CASHEW ‘RICOTTA’ CHEESE

Pizza, Vegan

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 10 min Servings: 2 cups Source:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked

1/2 cup water

juice of 1 large lemon or 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 – 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, optional

1 small garlic clove

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

himalayan sea salt & cracked pepper, to taste

Directions

Soak cashew in cool water for at least 2 hours in a bowl of water, covering the cashews about 2 – 3 inches of water as they will swell up.

For a quick method of soaking, let cashews sit in hot water for 5 minutes.

Drain cashews and place all remaining ingredients into a blender or food processor, process until creamy stopping to scrape down the sides every few minutes. Taste for flavors adding any additional ingredients. Some like a salty ricotta so feel free to add as much salt as you want.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for an hour or two, this will stiffen the mixture a bit. You can also prepare your dish straight away without refrigeration if needed. Refrigeration will thicken the mixture a bit. If it becomes too thick, add a tad of water and mix well.

Store in refrigerator for up to a week, or store in the freezer for up to 2 months in a freezer safe container.

Makes approx. 2 cups

Notes

You could do just as well without the nutritional yeast if you don’t have it. I only added a small amount, probably pretty unnoticeable. I will be trying more next time to play around with it a bit. If you do add it, it will add a bit more cheesy flavor and some good nutritional value.

If you have trouble with the mixture blending on it’s own try this because it’s too thick, add a little extra water.