• 1 cup cashews
• 2.5 cups water
• 9 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp tamari
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp arrowroot powder/tapioca starch

1. Soak cashews overnight or boil them until soft.
2. Strain and rinse cashews. Add cashews to a high-speed blender with water, nutritional yeast, tamari, onion powder and garlic powder. Blend until smooth.
3. Taste the mixture – add salt and pepper to taste along with any other ingredients. Add more nutritional yeast for cheesiness, and more garlic or onion powder for flavour. Onion gives a nice sweet flavour without getting too bitter (which can sometimes happen with too much garlic). Tamari gives a nice salty savoury flavour.
4. Once you get your desired flavour, then add the arrowroot/tapioca starch and blend once more. The reason you add it after is because the starch tastes chalky before it is heated and will make it hard to get the seasoning right.
5. Pour the sauce into a saucepan and heat over medium-high heat and stir constantly. Once the mixture starts to thicken and bubble, turn the temperature down to medium-low and cook for a few more minutes to fully activate the starch and thicken up. Taste the mixture – if it tastes starchy at all you haven’t cooked it long enough.
6. Depending on what kind of thickness you want you can easily add more water and stretch out the sauce a bit further (which I usually do).
7. Again, keep tasting the sauce and season it more if needed. Sometimes the starch absorbs some of the flavour and needs a bit more salt or pepper.
8. Enjoy right away and store the rest in a glass jar to reheat for another meal later.

That’s it! This sauce is a good base and is very versatile for a number of different dips and sauces. I’ve used this recipe to make Spinach & Artichoke Sauce/Pasta, Vegan Queso, Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, Creamy Jalapeño dip/pasta. So good!!