Cashew queso

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced (keeps seeds if you want more heat)
• 1 cup cashews
• 2 cups veg broth (I prefer Rapunzel)
• 2 tablespoons miso (I use whatever miso I have around)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground ancho pepper (or any mild ground red chili)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions

In a medium frying pan, fry the onion and jalapeno in the oil until the onion is translucent, perhaps 5 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for two more minutes. Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Notes:

• When I use the Rapunzel broth, I just throw in the cube along with the water in the blender (rather than heating up the water and mixing the broth separately).
• If I don’t have jalapenos around, I used dried chili peppers. No need to fry them, simply put them in the blender with the cashews and everything else. They work great. Since everything else is pretty shelf-stable, I’m ready to make this any time.
• Some people soak cashews, and I’ve heard that’s useful if you don’t have a super high powered blender.
• This recipe is modified from Isa Chandra Moskowitz.