I get a lot of my cooking inspiration from restaurant menus, normally not vegan or even vegetarian restaurants. I love being able to take a dish containing animal products and make it vegan-it’s sort of my gentler way of putting two fingers up and saying “ha, I don’t need your animal products- I made your dish better- for us, the planet and the animals!”
This “Beetroot & Sweet Potato Salad with Baked Cashew Cheese” is my take on the beetroot & goat’s cheese salad I’ve been seeing on menus all over the place.
Eliminating cheese is a doddle when you’ve got cashews, the magical nut! I usually use cashews for creamy sauces and spreads, but to replicate goat’s cheese’s crumbly texture I baked my blended mixture to dry it out, taking this recipe as my starting point.
I used the same recipe back in the summer for my Herby Courgette Galette recipe (Please excuse the terrible pictures, photography’s been a steep learning curve!) and learnt then that straining the cheese didn’t achieve much so I skipped that step this time.
Here’s what my little ramekin of cheese looked like out of the oven.

- 1/3 C (Heaped) Cashews, soaked, drained and rinsed
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 Tbsp Neutral Oil (I used Organic Sunflower)
- 1 Tbsp Water
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F
- Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor or high-power blender for 5 minutes (This helps the cheese firm up so even if it’s smooth blend for the full amount of time).
- Pour into a lined/oiled ramekin. Bake for approx 25 minutes, until firm on top and beginning to turn golden.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely in the fridge.
- *This makes twice the amount you need for the salad but it’s nice to use in other dishes too)
To turn this into a meal-worthy salad I bulked it up with roasted sweet potato chunks, some spicy rocket leaves and a scattering of toasted pine nuts. Simply delicious.
Ingredients
- 3 Medium-size Beetroot
- 2 Medium-size Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 2” chunks
- 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- Sprig of Thyme
- 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 3/4 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 1-1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Parsley, coarsely chopped
- Handful of Rocket leaves
- Salt & Pepper
- 2 Tbsp Pine Nuts OR walnuts, toasted
- 50g/2oz/1/2 Recipe Cashew Cheese (See Above), crumbled
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F
- I like to roast beetroot using the tin-foil method. Alternatively, if you want to avoid getting messy, you can also use the pre-cooked kind (usually found in vacuum packs).
- Drizzle sweet potato chunks with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and spread in a roasting pan with the thyme. Roast for approx 25 minutes, until soft and golden.
- Meanwhile, whisk mustard, vinegar and olive oil together for the dressing.
- Peel and chop cooked, peeled beetroot into chunks the same size as the sweet potato.
- In a large bowl, toss the beetroot and sweet potato with the dressing. Add the parsley and rocket, salt and pepper to taste and toss again. (You can either wait until the roasted vegetables are cool to do this or eat the salad warm, in which case the rocket will wilt).
- Remove to a serving dish and top with the toasted pine nuts and crumbled cashew cheese.
I’m submitting this recipe to the weekly link-ups: Wellness Weekends and Healthy Vegan Fridays
Have you successfully veganized any dishes you’ve seen on restaurant menus? Or have you got any you’d like to challenge me to veganize?!
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Loving the baked cashew cheese idea! I’ve never tried that. Such a beautiful salad and the photos are amazing!
Thank you for all your kind comments Vicky! I highly recommend you try the baked cashew cheese. I loved it in this salad but it’s delicious on so many things.
I have to try your baked cashew cheese. It looks delicious! The whole salad does, really. I find with beets, you find people who either love ’em or hate ’em, and thankfully my family, including my preschooler, love them!
You’re right about the beets. I’m sure when I was younger I wouldn’t have touched them. Your little one sounds like a great eater
My little one is open to many different types of food, the only problem is, he doesn’t eat. Seriously, he’d rather be doing other things, so that’s our struggle with him. He’s quite small for his age but when he does eat, it’s usually quite healthy and diverse!
