Lets start by making our lovely and creamy sunflower milk: Take a big jug and place about 2 cups full of sunflower seeds in it and add a cup full of porridge oats. I also tend to add 1/2 cup millet flakes because I like the taste it. Those are very general amounts given as I hardly ever measure anything, all done by feeling... Then pour about 1-1.5 liter of pure water into the jug and soak the ingredients either over night or for a good couple of hours during the day (ca. 8 hours.) I also steep a handful of seaweed with my ingredients, preferably dulse or whatever is at hand which will be an ingredient for the cheese. You will see your ingredients expand and very soon fill nearly all the jug during the soaking process. |
This is how my jug looked after the soaking process. Our friends told us to discard the water and pour new water in the jug for the milk making. A step we skipped since I use organic ingredients and thought I would end up with more minerals when using the water which I already have. If you have soaked seaweed with the your ingredients than I would "fish" it our before pouring everything into a stand mixer. Puree the mass with the liquid thoroughly for about a minute (I would use the lowest setting for getting a good bulk out of the dried ingredients). |
Now take a fine meshed sieve and pour the thick liquid bit by bit into it. With this you filter out your milk from the sunflower/ porridge mass. You want a dry enough bulk, so squeeze out the bulk by using a spoon with which you press down the mass in the sieve. |
Here is a list of ingredients I would use: - a little handful of seaweed (pre-soaked) - a small carrot - half a sweet pepper - one large garlic clove - a handful of olives - a quarter of a parsnip or a bit of sweet potato (optional) - 1 fresh turmeric root. It's most tasty fresh and gives a lovely color to our "cheese", although hard to source. I'm lucky enough to buy it from our local health store, also grow my own. - 1 Tbsp. salt - some herbs for seasoning, for example oregano, parsley, chives, basil or sage. I myself prefer sage and would use a good handful of the dried herb - olive oil (about 1/4-1/2 cup) |
The last step is entirely up to yourself: It's fermentation! You see, I always leave a bit from my last sunflower seed spread as this has been fermented. To re- ferment my new batch I simply stir my new mix in with the last and mix very well. It's the same principle like the sourdough one. |
We fermented our first batch by simply adding some water Kefir grains, and then gave it some time to ferment. It worked very well. There are other methods, too, but this would be stuff for an entirely different blog entry.
Fermented or not, store your sunflower seed spread or "cheese" in the fridge (unfermented up to 3 days) and use it as a lovely bread spread, or dip, or with potatoes .... and enjoy!