Step 1: Preparing Your Mise en Place
- 1 lrg onion, diced (approx. 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 head cauliflower, thinly sliced (approx. 4 cups)*
- 1/3 cup raw cashews
- 1/4 tsp turmeric, or taste/color
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 cups vegetable stock
Note: For the cauliflower, remove the outer leaves, then separate the cauliflower into really large florets/pieces.
Next, slice the cauliflower into 1/2" thick pieces — slicing the cauliflower-like this is done so that the cauliflower takes up less space in the pot. This means that less stock will be needed, in turn, will create a thicker, richer sauce.
Step 2: Cooking the Sauce/Soup
- sea salt, to taste
- freshly ground WHITE pepper, to taste
To make the sauce, heat a medium-large pot over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the onion and sweat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cooked through and translucent — adding a bit of water (or stock) as needed, to ensure the onions do not take on any color and/or burn.
In the meantime, in a high-speed blender, add the stock, cashews, turmeric and nutritional yeast and blend until smooth. Depending on how yellow you want the sauce to be, add a bit more turmeric, if desired.
Once the onions are soft, add the cauliflower to the pot, followed by the liquid mixture. The cauliflower should just barely be covered by the liquid. If needed, add a touch more liquid, to just cover.
Bring the soup to a simmer, then reduce the heat and cover the pot. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cauliflower has just cooked through.
Once done, carefully transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. You may need to do this in batches.
Lastly, taste for seasoning, adding salt and white pepper as desired. We use white pepper as we do not want the black flecks of the black pepper to show in the soup. Also, the white pepper really adds to the overall flavor of this sauce.
To turn this sauce into a soup, simply add more liquid sauce until you reach the desired soup-like consistency.
Note: Add a bit more nutritional yeast and a bit of paprika (mostly for color) and this makes for a delicious ‘cheese’ sauce. This sauce also goes particularly well with this Energy Bowl.
Chef's Notes
Optional flavorings: While this soup is delicious as is, and given its somewhat neutral flavoring, it lends itself well to a variety of dishes and/or flavoring — with that said, this soup goes particularly well with spices such as cumin and curry powder. So the next time you make this recipe, try adding a 1/4 to a 1/2 tsp of cumin powder and a couple of teaspoons of curry powder and see how you like it.