Friday, August 20, 2010

Macaroni Un-Cheese

No yeast, no problem.
It's difficult to find an amazing vegan mac and cheese recipe that does not use nutritional yeast. What gives this dish its cheesy flavor and creamy texture are the cashews and Tofutti "Better Than Sour Cream" Sour Supreme. Originally I had been using Tofutti cream cheese, which worked well, but one day I was out of it and found some Sour Supreme (I swear I didn't buy it!) in the fridge. I have never eaten sour cream ever in my life (dairy or not) and was kind of terrified, but it said Tofutti on it so I figured it will have to do, and it was perfect!

My final product with slowly evolved from this Delightful Mac and Cheese recipe.

Notes:
Feel free to up the wholesomeness by adding real onion and garlic instead of their powders.
I was out of almond milk so I substituted in So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk.
Any flour can be used, but the garbanzo gives a bit of cheesy-ness.

Serves 3

1/2 package of 13.25 oz of whole wheat macaroni (I used rotini) (bit more than 2.5 cups)
1 c raw cashews
1 1/2 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 t red wine vinegar
1 t soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos)
1 T Tofutti vegan sour cream
3/4 c almond milk
3 T garbanzo bean flour
2 T extra virgin olive oil

Prepare macaroni as instructed. While macaroni is boiling, grind up cashews into a fine powder with a food processor. Transfer cashew powder to blender, add in the garlic powder, onion powder, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, sour cream, and almond milk. Blend until smooth.

Mix flour and oil in a medium saucepan over low heat. Once no lumps remain, turn off heat and pour in cashew cheese sauce, stirring until well-mixed.

Drain macaroni when cooked to your liking, and return to pot. Add cashew cheese sauce little by little and stir until macaroni is evenly coated. You may have left over cheese, which can be added anyway for extra cheesiness, or used as a cheesy dip for breadsticks or sliced veggies. I'm saving mine for tomorrow's pizza :).

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