TTHop: Faux Feta

As a Dutch foodie blogger quartet we had so much fun with our previous ‘cool collective Weekend Cooking post’ (about dips & spreads), that we decided to do another blog hop this month. Tofu & Tempeh is today’s topic.

I chose a recipe that I had my doubts about but wanted to try anyway: tofu feta. I’ve heard plenty of positive stories but would not believe it could really taste like the real thing. And there was only one way to find out! As a newbie vegan I do sometimes miss the fresh, somewhat stingy taste of dairy, like in feta, yoghurt, sour cream and things like that.

But what am I saying… v-gan newbie??? This post marks my 1 year anniversary of going ExtraVeganza!

What started out as a 10-day pilot meant to help reduce my intake of animal products in January 2011, turned into Gnoe going totally herbivore. Although I know I’ve come quite far, it’s rather shocking to hear it’s already been a year. O_o

My biggest hurdle is still the feeling that I’m a pain in the *ss for other people, whether they are friends, family or restauranteurs. :\ But I’m healthy and it feels really good to live this way, so I’m mostly very HAPPY about the step I took! :)

As you probably know, soy products like tofu and tempeh are an important protein source for vegetarians and vegans. Except if you’re unlucky like our Weekend Cooking host Beth Fish, who is hyper-sensitive to it. I don’t know what I’d do without my daily soy cappuccino!

Faux feta

So today I’m sharing a tofu recipe: faux feta. There are many recipes around, but I used the one from Becky’s Tasty Planet. She served it to a Greek omni friend and it passed the test!

Most mock feta recipes are easy to whip up but they need a lot of waiting time. Marinating often takes a minimum of 24 hours. What actually happens during that time is that the fermenting process is (re)activated.

Ingredients

• 250 g tofu
• 2 tbsp lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp white miso
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 big or 2 small garlic cloves, smashed but left whole
• dried oregano (to taste)
• crushed red pepper (to taste)

Preparation

1. Drain tofu and wrap in a clean kitchen towel or paper.
2. Place a cutting board on top and weigh that down with something heavy like a cast iron or water-filled pan, books, cans of beans, etc. Leave for ca. 30 minutes to drain out excess liquid.
3. In the meantime whisk together the rest of the ingredients for the marinade.
4. Unwrap the tofu and cut into 1 cm thick slices.
5. Put the tofu in a container with a well-closing lid, pour over the marinade and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, preferably 2-3 days.
6. Flip the container every few hours to ensure even coverage.
7. Pat the tofu pieces dry before use and crumble or cut into desired shape.

Taste test

I was pleasantly surprised with the taste and texture of this faux feta. The bite actually resembles the real thing and its sour tang is good too. You could use a little more salt (real cheese is pretty salty most of the time), but that can be easily fixed with a salad dressing as well. Still, this is no feta cheese. I guess that’s why Becky called it “feta-style marinated tofu” in her post. :)

I will probably make it again and try other recipes as well, like this one on Vegweb. Have I made you curious enough to have a go at it?

Please check out the yummy recipes my fellow blog hoppers shared!

• JannyAn’s Gado-gado (pescetarian; vegan optional) – I loooove Indonesian food!
• Chinoiseries’ Tempeh Burgers (vegan)
• Uniflame’s BBQ Tempeh Sandwich (vegetarian; vegan optional)

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Join Beth Fish’s Weekend Cooking with a food-related post!

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Summer bento (#56)

Last weekend summer officially started and we’ve been having some fine weather in Holland since then! So on Thursday it was time for a mediterranean bento (#56).

Upper tier

• currants
• black olives
• dressing for Greek salad
• cashews with Provencal herbs
• basil

Lower tier

• Romaine leaves
• basil
• black olive
• mix of feta goat’s cheese, tomato, spring onion, sundried tomato and red bell pepper

The salad leaves, paprika, basil and red currants all came from our weekly organic veggie bag!

Last-day-of-the-week-bento (#55)

Friday 19th’s bento (#55) was another good one :) I used a lot from our weekly bag of veggies from De Aardvlo, organic vegetable gardens nearby!

The upper tier contains a salad of corn kernels, tomato (*), red bell pepper (*), black olives, shallot, leek white (*), gherkin, lettuce (*), chickpea, basil (*), feta cheese and dressing from Oil & Vinegar fruschetta mix.

The lower tier contains:

• mix of cranberries, Mediterranean roasted almonds and walnuts
• iceberg salad
• strawberries (*) marinated in balsamic vinegar & basil

All ingredients with ‘*’ added came from our veggiebag! For the rest of the week (until Wednesday) we only have some more lettuce, broccoli, leek, basil and garlic onions left. That will not be a problem ;)

Back to work bento (#29)

So here’s the bento I took yesterday on my first day back to work. I tried to extend my holiday spirit by taking tabbouleh salad, fresh mint for tea and a mix of nuts that came all the way from Cappadocia in Turkey: roasted chick peas, apricot seeds and almonds coated in honey and sesame seeds. Yummy! I also added some dried cranberries.

But I took some other stuff as well: a La vache qui rit cheese wedge, cherry tomatoes, Japanese peas and kiwi (peeled and sliced in the morning) with some lemon juice on the side.

Another way of keeping my holiday near is reading Dance with Death by Barbara Nadel. It’s a thriller set in Cappadocia and I bought it on site ;) Thankfully we didn’t find any dead bodies in the caves we visited!