Vegan Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
Pasta
- 350 g macaroni (or your fave pasta!)
- pinch sea salt
Sauce
- 65 g cashews (raw unsalted)
- 70 g carrot (about 1 medium carrot, diced)
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp potato starch (1 tbsp corn starch also works well as a replacement)
- 1 tbsp tapioca starch
- 300 ml water
- 300 ml plant milk
- 1 tsp white miso
- 1 tsp rice vinegar (white wine or cider vinegar works too)
- 1/2 tsp agave syrup
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil (cold pressed)
Preparation
Pasta
Fill a large saucepan with water. Add the salt and bring to a boil.
Add the pasta and cook until al-dente, stirring occasionally.
Once cooked, drain the pasta and drizzle with a little oil to stop it from sticking together. Set aside.
Sauce
Soak the cashews in just boiled water for a minimum of 2 hours. The longer you soak, the smoother the mac and cheese will be.
Fill a small saucepan with boiling water and place over medium heat. Add the carrots and boil for around 20 minutes or until soft and well cooked. Drain and discard the water. Place the carrots in the cup of a high speed blender.
To the cup, add the remaining sauce ingredients.
Drain the soaked cashews and give them a rinse under the tap. Add to the cup along with the other ingredients. Blend on high speed until very smooth.
Transfer the sauce to a medium saucepan and place over a medium/low heat. Stirring or whisking constantly, heat the sauce until it begins to bubble and becomes thick and glossy. If the sauce becomes lumpy, don't worry, just blitz it with a stick blender.
Stir the sauce through the cooked pasta and serve. I like to serve mine with a sprinkle of chipotle chilli powder or smoked paprika.
