Loving Hut Perth ‘Aussie Vegan Spreadable Cheese Dip’
Vegan cheese spread/dip
Cheese dip/spread replacement
Pros: Meltable, fantastic strong taste not found in many vegan cheeses, good colour, hugely versatile
Cons: Hard to find, its appearance may be a little off putting
I ordered this cheese dip from Vegan Online on the Friday afternoon before a long weekend and it arrived by Thursday the following week. I was pretty impressed, especially as it was coming from South Australia — although, amusingly, made by Loving Hut Perth. It was launched in February and is their new dip — and I’m thrilled to add another Australian-made product to the list.
I was so excited to see the package arrive, and it was a bit like pass the parcel — there were even a few vegan/animal rights goodies in the package.
If you’re happy with the fact the Loving Hut restaurant chain is part of the ‘Supreme Master Ching Hai’ group, called a ‘cult’ by many, which is pretty obvious when you go there and see promotional advertisements and posters for the group, then you won’t have a problem with the products. The back of the cheese says it’s from Vegan Peace Distributors.
Each Loving Hut is individually owned and managed, so it’s no surprise that you might not find this dip elsewhere. For instance, Loving Hut Brisbane does a cream cheese wonton, which I haven’t seen in the ones I’ve visited. The two I have eaten at were both Sydney based (from memory, Cabramatta and Canley Heights), and both mainly Asian or junk food style when I went.
Franchise owner Lee Mah is also the Western Australia producer of Notzarella — a great cheese that, while not being my favourite in flavour, is the most effective melting cheese for pizza. A review for this is coming soon as well.
Back to the spreadable cheese. It’s a very bright orange, which reminds me of processed burger cheese, and I was unsure what to expect. I have previously tried Loving Hut’s Asian soups and curly fries, and just those two foods coming from the same restaurant will explain why I wasn’t making any bets on the flavour of this cheese (although I noted prior to eating that it’s a soy, coconut and yeast-based alternative).
When you open the tub there’s no plastic layer, such as on Tofutti tub cheeses, and the top of the spread looks… like orange cauliflower, or brains, and was almost dry to the touch.
I persevered despite the appearance and found that the texture is slightly sticky and paste like, but at the same time it has a crumbly consistency. I’ve taken some photos to explain this.
And then the taste — this came as a surprise. I absolutely am nuts for this cheese spread. It’s a hefty, slightly biting, flavour that reminds me strongly of this grated cheese sandwich spread my family used to buy in my pre-vegan England days. I expect this flavour comes from the use of mustard and vinegar in the ingredients.
It’s strongly cheesey, and almost fake in its flavour — somewhere between a mature cheddar or red Leicester and a packet burger cheese. I know, bizarre, but also awesome.
It hits you as brightly orange, but largely in flecks throughout with the predominant colour being yellow. I reckon it would create a great vegan vegemite mix. I had it on gluten free bread with garlic dip (only a little bit) and it was absolutely sensational. I then decided to have it on sesame rice crackers with avocado, which was even better.
I tested it on a hot plate first, and it actually melts! I decided it would be good made into a cheesey sauce, which we had on top of lasagna (and also the extra sauce we had on top of potato pancakes), but I think it would be even better in mac and cheese.
For those looking to make a pretty quick vegan lasagna, here’s how.
Firstly, the finished product.
(Note: this makes double the amount of sauce you’d need for a lasagna that feeds three people with veggies — we had huge portions with mashed sweet potato, broccoli and beans and had leftovers. I froze a portion of the sauce for having on pasta at a later date, and it still tastes great, so if you don’t want to do that then halve the sauce section of the recipe!)
Red sauce:
Olive oil (if you’re conscious about smoking point, then another oil will do fine)
3 small carrots diced
2 medium onions diced
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 birdseye red chillies finely chopped
4 basil leaves crushed up (and 4 basil leaves chopped)
2 tins of tomatoes
Three quarters of a jar of tomato paste
Half a cup of merlot (I used the vegan Yalumbra brand at home — but any leftover wine will do fine)
Splash of gluten free Tamari soy sauce
Splash of gluten free, vegan Worcestershire sauce (optional)
Dried herbs — I use a combination of general dried mixed herbs and some home-dried thyme and rosemary. I also added in dried garlic, dried onion and ginger powder, as they’re staples I have in the cupboard.
