When I was a kid, I really wanted mac 'n cheese for dinner like the
"average" American kid rather than the bittermelon on white rice that
often appeared in its place. I tried this delectable golden pasta in
small bits in my school lunches, but dang it, by the skin of my
Americanized Asian self, I wanted Kraft.
So Sister S made a whole box for a few of us, and a few tablespoons later,
I was done. She made it correctly, but I guess I was not meant to wolf
down a bowl full of buttery melted cheese powder and tube-y noodles.
But once in a while, I do enjoy taking bites of mac 'n cheese at barbecues
and other social functions. There's something about the cheesy goodness
on pasta that lured me into trying a vegan version.
I based my recipe on this one below, taken from THIS hink. I modified the
recipe a bit by using whole wheat rotini instead of macaroni, and I also
added 1/4 tsp. of tumeric to give it a more yellow color.
¾ cup plain soymilk
½ cup water
1/6 cup tamari or soy sauce
¾ cups nutritional yeast
½ TBSP paprika
½ TBSP garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
1.5 oz firm tofu
½ cup canola oil
¾ pound macaroni noodles
1 teaspoon mustard
Apologies for the poor documentation of the assembly, but I was in a hurry
to just get it done on time!

Once I whirred everything but the macaroni in a blender (there's the Magic
Bullet in that picture, but I ended up whipping out the big guns), I
poured it on my cooked noodles in a casserole dish. I added a few
tablespoons of bread crumbs mixed with a little margarine on top to give
it that more casserole-y feel. Then, I covered it with foil and baked at
350 for 10 minutes, then uncovered it and broiled for another 5. The
extra few minutes of broiling was slightly too long, as a few of the
crumbs got burnty. Fortunately, I smelled it in time and took it out
early.
Here's the final dish (after we got to it, lol).

"The Ukrainian" said that it was more reminiscent of alfredo than mac 'n
cheese, a sentiment that I agreed with. I think that the soy sauce that
was used was too strong, hence giving it a more salty/soy sauce flavor
than intended. However, it did definitely taste like something dairy,
which I guess was my main goal. I may try again using one of the zillions
of other variants of this recipe online, but we'll see. I got that
craving out of my system for a while...

Above: I quickly made a salad to go with it.
"average" American kid rather than the bittermelon on white rice that
often appeared in its place. I tried this delectable golden pasta in
small bits in my school lunches, but dang it, by the skin of my
Americanized Asian self, I wanted Kraft.
So Sister S made a whole box for a few of us, and a few tablespoons later,
I was done. She made it correctly, but I guess I was not meant to wolf
down a bowl full of buttery melted cheese powder and tube-y noodles.
But once in a while, I do enjoy taking bites of mac 'n cheese at barbecues
and other social functions. There's something about the cheesy goodness
on pasta that lured me into trying a vegan version.
I based my recipe on this one below, taken from THIS hink. I modified the
recipe a bit by using whole wheat rotini instead of macaroni, and I also
added 1/4 tsp. of tumeric to give it a more yellow color.
¾ cup plain soymilk
½ cup water
1/6 cup tamari or soy sauce
¾ cups nutritional yeast
½ TBSP paprika
½ TBSP garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
1.5 oz firm tofu
½ cup canola oil
¾ pound macaroni noodles
1 teaspoon mustard
Apologies for the poor documentation of the assembly, but I was in a hurry
to just get it done on time!

Once I whirred everything but the macaroni in a blender (there's the Magic
Bullet in that picture, but I ended up whipping out the big guns), I
poured it on my cooked noodles in a casserole dish. I added a few
tablespoons of bread crumbs mixed with a little margarine on top to give
it that more casserole-y feel. Then, I covered it with foil and baked at
350 for 10 minutes, then uncovered it and broiled for another 5. The
extra few minutes of broiling was slightly too long, as a few of the
crumbs got burnty. Fortunately, I smelled it in time and took it out
early.
Here's the final dish (after we got to it, lol).

"The Ukrainian" said that it was more reminiscent of alfredo than mac 'n
cheese, a sentiment that I agreed with. I think that the soy sauce that
was used was too strong, hence giving it a more salty/soy sauce flavor
than intended. However, it did definitely taste like something dairy,
which I guess was my main goal. I may try again using one of the zillions
of other variants of this recipe online, but we'll see. I got that
craving out of my system for a while...

Above: I quickly made a salad to go with it.
oh man i love mac n cheese! now I make Annie's and add in mushrooms and peppers, so wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI love Mac n Cheese and probably eat it all too frequently sicne I'm an adult and all.
ReplyDelete