"Not-Yo" Normal Cheese Dip

Orriant Health Coach, Corene, shares her recipe.

"Not-Yo" Normal Cheese Dip Recipe

1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours or overnight

2 cups beef broth

2 tablespoons miso*

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 red or orange bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced (keep seeds if you want more heat)

3 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast **

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon turmeric ***

Drain the cashews. In a blender or food processor, puree them with broth, miso, and cornstarch until very smooth. This could take anywhere from 5-10 minutes, depending on your blender.  Rub between your fingers to test; slight graininess is ok, but try to get it as smooth as possible. 

In the meantime, preheat a sauce pan over medium heat.  Saute onion, 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, chili powder, nutritional yeast, and salt.  Blend again until very smooth. 

Transfer mixture back into the pot.  Whisking often, turn heat up to medium until the sauce comes to a slow rolling boil.  Lower the heat so that it doesn't burn and cook for about 15-20 minutes.  Whisk often and check to see that it's thickening.  If not, then turn heat up a bit.  It should become nicely thickened but still pourable and velvetta-ish.  

Stir in the lemon juice and turmeric at the end.  If the sauce seems too think, drizzle in a little water and whisk to desired consistency.  Serve hot!

*  Miso is a soybean paste.  If you can't find it in your grocery store, you can easily find it in an Asian grocery market.  

** You can find nutritional yeast in the bulk bins at some grocery stores and most health food stores.  This can easily be omitted from the recipe, as well. 

***This is used to deepen the yellow color of the sauce and can be omitted if you don't have it on hand. 

• You can substitute sunflower seeds for the cashews if you have a nut allergy. 

Note: the sauce will thicken as it cools.  Stir in a bit of water and re-heat. 

(Recipe adapted from Post Punk Kitchen Recipe)