Dragonfly's Bulk, Dry Uncheese Mix
3 cups raw, organic cashew pieces
2 cups nutritional yeast (I like Red Star or Vegetarian Support)
3 tablespoons seasoning salt
3 tablespoons garlic powder (not garlic salt)
3 tablespoons onion powder (not onion salt)
8 tablespoons arrowroot powder (can use cornstarch, but it is not stringy like arrowroot)
1. Using a very dry blender, blend the nuts until they are very fine.
2. Add all ingredients, and blend in batches of about 1 cup.
3. Mix in a dry container.
4. To make sauce, add heaping 1/2 cup mix to 1 cup water, and stir over heat until thickened.
Use less water and add salsa for queso dip. Pour over hot veggies and/or pasta. Spread on vegan bread and toast for grilled uncheeses, or look up my enchilada recipe and use it that way.
You can keep this tightly covered in the fridge for about 6 weeks.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
First - thanks, this was awesome (as you already know)
One thing I will say is WAY too salty. I will use half the salt next time.
Also, I used the starchy water from boiling noodles to help thicken it for things like mac and uncheese. Works great!
Thanks again for an awesome recipe!
Friggin brilliant! ;)b Could do with a wee bit more cornstarch though maybe?
What a brilliant idea! I'm wanting to try this, but reducing the cashew content as some commenters have.
However i can't tolerate oats (i'm gluten intolerant, and one of the gf people who also can't do oats :)). Any ideas for what else i could use? Quinoa flakes perhaps?
I made this according to the recipe and made sure the arrowroot was fresh. My eyes rolled back in my head when I tasted this. THANK YOU!!!!! I cooked some bow tie pasta and stirred in the uncheese. It also reheated beautifully:>
I looked through 10 pages of comments and am sad to discover that I am the only one incapable of grinding nuts into powder. Either it's not fine enough, or it's nut butter. :-(
My blender's a POS (anyone wanna donate a vitamix to a good cause, haha?!), so I definitely feel your pain! What I do is just grind a small amount at a time, 1-2 handfuls, pausing frequently to stir 'em around down by the blades with a thick knife blade or long spoon handle, until they're fine; then dump 'em in a big mixing bowl, and go again with another couple'a handfulls, etc etc etc until you've ground all the cashews. Takes forever, but worth it-- especially since when you're done, this recipe makes so much it lasts (well, usually!) a good while... Also, if I'm making any kind of sauce, I combine wet ingredients & (finished) uncheese mix in the blender until very smooth, before heating-- for queso, for example, I blend 1 cup uncheese + 1 cup water on 'liquefy' for a minute or so, then pour it into the saucepan & add rotel/ cumin/ cilantro/ whatever, to heat & finish... this gets it really creamy & smooth, without cashew chunks, even if your blender sucks. To me, it's totally worth the trouble!
Hope that's helpful! :)
I looked through 10 pages of comments and am sad to discover that I am the only one incapable of grinding nuts into powder. Either it's not fine enough, or it's nut butter. :-(
Try it with a coffee grinder, (sans coffee), that worked for me before I had a vitamix.
I looked through 10 pages of comments and am sad to discover that I am the only one incapable of grinding nuts into powder. Either it's not fine enough, or it's nut butter. :-(
Just an update - I found that the sauce with sauce flour substituted for the starch can be cooked in the microwave. I stirred it about every 30 seconds, and it took about 2 minutes to thicken for some macaroni and cheese I was making. Couldn't be easier! The leftovers reheated really nicely too.
Oh yeah, I frequently cook one serving at a time in the microwave, even with the arrowroot. I just use a mini-whisk to stir it after heating. Of course, it may be dangerous for it to be that easy to prepare...
This stuff is the greatest thing ever.
Just an update - I found that the sauce with sauce flour substituted for the starch can be cooked in the microwave. I stirred it about every 30 seconds, and it took about 2 minutes to thicken for some macaroni and cheese I was making. Couldn't be easier! The leftovers reheated really nicely too.
Does this recipe really need another review? Maybe not, but I don't care. :) It is really good and so easy! My "seasoned salt" was perhaps not as salty as some others, so I ended up adding a bit of salt to the finished sauce, which improved it greatly. So, unless you need to limit your sodium, don't be too stingy with the salt as it does really add to the cheesy flavor. I might try adding some lemon juice or miso to give it a little more tangy, cheddary flavor.
I tried this with tortilla chips, spread on bread, and with pasta. Of course the pasta was my favorite, but I'm interested to try it on enchiladas and other stuff too.
As a side note, I made 1/3 of the recipe, which made about 2 cups of the dry mix. I didn't have any arrowroot, so I used the same proportion of Wondra sauce flour (a fine flour that isn't supposed to clump in sauces), which I thought would be better for reheating than cornstarch. It worked out nicely, and the cheese did reheat well in the microwave.
I might try replacing some of the cashews with oats, as others have suggested, to make a lower fat and cheaper version.
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