Creamy Cashew Mushroom Sauce

This sauce is the most amazing sauce I have ever tasted! Honestly, it tastes brilliant – like it has a load of cream in it! However no cream is included in this, and instead uses cashew nuts and only a minor amount of mushrooms! Making this the perfect sauce for vegans.

Cashew nuts are from trees; the Anacardium occidentale. A large tree, that grows a long stalk like, ‘cashew apple’, in tropical climates, places like Brazil.

Cashews are rich in: heart healthy monounsaturated fats (oleic and palmitoleic acids). MUFAs which have been associated to lower the levels of LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, whilst increasing the amount of HDL-cholesterol in the blood. These are risk factors associated with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).

I always pair this sauce with noodles or pasta & add some lean meat (chicken, turkey) & veggies (onions, peppers, sweetcorn – I like colour and volume). You can add anything you want!

How to make THE Sauce:

INGREDIENTS: Servings: 2

64g cashew nuts (soaked in water – overnight works best!)

80g mushrooms

1 crushed garlic clove

Salt & Pepper (to your taste)

Frylight 1 Cal Spray (reduces kcals) or 1 teaspoon of olive oil

Instructions:

1. Spray frying pan with frylight or alternatively put in olive oil & heat. Add mushrooms and stir until browned.
2. Add soaked cashews, crushed garlic, salt & pepper, water, and mushrooms to food processor/blender and blend until smooth. (Water continue to add until get to desired consistency – I prefer extra thick, so use less water )
3. Pour the sauce into the frying pan, bring to boil & add your contents (Once you’ve decided what to add to this sauce; e.g. pasta/noodles/chicken. ) and stir to get mixed!

Macros for 1/2 of sauce made:

203kcals, 9g cho: 16g fat: 7g protein

ENJOY!!!!

References:

Kris-Etherton, P. (1999). Monounsaturated Fatty Acids and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation, 100(11), pp.1253-1258.

Stevens, K. (2019). Magic Mushroom Sauce. [online] The Endless Meal. Available at: https://www.theendlessmeal.com/magic-mushroom-sauce/ [Accessed 23 May 2019].