Artichoke Dip
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked a few hours then drained and rinsed
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cloves fresh garlic
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 cup olive oil + 1 tablespoon to saute
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper or 2 ounces pimientos
1 (14 ounce) can water packed artichokes, drained
1 (2 ounce) can chopped green chiles
dash paprika or smoked paprika
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a blender, combine the cashews, water, lemon juice, soy sauce or tamari, salt, garlic and nutritional yeast.
2. Process until smooth. While blending on high speed, slowly pour in the oil and continue to blend until thickened. In a saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat and add the onions and red bell pepper, if using.
3. Saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Chop the artichokes, if desired. Add artichokes to pan, turn off the heat and add the green chiles and pimentos, if using.
4. Stir in the cashew sauce. Place the artichoke dip in an oven-proof dish and sprinkle the top with the paprika. Put in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until top is browned.
Serve with toasted sliced baguette. Enjoy!
Source of recipe: I wrote the recipe and it is one of many great recipes in my first cookbook, The Maui Vegetarian Cooking with Aloha. It is vegan, easy to make, and delicious! Visit www.themauivegetarian.com to see video demonstrations and to order the book.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I made this for an omni event and everyone liked it. This will be a go-to recipe from now on - it's really good and because the more "exotic" ingredients are jarred or canned, it's easy to get the ingredients year-round.
Recommendations:
You definitely don't need all of the oil You end up with a lot of extra sauce, so you could easily use less and still have enough (I added the sauce all at once and had to strain the dip.)
It's really flavorful, but the garlic dominated the other flavors, so I recommend only using one clove.