Secret of a vegan Kitchen. The humble Cashew

Back in the seventies, I  met a Fijian Guy, who was (and is) an interesting vegan cook.

He showed me how to make cashew cream.

Take about 1/4 cup of cashews. They must be fresh and raw and unsalted. Using cashew pieces is fine.  Put them into your trusty blender, and cover them with water. The more water, the thinner the cream. Turn on at slow speed, then fast speed, and Voila! you have made cashew cream.

That's fine, but how do you use it?  My cafe allowed me to come us with many uses.  The obvious one was on fruit salad.

Organic  fruit and veggies were just becoming available at that time, so I would cycle to Harmony Foods, in Bondi Junction, and buy whatever fruit and veggies I thought I could use in my cafe. 

There was a new variety of sweet potato, called Kumera.  I bought a few, and decided to bake them.  I used baking paper on a tray, because I figured they would leak. Well they cooked beautifully, and I pulled them out when they were soft, but not mushy.  I had already worked out how I would serve them.  I had bought ones which were longish, and not too fat. I made some thickish cashew cream, but I made it with a combination of sage and dill.  Not too much. but enough to give the cream a wonderful flavour.  I would put one potato on the plate, next to the main meal and the salad.  I would cut it into slices to open it up, and then pour some cashew cream along it.  It was sensational. The  kumera was bright orange, and very sweet. No-one had had it before and wondered what it was. They also wondered about the cream. They loved it.

I soon discovered another use for this magic cream. Read on