Cashew Cream, Four Ways

I  made cashew cream for the first time a few weeks ago, and honestly, I don’t know why I waited so long to try making it myself. I couldn’t believe how good it was! 

I used it to top soft tacos with dehydrated portobello mushrooms, garlicky kale, and avocado (inspired by a recent meal at Gracias Madre in San Francisco). When I make them next (and take a picture), I promise I will share the recipe; they were soooo good! But in the meantime, here are some soyrizo tacos with basic cashew cream:

Here’s the basic cashew cream recipe:

A couple of days later, I was craving a wrap my partner and I used to get at a little café in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn called Bush Baby. The wrap was called “The Milton” and is named after the café’s owner.  From what I remember, the Milton had two vegan “fish” cakes wrapped around vegan tuna salad and tartar sauce.  I had recently picked up some gluten-free, vegan tuna made with soy by May Wah Vegetarian Market and thought I’d make a simpler wrap with spinach, the vegan tuna, and tartar sauce.  The wrap was good, but it was the tartar sauce that really made it! I used the cashew sour cream as the base for the sauce, then added some dill, pickles, onion and relish. It turned out to be delicious! So much so, that I had to stop myself eating it by the spoonful! 

The tartar sauce would make a delicious chickpea “tuna” salad. Hmm… now I’m going to have to try it!

Then, a few days ago I needed a sweet cream for this decadent and delicious crepe cake:

The recipe called for coconut whipped cream, but I didn’t refrigerate a can of coconut milk in advance and I didn’t really want to wait. So I converted the basic cashew cream recipe into a sweet cream to layer in between and on top of the crepes! It was so very yummy. It is a slightly tangy but sinfully sweet cream perfect for crepes or anything else!

Finally, yesterday when I was making Grandma’s potato salad, I realized I needed a cream that was a bit sourer than the basic cashew cream to get this recipe just right.  So again, I experimented a little and converted the basic recipe it into a sour cream. 

It tasted just like store-bought vegan sour creams and is definitely something I will be using again and again.

So there you have it, cashew cream in four delightful variations! Amazing what a few nuts, a bit of water, and some seasonings can do!