Ever since I tasted cashew gravy at the local Taste Buds Indian Restaurant (love the vegan-friendly lunch buffet here!), I’ve been meaning to make a cashew cheese spread. I don’t remember where I read about pairing the cashews with chives, but it’s been brewing in the back of my mind for sometime now. Finally got around to making a cashew cheese spread with nutritional yeast and chives. After the first bite, the family declared this as a keeper! Admittedly, I wasn’t entirely sure how this was going to turn out, even half way through blending the ingredients. There’s something incredibly gratifying about tasting the spread straight up from the blender!

Cashew Cheese Spread

This is an all-raw, vegan recipe. All you need are a few basic ingredients and a decent food processor. Here are the ingredients:

• 2 cups of raw cashew nuts
• 1 cup chives, chopped
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp olive oil (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

I covered the raw cashew nuts in water and soaked them for about 6 hours. Drain the water completely, add all the ingredients into the food processor and blend them 30 seconds at a time. In between, use a spatula to wipe down the “cheese” back to the bottom so the ingredients blend evenly. Took me a few attempts to get this right and I stopped when the cashew cheese looked spreadable enough. It was a little on the chunky side, but suits me fine.

I didn’t know this until today, but apparently cashews have a lower fat content compared to other nuts. In addition cashew nuts are supposedly a great source of Magnesium, Vitamin K and Copper. What’s not to like?

Have you made cashew cheese spread? How do you make it?