Feta-Cheese-Like Pickled Tofu

Super easy to make vegan feta cheese, anyone?

As I make my way to become a vegan, I’m doing a lot of research online on vegan recipes, and it appears to me that “cheese” is one of the most sought after vegan recipes out there. There are so many different ways to make so many different kinds of vegan cheese, but a lot of them contain nuts like cashew nuts. The problem is, the nuts have to be raw, and raw nuts are not readily available at stores in Japan and are very expensive!

Also, many recipes seem pretty complicated and daunting… So I wanted to try to make something that resembles the texture and taste of cheese with an ingredient that’s familiar to me – tofu!

It actually takes only three steps. First, drain tofu (one pack). Second, marinate it with freshly-squeezed lemon juice (from one lemon), 1 tbsp of shio-koji and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Third, leave in fridge for at least 2 days. That’s it!

As tofu gets pickled with lemon juice and shio-koji, it loses the distinct smell and taste of beans and texture becomes very similar to cheese. If you use extra firm tofu with an extra amount of shio-koji or salt, it gets pretty close to feta cheese, and if you use silken tofu, the texture becomes obviously smoother and softer.

The simplest way to use this pickled tofu is to cut it in small cubes or crumble it with a fork and put it in salad. Or, you can just put slices on crackers and make canapé:)

In addition to these obvious ways to eat this pickled tofu, you can do a lot of things with it as it won’t disintegrate when cooked in liquid like many of other vegan fresh cheese. I will share some dishes which turned out wonderfully!