Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 603 kcal | 171 kcal |
| Protein | 15.4 g | 4.4 g |
| Fat | 51.6 g | 14.6 g |
| saturated | 8.6 g | 2.4 g |
| Carbohydrate | 23.7 g | 6.7 g |
| sugars | 5.9 g | 1.7 g |
| Fibre | 3.8 g | 1.1 g |
| Sodium | 37 mg | 10 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 4 1/4 cups cashews
- 180 g blanched spinach
- 3/8 cup olive oil
- 3/8 cup dehydrated onion flakes
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 3/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Squeeze the blanched spinach out in your fists until it stops dripping, then wring it again in a cloth. Three cups of it holds a surprising amount of water, and all of that has to come out here rather than in the machine.
- Grind the cashews alone until they are the texture of coarse sand, and stop before they turn to butter. Once the oil comes out you get a ball that spreads flat instead of holding its shape.
- Drop the garlic cloves in whole and let the processor deal with them. Hand-chopped garlic leaves pieces, and a piece of raw garlic in a bite-sized ball is all anyone will taste.
- Pulse the rest in short bursts. You want a paste that still shows flecks of green and onion rather than a uniform sludge — the flecks are what make these look like food.
- Roll them no bigger than a walnut and keep them all the same size. A ball dries from the outside in, so an extra centimetre of diameter costs hours rather than minutes.
- Set them on mesh with space to spare, then run the machine at 49 °C for 5 hours. A gentle setting suits cashew oil, which turns waxy when it is pushed hot.
- They are done when the outside has formed a shell that resists a thumbnail and the inside is still soft. Cut one in half if you are unsure — a dark wet core means more time.
- Eat them the day they are made, or refrigerate them in a closed container for three days. The centre is still moist, which is what makes them good and also what stops them being a pantry item.
