By Carmel Karni — See the recipe
Almost-Yumm Sauce for an Old School Dinner Bowl
This recipe is an homage to the Oregon restaurant chain Cafe Yumm’s delicious sauce. We’re always looking to enliven our standard dinner of grains, beans and veggie bowls. The bowl format works great for a family because each person can customize their own bowl according to what they like. Condiments and different veggies will take the same format to different directions and cuisines. Think Mexican with cotija, avocados, black beans, roasted peppers and salsa, or Middle Eastern with roasted cauliflower, tahini, cucumber & tomato salad and harissa. You can use rice, quinoa, bulger or any other grain as base. This version is inspired by Cafe Yumm’s sauce and waxes nostalgic for the 90’s health restaurants of yore. Steamed kale, roasted sweet potatoes, tomatoes, black beans, a little kick from pickled onions, and of course- our star, the Almost-Yumm sauce.
You will need a high powered blender for this recipe. If you don’t have one you can replace the nuts with ground almond or other nut flour so that you get a smooth sauce. (Or just keep blending!)
Almost Yumm Sauce V/GF
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw cashews or almonds (or a nut meal)
- ¾ cup cooked chickpeas (canned work great)
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
- ⅓ cup neutral oil such as canola, grapeseed or avocado
- ¾ cup water
- Juice of ½ a lemon
- ½ tsp curry powder
- Pinch oregano
- Pinch hot pepper flakes (optional)
- Healthy pinch of salt
Instructions:
Blend everything together for a minute or so, until the sauce is smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more water. Taste and adjust seasoning. Keep in the fridge.
Extra recipe: Pickled red onions
Great to have in the fridge for dinner bowls but delicious on pretty much everything.
- A large red onion sliced thin
- ½ cup red wine or white wine vinegar
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon salt
- Optional- allspice, coriander, mustard seed or any other whole spice that sounds good.
Put the onion in a clean glass jar. Put the rest of the ingredients in a small pan and cook until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the onions and let stand on the counter until cooled. Store in the fridge.
