Vegan Cottage Cheese
The other day, I was researching recipes for making kugel, a popular Ashkenazi casserole often made with potatoes or noodles and copious dairy products. The recipes I looked at often used cottage cheese, that omnipresent carton o’ curds in every 1970s refrigerator, and if memory serves, my adored grandmother’s noodle kugel used it as well. The issue is there are no vegan cottage cheese products that I could find ready-made and local to me. I was in a time crunch but it seemed easy enough.
The public reaction of distaste to cottage cheese, if I were to guess, is that it is deeply associated with diets and diet culture. In the 1970s and ‘80s, a scoop of cottage cheese on some iceberg lettuce, surrounded by peaches and maybe a ring of pineapple with a maraschino cherry on top was the “diet plate” at restaurants so many of our mothers dined on when they were “trying to reduce,” as my grandmother would put it. And, as many of you know, when our mothers were on diets, the whole family was on a diet. Cottage cheese came to represent unpleasantness.
In revisiting cottage cheese, trying to tap into my sensory memories of it without the added diet culture associations, I settled on these adjectives: mild, creamy, a little salty, a little sweet, curdled. Is that so bad? We cannot curdle tofu in quite the same way one can create curds in dairy, and of course it’s going to taste a little different anyway, but if you don’t require an absolute replica, I think this high-protein, delicious and simple vegan version of cottage cheese will hit the spot. It’s also super easy and quick to make, though I do recommend a little time for letting the flavors meld. Try it in a nostalgic salad, on toast (apparently the TikTok generation has discovered and embraced cottage cheese recently, using it as a different option than smashed avocado), even in baking, if you’re feeling adventurous.
I have to give a heartfelt shout out to the It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken food blog for some of my recipe inspo and jogging my food memories. (Check out Sam Turnbull’s books here!) It takes a village to rediscover cottage cheese, I suppose. I am glad I did.
P.S. - The kugel recipe is coming soon, too.
12.3-ounces firm silken tofu, drained
2 tablespoons unsweetened non-dairy yogurt*
1 tablespoon plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk*
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon agave nectar or unbleached, granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 14-ounce block firm tofu, water partially squeezed out over the sink between your hands
Add the silken tofu, yogurt, milk, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, agave and salt to a blender and blend until smooth.
Crumble the firm tofu (squeezed of water) between your fingers into a bowl, and then pour the blended ingredients over it. Mix gently with a spoon until it’s integrated. Allow this to sit in a covered container in a fridge for at least an hour but preferably overnight. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve cold.
* I do not recommend coconut here unless you want a coconut-flavored cottage cheese. I used Kite Hill’s plain almond yogurt and plain soymilk and it was perfect.
• I don’t recommend officially pressing the firm tofu because I think it might dry it out too much. Just a simple few squeezes between your hands should do the trick.
The other day, I was researching recipes for making kugel, a popular Ashkenazi casserole often made with potatoes or noodles and copious dairy products. The recipes I looked at often used cottage cheese, that omnipresent carton o’ curds in every 1970s refrigerator, and if memory serves, my adored grandmother’s noodle kugel used it as well. The issue is there are no vegan cottage cheese products that I could find ready-made and local to me. I was in a time crunch but it seemed easy enough.
The public reaction of distaste to cottage cheese, if I were to guess, is that it is deeply associated with diets and diet culture. In the 1970s and ‘80s, a scoop of cottage cheese on some iceberg lettuce, surrounded by peaches and maybe a ring of pineapple with a maraschino cherry on top was the “diet plate” at restaurants so many of our mothers dined on when they were “trying to reduce,” as my grandmother would put it. And, as many of you know, when our mothers were on diets, the whole family was on a diet. Cottage cheese came to represent unpleasantness.
In revisiting cottage cheese, trying to tap into my sensory memories of it without the added diet culture associations, I settled on these adjectives: mild, creamy, a little salty, a little sweet, curdled. Is that so bad? We cannot curdle tofu in quite the same way one can create curds in dairy, and of course it’s going to taste a little different anyway, but if you don’t require an absolute replica, I think this high-protein, delicious and simple vegan version of cottage cheese will hit the spot. It’s also super easy and quick to make, though I do recommend a little time for letting the flavors meld. Try it in a nostalgic salad, on toast (apparently the TikTok generation has discovered and embraced cottage cheese recently, using it as a different option than smashed avocado), even in baking, if you’re feeling adventurous.
I have to give a heartfelt shout out to the It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken food blog for some of my recipe inspo and jogging my food memories. (Check out Sam Turnbull’s books here!) It takes a village to rediscover cottage cheese, I suppose. I am glad I did.
P.S. - The kugel recipe is coming soon, too.
12.3-ounces firm silken tofu, drained
2 tablespoons unsweetened non-dairy yogurt*
1 tablespoon plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk*
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon agave nectar or unbleached, granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 14-ounce block firm tofu, water partially squeezed out over the sink between your hands
Add the silken tofu, yogurt, milk, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, agave and salt to a blender and blend until smooth.
Crumble the firm tofu (squeezed of water) between your fingers into a bowl, and then pour the blended ingredients over it. Mix gently with a spoon until it’s integrated. Allow this to sit in a covered container in a fridge for at least an hour but preferably overnight. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve cold.
* I do not recommend coconut here unless you want a coconut-flavored cottage cheese. I used Kite Hill’s plain almond yogurt and plain soymilk and it was perfect.
• I don’t recommend officially pressing the firm tofu because I think it might dry it out too much. Just a simple few squeezes between your hands should do the trick.
Vegan, Recipe, Cottage Cheese, Non-Dairy, Tofu, Ingredient, Snack