Yield: 11 cups
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups/large onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups chopped white or cremini mushrooms (340 g/12 oz)
- 2 tsp mushroom powder, optional instructions to make your own
- 2 ribs diced celery (about 1 cup)
- 1 diced carrot (about 1 cup)
- ½ red bell pepper (about ½ cup)
- 1 layer peeled off fennel bulb and diced, optional (about ¼ cup optional)
- 4 cups peeled and diced potatoes (900g/2 lb)
- Large piece of cauliflower* (about 230 gr/8 oz)
- 6 cups water, divided
- ¾ cup (114 g/4 oz) raw cashews (soaked*)
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot sauté onion until transparent and lightly caramelized. View instructions to sauté without oil.
- Add garlic, mushrooms, mushroom powder, celery, carrots, red peppers, fennel, potatoes and cauliflower. Add 3 cups water. (Add the cauliflower last and lay it on top of all the vegetables. We do this because the cauliflower will be removed and blended with the cashews). Cover with lid and when mixture comes to boil, turn down heat and simmer until vegetables are tender. About 20-25 minutes. (Pressure cooker/Instant Pot 3 minutes with quick release).
- To make the cashew cream. Discard the soaking water from the cashews and add them to the blender. When the vegetables are tender, carefully remove the cauliflower and add it to the blender. Then add the remaining three cups of water, nutritional yeast, and onion powder. Blend this mixture until creamy.
- Add cashew cream, parsley and salt to the chowder. Stir to combine, bring chowder to boil and serve hot.
- Chowder will thicken after it cools. If desired add a bit of water to achieve desired consistency.
Note
- Cashews should be soaked for a couple of hours or as long as overnight. Discard soaking water. For quick soak, soak cashews in boiling water while making the soup.