is a really filling dinner which can be eaten hot with vegetables and gravy or cold with a salad.
Ingredients
- 1 tin baked beans
- 100g V Spot vegan sausage mix
- 100g bread crumbs
- 1 onion
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons mixed herbs
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180 °C / 350 °F. Grease a loaf tin with oil or margarine.
- Empty the baked beans into a bowl and mash them with a potato masher or a fork.
- Stir in the breadcrumbs and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, chop the onion and fry in the vegetable oil for a few minutes.
- Add the sausage mix, fried onion, mixed herbs and some salt and pepper to the bowl. Mix well and place into the greased loaf tin, pressing the top flat. Brush the top with more oil.
- Bake for one hour.
The ingredients in this recipe are available from The V Spot.
Comments Off on Baked Bean BakeTempeh Bacon
Tempeh is made from fermented soya beans and has a chewy texture. It’s available from The V Spot’s freezer.
Ingredients
- 1 pack (227g) tempeh
- 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon tomato purée
- Large pinch of garlic powder
- Pinch of chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon golden syrup or brown sugar
- A few drops of liquid smoke
- ½ teaspoon celery salt or table salt
- ½ teaspoon vegan Worcester sauce
Method
- If the tempeh is frozen, defrost in the fridge overnight.
- Mix the marinade ingredients.
- Carefully cut the tempeh into 5mm thick slices.
- Put the slices into a small zip-lock bag with the marinade and leave for 24 hours.
- When ready, fry the strips in a little oil.
The ingredients in this recipe are available from The V Spot.
Comments Off on Tempeh BaconBasket
