Vegan Spring Rolls with Homemade Soy Cheese

Yesterday, I took a quick look at my recent Instagram photos and had a minor moment of panic.

Wow. That's a lot of dough.

On the one hand, my love of baking is no secret—even when I'm cutting body fat. On the other, I know how easily those baked goods can sneak extra calories into the day.

Time to mix things up a little.

Shavuot (the Jewish holiday traditionally celebrated with dairy dishes) is right around the corner, and everyone is busy making cheesecakes and elaborate savory pies. But I wanted to share something you could serve at the holiday dinner that wasn't loaded with calories or carbs.

Something you could enjoy without second-guessing every bite, but that still felt festive.

How about vegan spring rolls with homemade soy cheese and root vegetables?

Let's start with the soy cheese.

You might not realize this, but making soy cheese at home is about as easy as it gets.

Don't believe me? Keep reading.

All you need is soy milk and lemon juice or vinegar.

• Almond milk and other plant milks won't work here: you need milk with enough protein to form curds.

If the texture reminds you of tofu, you're exactly right. It's the same process used to make tofu, which I covered in detail in this post.

You can use your homemade cheese to fill sweet or savory pastries—sorry, I can't help myself—eat it straight from a spoon, or add it to a big vegetable salad.

For this holiday, I'm rolling it in rice paper with root vegetables. It's a colorful, cheerful dish that's low in calories and gluten-free.

How should you serve it?

2 rolls with a big salad make a great light dinner when you're cutting body fat or simply keeping an eye on your intake.

Nutrition per roll:

Vegan Spring Rolls

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Yield 5 spring rolls

Ingredients

For the Soy Cheese

• 2 liters (about 8 1/2 cups) unsweetened soy milk Alpro (a plant-based food brand sold in Israel) soy milk in the red carton works here because it's completely unsweetened.
• Juice of half a lemon
• Clean muslin diaper cloth, for straining Regular cotton fabric or terry cloth won't work.

For the Spring Rolls

• 5 rice paper wrappers
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup shredded vegetables—beet, kohlrabi, and carrot
• 1/2 scallion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt

Instructions

1. Start with the soy cheese.
2. Pour the soy milk into a pot and bring to a boil.
3. Turn off the heat and pour in the lemon juice.
4. Stir, and watch the magic happen: the soy milk forms curds. You'll see lumps appear in the milk. It looks like it's going bad, but it's not—don't panic!
   
5. Make sure you add the lemon juice while the milk is still hot.
6. Line a strainer with the muslin cloth and pour the soy milk mixture into it.
7. Drain thoroughly through the cloth until most of the liquid has drained away. You can press with wooden spoons, use something heavy to weigh it down, or hang the cloth over the sink. Careful—the cloth is hot!
8. Now open the cloth and... look at that. Cheese! Transfer it to a bowl. It may not win a beauty contest, but it tastes fantastic.
   
9. Season the cheese with the lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic.
10. Time to roll the spring rolls:
11. Dip one rice paper wrapper into a bowl of water for 2–3 seconds. That's all it needs.
12. Lay the wrapper on your work surface and blot off excess water with a towel.
13. Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of soy cheese and a little of the shredded vegetables near one side of the wrapper, but not right at the edge. Leave a border of a few centimeters (about an inch), as shown in the photo.
    
14. First, fold in the two sides of the wrapper, as shown in the photo above.
15. Then roll from the side with the filling toward the opposite edge.
16. Serve with a dipping sauce of lemon juice and a little olive oil.