If you've been following me for a while, you will know that my free-from cooking experiments come from my wish to make my food-sensitive boyfriend's eating a bit tastier (and the blog came to share this with you all). He's been eating dairy-free for years and years, but I too have decided to cut down drastically on dairy products and products containing dairy ingredients, for two reasons: I've already known for years that drinking milk is a no-no for me (and that was confirmed this past summer when I had a couple icecream-slushes and felt sick right after, both times) and I wanted to see if my acne-prone skin would go better without dairy and all the hormones in it. And since I saw positive results within a month, I've kept going 😉
Neither me nor my boyfriend have ever been cheese "addicts" (thankfully, because you know, deprivation sucks), but I have realized sometimes something cheese-y is kind of missing you know, like to make a savory dish creamy, or savory spread to go with bread.
So in my constant search for tasty alternatives I got fascinated by cashew sauces. One day I decided to try and make my own, using what I had at home and was impressed with the result!
I make it with easy-to-find ingredients, I've seen many use miso paste for instance, which I can't find here, others use nutritional yeast, which I purposedly avoid for two reasons: it is often not gluten-free = not boyfriend-friendly, and I myself have been avoiding yeast as much as possible in general, since I've noticed that except for an organic one I found, it causes me bloating.
Besides, something about the idea of eating "raw" yeast really doesn't sit well with me. Nope. >.>
So, here's the super-easy recipe for this vegan cashew sauce:
- I usually boil the cashews for 10-15 minutes to soften them, because my blender is not too powerful, but it does its job with a lot of dignity and I respect it for that. You could soak them overnight too, or blend them raw if you have one of those super powerful blenders *envy*
- Put the cashews in a blender with all the other ingredients and blend blend bend until it's creaaaamy.
- Add more herbs or spices to your liking 😉
Hope you will like it and my advice is to note down this recipe, because you are going to need it for the yummy gluten/dairy/egg-free holidays menu I'll be posting in the following weeks!
So let's stay in touch and get ready for the holidays together 😉 You can follow me for updates on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook too!
Ciao!
Sonia
INGREDIENTS FOR VEGAN SAVORY CASHEW SAUCE
1 CUP (160 gr) cashews (boiled or soaked)
1 clove of garlic (or more if you want)
1 tablespoon starch
2 tablespoon seed oil
1 CUP (150 gr) veg milk
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
Leave a Reply