vegan

Living Cuisine by Renee Loux Underkoffler
Tamarind Caesar Dressing
Renee Loux-Underkoffler. 2004. Living cuisine: the art and spirit of raw foods. 1st ed. New York: Avery, p. 300

.25 cup raw tahini
.25 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
2 each green onions
1 each lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1.5 tablespoons maple syrup, or raw honey or 2 soft dates pitted
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons tamarind paste, if unavailable use 2 dates, 1 teaspon lemon zest and 3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups water, or as necessary

Blend all ingredients until smooth. The dressing should be quite thick. Add more water to thin as desired. Store in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator.

I used to be raw vegan, which is a post for another time. This book by Renee Loux Underkoffler was my absolute favorite living foods recipe book. Alas, I lost it in the great mouse invasion of my pantry cookbook shelves in 2012. This recipe, along with her Salad Nicoise were my top go-tos. It’s so good it’s tagged things I love 🙂 .

Cashew cream is one of the staples of vegan and raw vegan cuisine. Technically it’s nut butter. We call it cream because the fat content and texture of cashews creates wonderful mouth feel of dairy. It’s neutral flavor makes it more versatile than a standard nut butter.

It can be whipped to a fluffy replacement for whipped cream. It can be substituted for melted cheese. IMHO it is the best way to create vegan mac’n’cheese. It can be used as a binder in raw vegan deserts. It can be fermented into a tasty spread or mayo. Sky’s the limit with imagination.

The basic version is stupid simple to make. Two ingredients, a high speed blender, five minutes hands-on time including clean-up, and some patience to wait while you’re soaking the nuts. Caution! Cashews become saturated faster than other nuts. The longer you soak the the softer they become and the texture may no longer be suitable for your application.

Conversely, if you don’t soak or blend long enough the texture may be slightly gritty. I use a high speed blender because I get better results than a food processor. Others swear by the food processor.

Here’s the template:

Soak the cashews for a few hours.

Use a high speed blender or food processor to blend.

Add small amounts of liquid to get your desired texture from paste to sauce, if desired. Do not add liquid if you want fluffy whipped cream.

Add flavorings.

That’s it! Your cream should keep in the fridge for at least a week. I’ve gotten several out of mine but YMMV. Let your nose be your guide. If it smells off don’t eat it.

I made a lemon-maple cream sauce the other day and it was amaze-balls. I made a shredded carrot and walnut salad with cardamom and ginger. Reminiscent of carrot care and a great way to sneak in more vegetables. I would have posted that but I ate it before snapping a photo. Besides, there’s really no recipe. Mix stuff together to taste.

Enjoy!