2 magic ingredients for a Vegan Cook

My shopping list has changed a bit since I became vegan. I find I buy lots more nuts, seeds, and tofu, and they all get eaten and replaced quicker. But there are 2 items that I had never heard of before that now feature prominently in my store cupboard. They are nutritional yeast and black salt.

1. Black Salt

The first ingredient is weird, and not common even amongst the ever growing online vegan recipe-sphere. It is a rock salt, mined in India and Pakistan, that has a high sulphur content. Its Indian name is Kala Nemak. Sometimes it’s colour is black/dark brown, but it can also be pink. Its magic effect, is that when added to tofu it makes it taste like eggs. The smell of eggs come from their sulphur content, so this isn’t really rocket science, but it does work.

There are a couple of other products called black salt on the market, one of which is traditional salt mixed with charcoal to make it a black colour. These won’t work for vegan egg recipes, so make sure the product you buy is actually Kala Nemak. Kala nemak can be the natural mined variety, but is also often manufactured to produce the same taste, either of these are ok and will work fine.

Tofu Scramble

Tofu scrambled “eggs” are insanely easy to make. Mash together a firm tofu, with turmeric, black pepper (the normal kind), black salt (kala nemak), and any green herbs you have to hand (parsley, dill, basil etc). Then fry for a few minutes. Voila! super simple, and tastes and looks like scrambled egg. Amazing.

2. Nutritional Yeast

The second ingredient is nutritional yeast. This is not the bread-making variety, but a de-activated strain of yeast. It is commonly added to vegan dishes to give a cheese flavour. It is a yellow colour, and sold in flakes or powder forms. Nutritional yeast is a significant source of some B vitamins and contains trace amounts of several other vitamins and minerals, it is also sometimes fortified with vitamin B12. The brands of vegan cheese I have seen are generally a paste of nuts, seeds or tofu with nutritional yeast added to give the cheese flavour.

Vegan Mozzarella / Cheese Sauce

My favourite dish so far using nutritional yeast is this mozzarella recipe from the vegan website, “It Don’t Taste Like Chicken”. It uses ground cashew, tapioca starch and nutritional yeast to make a very convincing gooey cheese. The cashews need to be soaked for an hour or so before cooking so they easily grind up and blend into the sauce, but other than that it is very quick and easy to make. Don’t cheat on the nutritional yeast, if anything use slightly more than in the recipe, and definitely don’t skip the salt. I have used this sauce / cheese in cauliflower cheese, and on moussaka, and I have been very impressed. I would recommend cooking this just before you want to eat it. I did try storing some I had left in the fridge, but I found it lost the cheesy flavour and texture quickly.

I have been really impressed with both these ingredients, and surprised that more vegan recipe sites haven’t latched on to them. They are easy to source online if you can’t find them in-store, and really easy to cook with. Go ahead and give them a try and let me know in the comments below how you get on, and like this page if you found this useful. I’d also love to hear ideas for other vegan recipes using these ingredients.