The Raw & Cooked Vegan Recipe: Savory Macadamia Nut Cream

November 30, 2008

If you read yesterday’s post, you know I actually cooked something to take to a church dinner. I guess I’m getting soft as I get farther along in my raw foodism. Anyway, my macadamia nut cream made a hit with a number of the people there and I promised to post the recipe today. Here we go.

A little background is in order. I’d had a call from one of the ladies in the church and she said the menu would be haystacks. I never did like them much even when I ate cooked. It’s a mound of stuff on a plate that would be more easily managed in a bowl. The first layer is corn chips which aren’t even close to being something a self-respecting person should subject the heart to. Next comes beans, usually from a can. On top of that layer is shredded lettuce and any of a number of condiments. They can include chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, salsa, shredded cheese, canned olives, and sour cream. If a person puts just a little of each thing, it can get to be a disaster on a plate if it isn’t carefully carried.

I knew there would be dairy-type sour cream so I decided I’d try my hand at making vegan sour cream for the folks who would, otherwise, have to go without. I made a reasonable facsimile and stored it in the fridge overnight. It occurred to me no one would know what it was if I didn’t label it. I cranked up the printer and printed off a little sign, “Vegan Sour Cream”. That might be a little ambitious and cause preconceived ideas so I did another. This time, it was Vegan Macadamia Nut Cream. Hmmmm. What if it got put too close to the desserts and someone mistook it for a whipped cream substitute? That wouldn’t be good. I finally settled on

Vegan Macadamia
Nut Cream
(Savory)

No promises. No mistakes. It was what it was.

Here are the ingredients:

I use Bragg Extra Virgin Olive Oil because it has a lighter taste than other oils. I like a full-flavored oil on my salad once in a blue moon for a treat but not as an ingredient.

Put two cups macadamias (raw unsalted and organic if you can get them) in the blender container:

Add the water:

I use a citrus juicer to juice the lemons. The lime juicer puts some of the citrus oil from the peel in the mix and it can be bitter. DO NOT! use that stuff that comes in a bottle. It’s awful and it can ruin what could be the best of mixtures otherwise.

I’m hooked on this juicer. It’s no longer available but you can find it on eBay now and then.

The strainer does a good job of keeping the seeds and pulp from the juice. I normally use the pulp but there were so many seeds I tossed everything.

I ended up with a little more than 1/3 cup lemon juice:

Add one teaspoon sea salt:

Put in two teaspoons onion powder:

The first time I made this, I just dumped in the EVOO but I measured it this time. I used one and a half tablespoons olive oil:

All the ingredients are in the container and ready to blend.

I don’t always put the lid and cap on the container but this mixture requires them:

Start out slowly:

If you need to, you can add more water. As the nuts start breaking up, crank it up to high and let ‘er rip!

At this point, if you want a raw cream, blend only until smooth. The VitaMix will cook quickly so be careful if you don’t want to go that far.

When the mixture thickens, take the cap off so you can see when it starts to steam:

When the steam starts coming up in volume, it’s done:

Taking the lid off shows how the mixture boiled and “plopped” up against the side of the container:

Here it is ready to cover and store in the fridge:

Okay, okay! I’ll admit it! That’s a little place where I stuck my fingertip and licked it to see if it passed muster. It did and I guess I wasn’t 100% raw today.

Posted in Raw Vegan Recipes (Illustrated)