Cashew nut and basil pesto

 

 

I love pesto. All sorts of pesto. Green pesto red pesto or the Hakka pesto. Hakka pesto? Oh yea.. at times, I realized all nations are very similar in terms of their food and cooking skills. The Italian makes creamy pesto from nuts and herbs, so does the Chinese. My mom is a Hakka (河婆 to be more specific), and there's this traditional dish called lui cha (or translated as Thunder Tea rice) which I love love love!!, and it's also made from nuts (peanuts) and herbs (usually, Asian basil, mint and mugwort).

 

I used to lug back pesto sauces whenever I go travelling, the furthest was from Italy, and it's still residing in my fridge (I guess jarred sauces can last very long). But when I started making my own pesto sauces, I never gone back to eating jarred sauces, even if they are Italy! :p

 

I have waited for about 7 months before I can finally test nuts on the lil' fella (he's now 13mo). Nuts are so versatile, it would be gutted if he can't eat it. But hooray!! He's fine with it. And he loves this pesto sauce. This is usually steamed and served with mashed pumpkin and minced chicken with pasta. I also prepare this as his lunch at the nanny's.

 

Recipe:

1cup of organic cashew nuts, lightly toasted in an oven

about 1.5cup of virgin olive oil

2cup of basil leaves (I used Thai basil leaves, cos they are abundant in my garden)

dash of salt and pepper

 

1. Toast cashew nuts until it turns golden brown. (Do not burn them!)

2. In a blender, blitz cashew nuts with basil leaves, olive oil and season with salt and pepper. (You may blitz it till it turns really creamy or leave it with a little gritty texture).

3. Store in a glass jar and finish within 10 days (store in refrigerator).

 

 

Cashew nut butter (my healthy nutella)

I've been making crepes for breakfast these days. And because I don't add sugar into my crepes, I gotta have something sweet to go with it. I don't mind something savory with it. But my hubby does. So I am making something sweet for my hubby to have his crepes. I was contemplating a cashew nut or a walnut spread, then I made one combining both.

 

 

This is the best shot I got for my 'nutella' made from roasted cashew nut and walnuts. It's thick and chunky, just the way I like it. It's very moreish due to the creaminess from the nuts.

 

Here's how I did it, you'll need:

 

• 1 cup of cashew nuts and walnuts (more cashew than walnuts), soaked in water for at least 2 hrs
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• Honey or sugar (to taste)  
• 2tbsp oil/ butter (I used grapeseed oil) 

1. Soak nuts in water for at least 2 hours.
2. Pan fry without oil or dry roast in oven for about 15-25min until nuts turn golden brown (please don't burn them, they will taste bitter).
3. Blitz in a blender with oil. Add more oil if you want to make it creamy.


After making the nut butter, I had some leftover in the blender which is hard to be scrapped clean. So I added in milk and water to it and made it nut milk, which I kept to make crepes.