‘Head chef at the vegetarian restaurant Tony Keogh turned vegan several years ago, and is co-author of the new Cornucopia: The Green Cookbook, a fully vegan collection of recipes’ . See full article here.
Serves 8
Ingredients
• 400g firm tofu
• 3tsp agar powder (or 3tbsp agar flakes)
• 80ml refined coconut oil, melted
• 200g cashews
• 30g sauerkraut, homemade or shop-bought
• 3 heaped tbsp nutritional yeast
• 100g dried cranberries
• 3 red onions, thinly sliced
• 1tbsp flaked almonds, toasted in a dry pan
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Rapeseed oil
For the oat and almond base
• 150g gluten-free oat flour, milled at home or shop-bought
• 100g ground almonds
• 1 heaped tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1tbsp (10g) ground linseeds
• 75g full-fat vegan spread, melted
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
You will need
• High-speed blender
• Parchment-lined 25cm springform tin
• Parchment-lined baking tray
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
- To make your base, combine the oat flour, almonds, nutritional yeast, linseeds and seasoning in a large mixing bowl.
- Stir through the melted vegan spread and mix to incorporate well.
- Press this mixture into the lined springform tin and top the surface with another circle of parchment to prevent it browning.
- Bake on the lower shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes. Remove the top layer of parchment and set the base aside.
- Meanwhile, blend the tofu with 200ml water until smooth and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Heat another 200ml water in a small pot, add the agar and bring to a rapid boil for about a minute.
- Transfer to the blender along with the melted coconut oil, cashews, sauerkraut and nutritional yeast, purée until smooth and add to the bowl of puréed tofu.
- Stir well to combine, add the dried cranberries and season to taste.
- Pour this mixture onto the cooked base in the tin and set aside to cool and set.
- Meanwhile, toss the sliced onions in a little oil on a parchment-lined baking tray and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
- Once the base is cool to touch, transfer to the fridge.
- After about an hour, it will have firmed up enough to top with the cooked red onions and toasted almonds. Leave it for at least four to six hours to set completely before carefully releasing it from the springform tin.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve. This keeps well in the fridge for the best part of a week, where its flavour will develop and improve.
- Serve chilled or alternatively, after two days, it can be reheated gently. To do so, cut the cheesecake into eight wedges, spread these out on a parchment-lined tray and pop into a preheated oven (180ºC) for just five or 10 minutes, but checking after five – if this is over-heated, the filling will melt and fall apart.