What to do with Cashew Nuts: 4 quick and easy recipes

One thing I’m trying to work on lately diet wise is my intake of nuts. To be honest, I was never a big fan of them but since trying to educate myself more about nutrition, I’ve realized how good they are for us. In short cashew nuts are great for…

Obviously, if you have crohn’s, UC or any kind of digestive problems then you have to be careful of exactly how much fibre you consume. However, blending these nuts (like in all the recipes below) can really help break down the fibre and give your digestive system a little bit of a helping hand!

After ordering a big batch of them on Chinese ebay (Actually a giant batch, that’ll teach me to stop clicking before trying to translate the page!) I decided to work on some new recipes.  While I’ve included lots of optional extras, these recipes are designed to be really easy and use only a few basic ingredients. As nuts are so full of flavor, they really don’t need a lot of fancy hard to source ingredients to make something great!

In turn, I know there are some amazing blenders out there. I use a Nutribullet, but I also did these on my very basic no brand Chinese supermarket blender! You might just need a bit more patience to get the nuts fully grinded!

Easy Cashew Nut Recipe 1: Vegan Sour ‘Cream’

Cashew nuts are a great thing to use to create any kind of vegan ‘dairy’ alternatives as they have a less sweet taste than some nuts like peanuts or almonds. To make a sour cream type dressing use…

–1/2  packet of silken tofu

– ½ cup of raw, soaked cashew nuts (To soak you just cover with water in a bowl and then place a towel over them for a few hours. This softens them up and makes it a lot easier to blitz)

-1 tbsp of lemon juice (or just a few squeezes)

-2 tbsp of Apple cider vinegar/Apple vinegar/ White rice wine vinegar (All provide a kind of ‘sour’ taste so just use what you have. If you like dressings more sweet only use 1 tbsp.)

Depending on the strength of your blender/consistency of your tofu you might also need to add a little water. My nutribullet does fine without.

Blend, blend and blend until you reach a smooth mixture (without any chunky bits). Then serve! This lasts up to a week in the fridge and is great served with tortilla chips, raw veggies or a baked potato fresh out of the oven!

Easy Cashew Nut Recipe 2: Nut butter.

¼ cup of raw, soaked cashew nuts (see above for how to soak)

½ cup of raw, blanched almonds.

2 tsp of honey or natural sweetener

Optional extra: 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Optional extra: 2 tsp of an oil of your choice (Coconut Oil, Olive Oil)

Be prepared to blend, blend and blend to get the consistency of nut butter! You will reach a point where it is just a floury mixture and you need to keep blending past that until you get something that sticks together. I personally use the teeniest bit  oil (and I know it’s trendy to use Coconut oil right now but Olive Oil does me fine) Oil will just help it stick together a little better.

Easy Cashew Nut Recipe 3: Cashew Nut Cream Cheese

This is very similar to the first recipe, except it’s a thicker consistency- the kind you can spread on a bagel.

½ cup of cashew nuts (soaked as before)

1 tbsp of lemon juice.

1 tpsb of Apple cider vinegar.

– 1 tbsp of Nutritional Yeast (Optional: It tastes great either way but with gives you an extra boost of Vit B)

Follow the same instructions as recipe 1.

Easy Cashew Nut Recipe 4: Cashew Nut Milk.

Take 1 tbsp of nut butter from recipe 2 (or store bought if you are lazy)

Add a cup of water.

Blend (this should only take 30 seconds)

Voila! Home made cashew nut milk!  I tried this with almond butter and it tasted pretty good. You can also make it a little sweeter by adding any of the following.

–2-3 tbsp of unsweetened coco powder (chocolate milk!)

– 1 tbsp of honey or a natural sweetner.

-1 banana chopped to make a smoothie like consistency.

-1 banana chopped and frozen overnight to make a frozen slushy.

I hope these recipes have given you some inspiration in incorporating nuts into your diet! Do you eat cashew nuts? Any great recipes to share? If so, please let me know below!