The ingredient of the month for april is Cashews!! This recipe is specially for Troy (my yoga teaching, surfer extraordinaire friend from Trinidad) who couldn’t eat enough of the stuff when I did a raw dinner while visiting Trinidad. For that dinner I used the hummus as a filling with sprouts, shredded cabbage and carrots and a miso dressing all wrapped up in huge leaves of pak choy that I tied together with fresh chives. This recipe is super simple and delightfully fun to modify. Some suggestions are variations with the oil topping… traditional chickpea hummus is topped with olive oil and paprika, which are both delicious but you might try some other fun variations like walnut oil and ground coriander, truffle oil and sel de mer with garlic scapes is one I really want to try! Other things to try include adding fresh herbs or veggies into the ingredients. Think roasted red pepper, eggplant, spinach… The possibilities are endless. And for those of you who aren’t huge fans of cashews, this recipe will work with any nut (almonds and walnuts are both delicious). Bon ap.

Raw Cashew Hummus

2 cups soaked organic cashews (soaked overnight in filtered water, drained and rinsed)

2-3 tablespoons Organic Tahini

3-4 cloves of minced garlic

Juice of one lemon

Sea salt

Smoked paprika

Good quality oil

Combine soaked cashews, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and a pinch of sea salt in the food processor and process until desired consistency (some folks like their hummus more chunky or some like it silky smooth). If the hummus is too dry and you can’t get the consistency you want, you can do one or all of the following:

add water in small amounts (by the tablespoon)

add more lemon juice (to taste)

add some oil (you don’t want to add too much during the processing because you will also finish with it and combined with the cashews the dish becomes very rich)

Salt to taste and add more tahini, lemon juice and/or garlic to taste.

Serve with a sprinkling of paprika and a drizzle of oil and top with any finely minced fresh herbs you might have around.

Best served with fresh cut crudites of celery and cucumber to lighten up the dish and compliment the oils.

The cashew (Anacardium Occidentale) is a tree in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The plant is native to northeastern Brazil. The cashew is a relative to poison ivy, poison oak and mangoes. The hard seed surrounding the “nut” contains an irritant latex. The large red, fleshy organs called Cashew “Apples” attract animal dispersers and are sometimes used by humans either eaten raw or crushed or fermented into wine. Cashew Juice is strangely addictive and delicious and can calm an upset stomach. The oil of the cashew nut can be used topically as an anti-fungal and for treating cracked heels. The seeds can be ground up into powders and used as an antivenom for snake bites! The top three producers and exporters of Cashew are Nigeria, Vietnam and India. For more information about Cashews read the Wikipedia article here.

Check in with Feed The Yogi for this month’s Cashew Recipes! We’ll be making raw cashew hummus and a cashew cream dessert custard. Yum Yum!