QUICK CHEESY CASHEW DIP RECIPE

Do not skyrocket your expectations of this recipe as a replacement if you’re a dairy cheese lover. But we promise that it’s tasty enough to satisfy all your creamy cravings in a plant-based manner. 

We must still mention that the recipe originally used nutritional yeast which can help in skipping the fermentation step. When two spoonfuls of nutritional yeast was added to the recipe, it tasted closer to the flavor of dairy cheese. 

But this cashew cheese recipe will surely tingle your taste buds without the presence of nutritional yeast. The overnight fermentation is the extra step that adds to that cheesy tangy flavor without which, the recipe is just a fancy cashew paste. 

We totally understand that it can seem like an expensive ingredient in the market, but we recommend investing in a large box from @urbanplatter.in which will last you over a year. 

Ingredients :

• Cashews 1 cup (soaked in hot water for 1 hour or 15 minutes in hot water)
• Garlic cloves 3-4 pieces 
• Half a Lemon juice 
• Salt & Pepper according to taste 
• Herbs according to taste (Optional) 

Process

After collecting all the aforementioned ingredients, put them in a blender and blend it all into a creamy paste. After it is done, you can stick your finger and taste a small amount if you wish to be sure of the seasoning levels. 

Transfer the paste into a jar and ensure that the lid is closed tight. Allow the jar to rest at room temperature overnight. Rest is very essential in general but even more so for this recipe and at this very step if we want our cream to rise and get that tangy cheese flavor. 

You can skip this fermentation process if you use one spoon of nutritional yeast flakes which will directly give it a tangy kick. 

Regardless of whichever option you’ve chosen, store it in the fridge and consume within a week. 

Your cheese cream is essentially ready to be used as you please but here are a couple of options – use it as a dip for veggies and chips, as a spread, as a pasta sauce after diluting it with water, like a marinara or homemade pizza topping, or just lick it clean!

FAQs

1. Can this be used in baking?
   You can add it as a filling in any recipe. Or as a topping, if you’re attempting to make a dairy-free version of a recipe that requires you to give a cheese filling. Go ahead and experiment!.
   Our personal favourite way to use this is to dilute it and add some pasta. And it gives the same feeling as an alfredo pasta. You can also make vegan mac n cheese using this as these cheesy base.
2. How much will the said 1 cup of cashews produce? 
   A handful of 10-12 cashews produces 100 gms of dip.
3. Does Nutritional Yeast really make a difference?
   Nutritional Yeast will definitely give it a more authentic cheesy flavour in comparing to simply fermenting it.
   Nutritional yeast in ADDITION to fermentation will give an even more cheesy flavour! So we would highly recommend you to try getting your hands on a large box of nutritional yeast if you plan on making more plant-based recipes in future!