Vegan Cashew Cheese
This is a very easy alternative to making ‘cheese’ at home. This recipe is famous in vegan communities but it is really useful for anyone doing detox, cutting out dairy or as a simple recipe fix if cheese is not in the fridge.
I found it a great cheese replacement to use in savoury recipes as an alternative to ricotta, cream cheese or fresh cream. Check out this recipe for sweet potato noodles using vegan cashew cheese. Cashew cheese made this meal a real deal, so much that you would want to go vegan. You could use this cheese with any pasta of your choice, try it even with vegetarian lasagne!
You could also add lemon, parsley, olives and sun dried tomatoes and blend this ‘cheese’ into a dip. It would be great with crackers or raw crudités. 
Cashews create a a wonderful cream consistency making them great to replace any creamy topping. If you have never made sweet cashew cream before, check out these raw lemon cashew tartlets or these beetroot lemon coconut muffins which use cashews for the super sweet frosting.
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 large clove garlic
- 1/2 cup drinking water
- pinch of salt
- Soak the cashews in water for at least two hours. Do not use the 1/2 cup drinking water for soaking.
- Rinse cashews well before using.
- Puree all ingredients in a food processor or with a hand blender until smooth.
- Use in recipes instead fresh cream or cream cheese.
- You can add 1 tablespoon lemon juice to the mixture if desired.
- Turn into a dip by adding 1/3 cup of calamata olives and 1/3 cup sundried tomatoes and puree.
Absolutely amazing no effort whatsoever