Oil Free Vegan Cream and the Story Behind Cow's Milk オイルフリービーガンクリーム

日本語のレシピは　ビーガン情報サイト Hachidory を　ご覧ください。

The festive season is here !

Which song comes to your mind first when the Christmas season has arrived ? 

for me, it is 

"♫♬ Dashing through the snow ♩♫, in a one horse open sleigh...♬♪" 

or

♫♬  We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas...♫♬ ” 

or  

" ♫♬  Silent night, Holy night, all is calm, all is bright...♫♬  " 

or  

" ♫♬ I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know...♫♬ "

Many old days’ Christmas songs come out from my mouth.

However, Christmas is not the festival we traditionally celebrate in Japan as most Japanese are not Christians.   

But it is the day that many kids are looking forward to.

Why ?   Because they can eat the whole decoration cake, and receive the presents !

When I saw the present from Santa beside my bed in my childhood, I was so excited, and regretted that I missed to see him again.  

I used to envy my friend from bottom of my heart, who told me she saw him after hearing the sleigh bell approaching to her.   

After growing up and had my own family, I gave the presents of the same pleasure to my kids like my mother did for me, though it was a tropical Christmas, not a white Christmas like I had.

I suppose Christmas is the biggest childhood fond memory for them too.   

However, unfortunately this season is not a happy one for all of us.

There are many beings who are suffering because of this festival.

We have to think of them as Christmas is the day that we share our happiness with everyone.

The consumption of the chickens and cow’s milk drastically goes up during this season in Japan.  (I guess it is same in your country too.)

I told you that Japanese people do not really celebrate the Christmas, but many of us eat the whole cake decorated with thick cow’s milk and strawberries on a day of Christmas, so the all the cake shops increase the production to twice, triple of usual to cater for the needs of those people. 

You might be thinking the cows can produce milk anytime, but the fact is they can produce milk only when they gave birth to a baby like we humans.

Why do mothers produce milk ?

It is to feed their babies, their own babies.

However what is happening in the dairy industry is that the babies are taken away from their mother straight away, and mothers, no matter how much they cry for their babies or not, their nipples were geared with the machines to suck up their milk for humans.

Those cows are artificially inseminated every year and are forced to give birth until their bodies are too worn out to produce the babies any more.  What is waiting for them next is to be sent to the slaughter house, though they can still live, may be next 6 years if the circumstances allow them to do so.   

I do not write about those babies here today, but their fates are even more heart breaking.

 

just born-baby that I witnessed at the farm

Normal Dairy Farm

Humane Dairy Farm (so to be called, but....)

 

The bond between mothers and babies is profound for any species. 

Nobody should interfere this sacred bond. 

Do we need to drink milk ?

No, It does harm than good to humans.

There are many studies indicating that, and I also have heard many actual experiences that the physical condition improved after stopping the intake of dairy.  I myself felt it.

There’s no need to hurt the cows. 

For those who still miss the cheese, cream and milk, there are many kinds of alternatives available nowadays.  

You can easily obtain them by searching net and YouTube. 

Here’s my small contribution too. 

There are several ways to make vegan cream for decoration, but today I am showing the one made mainly from tofu.

Here you go….

Vegan Tofu Cream

Ingredients

For loose version

 

1 pkt medium firm tofu ( need 200g after removing excess water )

50g cashew nuts

4~5 Tbsp granulated sugar

A pinch of salt

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

 

For firm version, suitable for icing 

Above ingredients plus

100ml water

1tsp agar agar powder

 

Utensils

Cheese cloth or unbleached kitchen paper

Sieve

Bowl that can hold the sieve on top. (there should be a minimum 5cm gap between the bottom of the sieve and the bowl.)

Weight to fit the sieve (can be a stone, a jar with beans inside, etc.)

Blender

 

Procedure 

For loose version

1.   Line a kitchen paper or a cheese cloth on a sieve and place the sieve on the bowl.  Place the tofu on the kitchen paper, cover the surface and place the weight on it.   Keep in a fridge over-night.

 

2.   Soak cashew in water for over-night.

before soaking

 after soaking

3.   Throw in all the ingredients of loose version into a blender, and blend till smooth.

 

4.   Transfer into the container and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.

 

For firm version

1.   Place water and agar agar powder in a pot and heat up till reaching the boiling point and the agar is dissolved. 

 

＊You can add sugar at this point if you intend to make firm version from the start.

2.   Transfer the liquid into the blender that is holding the loose version cream in it, and blend to uniform.

＊This needs to be done quickly.  If you take time, agar liquid may get solid by itself before mixing with loose tofu cream.

3.   Transfer the cream into either a pastry bag or a container, and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before icing.

 

Notes and Tips 

l  The firmness of tofu varies depending on the maker.  Rely on the actual weight of tofu after removing excess water with a heavy weight.   I used my hand made soft tofu this time, but it turned out to be too soft and it weighed only 110g after removing excess water.  Therefore, I added 90g of very firm tofu after squeezing it with my hands to remove excess water.   You can combine two types of tofu in this way.

l  The granulated sugar processed in Japan could be made using the cow’s bones in the process of refining, therefore I recommend using beet sugar from Hokkaido if you want white color cream.   Alternatively, you can get organic cane sugar though its color is light brown.

l  This cream is flavored with fresh lemon.   If you want vanilla flavor, just add vanilla beans or extract instead of lemon.

We can make various kinds of  pretty and yummy cakes with this cream !

Mini cake - iced the cream on a piece of bread, so easy to make

Topped with mulberry sauce 

 

Mikan Cake with the seasonal Japanese mandarin orange 

As a topping for brownie 

As a topping for rolled pumpkin cake

A whole cake with soft version cream

 

Happy Cooking !

タグ：Vegan Japanese クリスマスケーキ 豆腐クリーム Japanese Christmas マクロビオティック 牛乳ができるまで Tofu Cream Vegan cream macrobiotics ビーガン dairy industry Cow mother baby 乳牛