Dedicated vegans take their faux creams very seriously, and cauliflower cream sauce is no exception.  When done correctly, you can easily transform a head of cauliflower into something on par with the most decadent of buttery cream sauces, sans the fat, calories, and dairy. All it takes is a little skill and know-how.

I’ve actually prepared many versions of vegan cauliflower cream sauce, yet never felt completely satisfied with the taste nor texture until now. My first triumph was finding the perfect substitute for veggie broth, which most vegan recipes use as the liquid. I’ve never liked of it in my cauliflower cream, because the broth tends to overpower the other ingredients, and you end up tasting vegetable broth instead of cream. Stumped as to what I could use as a substitute, I decided on the leftover water from the steam pot. It was genius! You would think that this would “water” down the cream, but it doesn’t at all. The water has just enough flavor that it allows the other ingredients to shine through.

Second triumph was combining Mirin Cooking Wine (a type of rice vinegar very similar to saki), roasted garlic, nutritional yeast, EVOO and brown rice flour. The cooking wine brings out the garlic, the nutritional yeast creates a buttery taste, and the brown rice flour thickens the cream just perfectly. I had to pat myself on the back for this one, as this was undoubtedly the most unique and delicious cauliflower cream sauce I had ever tasted. I cannot wait for you to try it!

Cauliflower Cream Sauce (Vegan)

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 organic cauliflower
  • 2 tbsp. Nutritional Yeast
  • 2-3 tsp. Mirin Cooking Wine
  • 2 cloves Garlic, roasted
  • 1-2 cups water, from steam pot
  • 1-2 tsp. finely chopped dill, chives or parsley
  • sea salt & black pepper
  • 1 tbsp. EVOO or Ghee for non-vegans

Instructions
 

  • Drizzle a little EVOO over garlic cloves and roast in the oven at 325 for 20 minutes. Let cool and peel off the skin.
  • Meanwhile, steam cauliflower until tender.
  • Add cauliflower, garlic, 1tbsp. EVOO, Mirin Cooking Wine, Nutritional Yeast and 1 cup of the water from steam pot to a Vita Mix or food processor, and puree until creamy.
  • You may add a little more water if necessary.Add dill, parsley or chive and blend for a few more seconds, until combined but not completely blended.
  • Add Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste, and adjust seasonings as you like.

Notes

You can skip roasting the garlic and season with garlic powder.
 Optional additions:
  • add sauteed shallots or onion
  • for a little heat, add cayenne or other hot spices
  • add curry or other Indian spices
  • your options are limitless!
 Serve:
  • add sauteed veggies for a soup
  • serve over veggies as a sauce
  • throw in sauteed mushrooms for a mushroom soup
  • add to spinach for “creamed spinach”

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