This sauce is made entirely on the basis of vegetables and cashew nuts. Its quite healthy, lower in calories than a traditional cheese sauce and is also vegetarian and gluten free. This sauce contains no added oil, saturated fat, dairy and is incredibly tasty! Making a cheese sauce without flour is easy.
You can use the cheese sauce for pastas, a vegetable sauce (think topping on steamed brocolli or cauliflower) or nachos (with some spring onion and raw bell pepper). Its also quite good as a vegetable dip and even on bread with some cucumber.
Ingredients
You don’t need yeast flakes to make this cheese sauce. This makes the sauce incredibly budget-friendly. Plus all ingredients can be easily found in your local supermarket.
This recipe makes enough cheese sauce for 4 to 5 people.
- 65 grams of cashews (soak in warm water an hour beforehand)
- 250 grams of chopped onion (about 4 medium onions)
- 200 grams of carrots
- 300 grams potato with skin (only use the skin if you use organic potatoes)
- 3 teaspoons of tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon of coarse mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon of garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon of herb salt
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Additonal Reading: How to Reheat Biscuits for Perfect Results
Prepare
In this recipe we stew the vegetables in a frying pan. This way, all flavors are retained and we don’t throw away any cooking liquid. This gives the cheese sauce a lot of flavor.
- Cut the onions into small rings and the carrot and potato into very small cubes. By cutting everything into small cubes it will soon be done.
- Place all vegetables in a skillet. Add the tomato puree, mustard and all the herbs. Add a small layer of water of about 1cm and bring everything to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and let everything simmer with a lid on the pan.
- Briefly prick the potato and carrot. When they are soft, turn off the heat and put all the ingredients in a blender with the cooking water. (If you don’t have a blender, use a mixing cup and hand blender).
- Discard the soaking water from the cashews and rinse them briefly. Then add them to the vegetables and blend everything into a smooth sauce.
Additonal Reading: What is Chicken Demi Glace? and How Long Does Tuna Salad Last & Ways to Extend Shelf Life
Pasta with cheese sauce and vegetables
You can use this sauce very well as a vegetable sauce for pasta. The vegan cheese sauce recipe is enough for 3 to 4 servings of mac ‘n cheese.
All you have to do is cook your favorite pasta with possibly some peas. Boil everything until tender and then drain. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta with peas and heat everything in a pan (stir well!).
The use of cashew nuts will give your mac ‘n cheese a special but very pleasant taste. Finish the dish with some fresh arugula or basil.
