Ahh nachos, food of the Gods! Some might say nachos sans queso would be sacrilegious but I'm here to dispel that myth with what I've found to be the best darn plant based nacho cheese sauce this side of Veganville. Remember that ooey, gooey, bright orange gold you'd get served with a steaming pile of hot, salty corn chips as a kid at the local movie theater? Imagine that, minus the stomach ache, constipation and bad skin. Here's a recipe, dope it up as you will:
Vegan Nacho Cheese
1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours or overnight
2 cups veg broth
2 tablespoons white miso (see recipe note)
2 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced (keeps seeds if you want more heat)
3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ancho pepper (or any mild ground red chili)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Drain the cashews. In a blender or food processor, puree them with vegetable broth, miso and cornstarch until very smooth. This could take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes depending on your device. Rub between your fingers to test; slight graininess is okay, but try to get it as smooth as possible.
In the meantime, preheat a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Saute onion, red pepper, and jalapeno in oil with a pinch of salt until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute about a minute more.
Transfer vegetables to the blender where the cashew mixture is. Add cumin, ancho, nutritional yeast and salt. Blend again until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender with a spatula to make sure you get everything.
Transfer mixture back to the pot. Whisking often, turn heat up to medium until the queso comes to a slow rolling boil. Lower heat so that it doesn’t burn and cook for about 20 minutes. Whisk often and check to see that it’s thickening, if it’s not, then turn the heat up a bit. It should become nicely thickened but velvetty and pourable.
Stir in the lemon juice at the end. If the queso seems too thick, drizzle in a little water and whisk to desired consistency. Taste for salt, spices and lemon juice and adjust as you like.
Serve hot!
There you have it. You're finished product should look something like this.
This is a pretty basic nacho assembly with nothing more than regular tortilla chips and jalapeño rounds but feel free to go crazy with tons of guac, tofu sour cream and even jackfruit "pulled pork" if your heart so desires. Try out the recipe and tell me what you think below, post your photos too!
...and of course as always, Hold The Meo!