Sometimes it can be difficult to find alternatives to dairy cream in the supermarket, although they are becoming more readily available in recent years. It also depends on your region.
You can make your own cashew cream at home in a few minutes that is a tasty alternative to cream dairy cream. This can be to add a creamy flavour to curries and soups and pour over desserts.
How to Make a Smooth Cashew Cream
The secret to a cashew cream with a smooth texture is to soak the cashew nuts first. This softens them up to make it easier to break them down into a smoother creamier texture when blending.
If you have a powerful blender such as a Vitamix, this soaking step may not be required since the blade is so fast and powerful, but I recommend soaking if using a regular blender.
I recommend soaking the cashews in water for at least an hour, or longer if you have the time. To speed the process up, you can also use boiling water and soak the cashews for at least 20 minutes.
Once the cashews are finished soaking remove the soaking water and rinse the cashews in fresh water. Then add the cashews to the blender along with some cold water.
I find a good ratio for the cashew cream is one cup of cashews for three quarter cups of water. In metric terms this is 150g of cashews to 180ml of water. If you want a thicker cream try using less water (or more cashews) and use more water for a thinner cream.
Blend for at least 30 seconds on high speed. Check if the cream is smooth with no small bits of cashew and blend for another 30 seconds if needed.
Where to Use Cashew Cream?
The cashew cream is used as a plant based replacement for dairy cream so generally works in dishes where you add cream to create a more creamy flavour.
I like adding some to my Easy Red Lentil Dahl. It also works well in curries such as Awesome Indian Tempeh Curry, 10 Minute Chickpea Curry and Butter Bean Curry.
I also love adding some to soups such as Healthy Minestrone Soup, Spiced Carrot and Lentil Soup, Spiced Lentil Soup – Gordon Ramsay (ish) and Leek and Potato Soup.
You can also make a sour cream version of this cashew cream and I have a separate recipe for this, which is great in tacos or tortillas along with some delicious chilli.
What About Using Cashew Sour Cream for Desserts??
This cream is also perfect for desserts, poured over a lovely fruit salad or drizzled over cake, pie or apple crumble.
If you want to make this cream sweeter for use on desserts simply add a liquid sweetener such as maple syrup or agave to your desired sweetness.
Adaptions to this Recipe
As already mentioned you can make a sour cream version of cashew sour cream for use in place of regular sour cream. This is great on baked potatoes.
You can also add some oil to this cashew cream and blend it some more to make a richer version.
Cashew Cream
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Soak the cashew nuts submerged in hot water for at least 30 minutes or in cold water for at least an hour
- Drain and rinse the cashew nuts
- Place in a blender along with fresh water
- Blend for at least 30 seconds, then check the consistency. If there are still little bits of cashew remaining, blend for another 30 seconds