Salt and pepper
Big squirt of ketchup if you have it (if not, then one to two teaspoons of raw sugar)
Fry up all the herbs and flavourings in the oil (leave aside the 4 chopped basil leaves for later) in oil, then add the vegetables, onion, garlic and chilli and keep frying. Add the wine, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce, and allow to boil off the water. Add salt and pepper, tomato paste, ketchup or sugar, tins of tomato and one tins-worth of water. Allow to boil until carrots are soft. Blend the mixture. Add the herbs, cook to boil once more, and add any extra salt and pepper to taste and water to texture. It should be a thick sauce.
With Gluten Free pasta sheets, layer it up to two thirds of a baking tray (I used Orgran pasta sheets).
White sauce:
Nuttelex or other dairy-free butter replacement
Nutritional yeast
Flour (I used Aldi’s gluten free flour from the Has No brand)
Salt
Pepper
Half an onion diced
Three teaspoons of Loving Hut Perth’s Aussie Spreadable Cheese
Soy milk
Other meltable cheese as desired (I used the Melty cheese from Vegusto)
Flavouring as desired. You may choose to use herbs if that’s the flavour you want (I’ve heard of people using homemade pesto!). I added a teaspoon of garlic dip.
Fry up the onion in the butter on a high heat (will likely use quite a bit of butter). Turn off the heat and add five or six tablespoons of flour and mix in. Add three teaspoons of nutritional yeast. Add in three cups of soy milk. Turn the heat back on, and mix the butter into the milk. As it heats up and thickens, add the two cheeses, salt and pepper, as well as any other flavourings you have. Cook on a high heat until it thickens — use a whisk to keep it moving. When it gets to the desired thickness, turn it off. Wait until semi-cool and pour onto the top of the lasagna sheets.
Top with salt, pepper, other grateable cheese, and put into the oven for about 30 minutes on 160 degrees. It’s fantastic, believe me, although all kinds of terrible for you.
As you can see, a fairly impressive result — helped along fantastically by this cheese. I also added a couple of scoops of it into tonight’s risotto, and it gave it a subtle flavour that worked beautifully.
Sadly, there’s only a little left now!
The price
At 250 grams $8.80 from Vegan Online and compared to other spreadable cheeses, this is probably slightly more expensive than Tofutti’s cream cheese. If you’re having it shipped then this is an extra cost too, particularly as it needs to be refrigerated. However, its flat rate is cheaper than the 185 gram Botanical Cuisine offerings — although they are far more attractive and gift-worthy than this product.
I note that I was given $9 back on my purchase by the store owner who managed to package it more cheaply for me, which was really lovely (they had no idea I was reviewing the product either).
The packet says there’s one serve per packet — which means it’s basically the only food that underestimates how many people will eat it (I’ve been known to eat eight peoples’ portions of peanut butter, for instance).
The ingredients
Organic Biodynamic Soy Milk, Coconut Oil, Tapioca starch, nutritional yeast, carageenan, miso paste, vinegar, tomato paste, salt, onion powder, mustard.
It lists Carageenan as an ingredient, which had at least one commenter on their Facebook page concerned, although people were quick to respond defending the ingredient (it’s seaweed based in case you’re interested).
I assume the cheesey flavour comes from the nutritional yeast and the mustard, with the coconut oil making it meltable.
The nutritional value
Full of “good” oils, but probably not good for you overall, it has a total of 22.9% fat, 19.6% of which is saturated. It also contains 470 milligrams of salt per 100 grams.
It does use organic products, being preservative free, and it’s gluten free too.
For those in Perth, you can get it from a number of places. According to an April Facebook posting from Loving Hut Perth, it’s available:
IGAs: Beeliar, Carine Glades, Fresh Margret River, Leederville, Marmion, Mosman Park, Mt Pleasant, Nollamara, South Freo, Stabes Bridgetown IGA SUPA: Belvidere Belmont, Gwelup, Hilton, Lynwood, Myaree, Northbridge, Port Kennedy, Queens Geraldton, Second Ave Mt Lawly, Sisters Joondalup, Waterford, Wembley, Winthrop, Wonthella OTHERS: Bill’s Scoops, Brighton Road Foodmarket, Farmer Jacks Halls Head, Fresh Provisions Bicton, Hills Fresh Mundaring, In Season on Walcott, Malibu Fresh, Millpoint road Fresh foodmarket, Peaches, Re Store Leederville, Scutti Markets on Angelo, The Good Grocer Applecross, The Herdsman
For now, the rest of us might have to stick to online orders. No issue, considering the Vegan Online proceeds largely go to Freedom Hill — an animal sanctuary in South Australia — and they were straightforward with my order to Victoria.
