Garlic and chives cashew cheese

Garlic and chives cashew cheese

Ok so it looks like a green plastic sausage. I have made this a couple of times now and…we really like it…! The second time I refrigerated it in a cling-wrap-lined bowl and turned it out in a dome shape. MUCH better than a sausage 🙂

I’ve tended to steer away from “pretend” cheese but you can either think of it as a cheese, or perhaps a dip. It has a firm enough texture though that can be sliced to put on crackers – and all in all, it’s wholesome and yum! And easy to do.

 

2 cups raw cashews (presoaked, overnight is best but for at least 4 hours in water)

3 Tblspn nutritional yeast (great Vit B 12 for vegans, also important flavour for this)

2 small-medium garlic cloves (minced)

1 tsp salt (salt is important, don’t skip it!)

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup finely diced chives (or less, depending on your preferences).

Optional- shake of onion powder and or/ other herbs such as thyme.

 

Blend the cashews in a food processor. Add in remaining ingredients and turn into a lined bowl. Refridgerate until ready to eat (I would give it at least 1-2 hours.

NB. If you don’t want the cheese green, don’t blend the chives through it. You can mix them through as little green pieces after blending the other ingredients.
Thanks to Blissful basil for the recipe start.

Thai red curry

Thai red curry

 

Thai red curry is something I have missed terribly since going plant based. It usually relies on fish sauce and sugar, neither of which I consume so this has relied on some artistic license to form a red curry! My Thai friends may say this is not true to form I expect…but it is pretty darn good!

The “red” bit is coloured by red chillies of course. I have used two which was plenty for me and I added in red capsicum for extra colour in the paste. If you are a hot head 🙂 use 4-5 red chillies and your red curry will be amazing! And hot…!

Ingredients:

1 purple onion

2 red chillies

1/2 red capsicum

2 lemon grass stalks

3 garlic cloves

2 cm piece galangal, crushed

3 garlic cloves

3  kaffir lime leaves

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp tamari

½ tsp lemon zest

2 T coconut milk

 

PLace all ingredients into a food processor and process until a fine paste is achieved.

 

For the curry:

Lightly stir fry your preferred ingredients (I used carrot, cauliflower, capsicum, onion and snow peas).

Stir the curry paste through the stir fry.

Add

1 cup coconut cream

2 cups vegetable stock or water

 

And enjoy!

Brown rice and mushroom balls

 

Brown rice and mushroom balls

 

I apologise for the iPhone, dimly lit photo. My lovely cousin was running in the Commonwealth Games (and came 3rd!) and I was super distracted by getting our little food party out in front of the TV in time to watch her run. So the photos fell to the bottom of the priority pile.
As it turns out, while Jess was running, we were munching down a delicious feast of new creations. These are brown rice balls with mushroom and natural peanut butter. You can mix these up as much as you like – the possibilities are endless, but thees are delicious as is.  Enjoy!

 

2 cups brown rice (cooked).

1 brown onion, diced

5 mushrooms, diced finely

1-2 Tblspn natural peanut butter

1 Tblspn tamari (GF soy sauce)

2 Tblspn tapioca flour

1 clove garlic, diced

1 shake of dried chilli flakes

1/2 tsp salt

 

Fry onion and garlic together with the mushrooms until reduced and cooked well. Add in tamari, chilli and peanut butter with seasoning. Add in rice, turn off the heat, and stir through tapioca flour (to help bind).

Roll into balls. Heat a small saucepan with enough coconut oil to either deep fry, or shallow fry 1/2 of the ball. When oil is very hot, place 4 balls in at a time for a minute or so each side, then turn over to cook the other side. Allow balls to drain on paper towel.

 

Serve with peanut dipping sauce.