Most of us feel that what we put into our mouths is our business, and our business only. We don't like to be told how or what to eat. But if we take a moment to think about it, what we eat affects just about everything and everyone around us. The environment. The cost of national health care. The well-being of animals.The health of our children. The juicy cheeseburger seemed like a great option because it was only 99 cents. Sure, 99 cents for you, but thousands of dollars for others. How can this be? The 150 gallons of water, 55 square feet of rainforest destroyed, the cost to national health footed by taxpayers -- that's the real price. A vegan diet is by far the most environmentally sound, healthful, compassionate way to eat. Not to preach. Just food for thought. And now onto the food for our stomachs.
The Recipe: "It's Nacho Business" is also the name of an episode of Miyoko's Kitchen - my cooking show - which recently won a 2011 WAVE Award for excellence in local cable programming. If you haven't seen it, you can watch it in two parts on YouTube (here's the link to Part One - you can find Part Two easily). In it, I make a low-fat Mexican feast, replete with the carbs and what seems like cheese - but it's not. The chips are smothered in a low-fat "cheese" sauce based on butternut squash and non-dairy yogurt. Spiked with a bit of chipotle, it has a hint of smokey heat. Of course, if you like more heat, you can always add more chipotle. It's a hit in my cooking classes and demos, including World VegFest in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, and 125 enthusiastic 125 Whole Foods employees last week in the McDougall Program. It's one of those vegan comfort food substitutes that truly satisfies. This recipe, along with many other cheese recipes, will be in my upcoming book, "Say Cheese: Vegan Alternatives to Make You Smile" (Book Publishing Co., 2012).
Smokey Chipotle No-Queso (Nacho Cheese)
1 cup butternut squash, cooked and mashed
3/4 cup soy yogurt
3/4 cup water
1/2 onion
1/2 onion
4 – 5 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup raw cashews
3 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, finely chopped
Place the butternut squash, yogurt, onion, water nutritional yeast flakes, cashews, tapioca flour, half of the chipotle and salt in a blender and process until absolutely smooth and creamy. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick and gooey. Stir in the remaining chipotle in adobo sauce to taste, according to how hot you like it. Serve over tortilla chips - baked ones, if you're keeping your fat intake low.
I am a nacho cheese lover, and giving up cheese was one of the hardest things for me about becoming vegan. I generally don't like vegan food that's supposed to substiture for "the real thing." But, a friend fed me this recipe and I have to say I absolutely love it!
ReplyDeleteRobin, glad you liked it. Please give it a try yourself. It's really easy to make!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this cheese sauce, Miyoko. Thank you! I've been making my vegan cheese sauces with a roux so this is much lower in fat and the texture and color are just perfect. I have a question for you. If you want to use it as a general cheese sauce and not nacho, is there a way to introduce some tang or salt or something (not sure of my vocabulary) to offset the sweetness of the squash? Thank you for your help. Sue
ReplyDeleteSue, I just read the recipe above and realized that it's missing an ingredient! Half an onion. That cuts the sweetness of the squash. Not sure how I left it out when I wrote this blog...
ReplyDeleteI'm going to update it now.
Bless you, Miyoko. I'll try it today : ). Happy Holidays! I LOVE your show. I'm going to post about it on my FaceBook page.
ReplyDeleteOooh, I put it on the 21 day kickstart page, too!
ReplyDeleteI saw your "It's Nacho Business" videos and I decided to make the whole meal. http://gwencooks.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/its-nacho-business/ ... wow... everything was so delicious. I was most surprised with the papaya salad. The dressing is so simple and delicious (I subbed maple syrup for agave and it was delicious) and I normally can't stand the bite of raw red onions, but marinating them takes that away! I love that. This queso was so satisfying and we all loved the smoky heat from the chipotles... even my friend who doesn't like spicy foods said it was the right kind of heat. And that enchilada/ranchero sauce was amazing as well... we all loved everything, thank you!
ReplyDeleteGwen, Miyoko here, checking into my blog (something I don't do too often! I'm terrible at actually blogging...) Thanks so much for trying out the recipes. A lot of people tell me how much they enjoy my videos, but to actually make the entire meal is real applause to my ears. I'm glad the meal turned out well, and I thank you for sharing it with others. By the way, in writing the VegNews article and having people test it, we discovered that some people were using an inferior, not pure agar. In other words, some people were purchasing agar powder at Asian grocery stores, and in reading the fine print, the ingredients listed sugar or other stabilizers. This resulted in softer than desired mozzarella. I don't know if that is what you're using, but if not, and it is still too soft, then perhaps a bit more agar is the way to go. Thanks again for sharing.
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