Easy-Peasy Vegan Cheesy Cashew Sauce or Dip

There are times as an ex-cheese addict when you just have to have something vaguely resembling a cheese sauce or dip, with pasta or crudités or sweet potato chips for instance. Here is a simple basic recipe that you can adapt with your own flavours, making it more spicy if you like eg with chilli flakes, cayenne, garlic and so on. You can make it as thick or as thin as you want, depending whether you prefer a pouring sauce or a thicker dip.

Cashew nuts are an excellent source of magnesium – a mineral in which most people are deficient, see my post Magnesium: Are You Getting Enough? – protein and B vitamins. Nutritional Yeast is a good vegan source of protein with B vitamins and can be used to give a cheesy flavour to sauces, soups, pasta and so on. Some brands have B12 added, it’s a useful vegan source of this important vitamin (see B12: What Is It & Do We Need To Supplement It?). I use Marigold Foods’ Engevita with added B12.

All ingredients are organic, measurements approximate.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups Cashew Pieces, soaked for a couple of hours more or less, then strained

3 Tbsps Nutritional Yeast

1/4 to 1/2 Cup of Water

A Squeeze of Lemon Juice, more or less according to taste

Slice of Raw Onion, chopped or a couple of Spring Onions, sliced

1/4 Tsp English Mustard

Pink Himalayan Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste

Paprika or Cayenne Pepper

Method

Blend cashews, nutritional yeast, mustard, water, lemon juice until smooth

Add onion, salt and pepper, blend again either until smooth or with a bit of texture if you prefer

Sprinkle with Paprika, Chilli Powder or Cayenne Pepper

Good with Sweet Potato chips (fries), veggie burger and salad in place of mayo!

Copyright: Chris McGowan