I get alot of inspiration from UN-vegan places too! This cashew cheese looks awesome too!
Thanks Lisa. It’s extra satisfying to be able to veganize a meat or dairy laden dish I find
Your version definitely holds more appeal for me than the restaurant equivalents 😀
Thanks Kari! I hope you try it out.
What a great idea. Your baked cashew cheese looks like it’s got a gorgeous consistency, yum! I love baked vege salads. Definitely putting this combo on the list for the warm weather we’re getting at the moment. Thanks lovely! x
Thanks Laura. Baking the cashew cheese really works wonders for the consistency.
I’m all about the roasted veggies at the moment
Love the ‘cheese’ …so simple, I have never thought of baking it!
Do give it a go. I love cashew cream sauces but the texture of this baked version is really wonderful .
how delicious - if only this was a regular menu item at the restaurants I go to I would be very happy (actually that is why I eat at home a lot rather than eating out too often). I made this cheese a few years back and really enjoyed it but I think mine didn’t benefit much from draining either.
I agree! So often eating out the thought that I could make something tastier at home crosses my mind. Eating at restaurants has become more about the social side than the actual food.
Glad you enjoyed the cheese too.
what a lovely winter salad! But I have this strange thing with beetroot. I adore them raw, but find them too earthy when cooked or roasted, and cannot stand the pre-cooked kind. But I find that I usually find veggies in their raw state more appealing then once cooked. Pumpkins and sweet potatoes of course being huge exceptions to that rule
I have loved your blog, recipes and pictures from day one, but compairing it like that I must say your photographs have really evolved. Do you have any tips for fellow bloggers who like to strenghten their picture-taking-capacities? Do you use a light box?
and as far as recipes go,I would love to see your take on a chicken ceasar salad. I hope one day to find the secret behind that amazing version I had in Candle 79, so I’m looking forward to trying out different recipes for the dressing (some cashew based, others tofu based)…
Beetroot is definitely a love or hate vegetable! Especially when cooked when the flavour becomes more pronounced.
Thank you so much for your kind compliments on my photography. I really think it’s just down to practice and good lighting. I don’t use any fancy equipment (except a decent camera). You’d laugh I’m sure if you saw my set up…Pieces of card propped up with dictionaries in front of a big window! I learn a lot from looking at other photos I like too.
Thanks for the proposition on the chicken Caesar salad. I’ll see what I can do! Is the Candle 79 recipe not in the book you bought?
sadly not, but enough other good stuff to keep me going
Oh my gosh, this looks so good! That vegan cheese is killing me…in a good way!
Thanks Ketty! It was pretty amazing 😉
That cashew cheese looks insane, I’ve never made a nut cheese before, but I might have to give it a go now!
I love doing the same thing with restaurant dishes! Taking the flavor profile and veg-izing it.
This salad packs so much fun into every bite!
I like veganizing recipes as well! I’ve never tried to make my own nut cheese, but yours looks pretty easy to make. I am all about beets and sweet potatoes, especially roasted, yum!
You’ve got to try a nut cheese! So simple but adds so much to any meal.
I will definitely give it a try, looks great!
i love veganizing restaurant favorites as well. the cashew cheese with the pretty colors of beets and sweet potato look fabulous
Thanks so much Richa
Restaurant menus are a great source of inspiration.
Those colours are so beautiful together, it’s like a painting. A painting I would need to eat a lot of with some crusty bread. You know, that kind of painting…
Haha! I certainly know that kind of painting 😉
I like my meals to be pretty!
That looks so beautiful! One thing I always wanted to try and make as a vegan was cashew cheese, yours looks incredible!
It’s so easy and delicious!
Baked cashew cheese looks amazing! Will have to try that one
It makes such a difference. I love cashew cheese as a creamy sauce but baking it gives it a really great texture for crumbling on salads etc.
Wow Emma, your baked cashew cheese looks amazing in the salad! I love making herby cashew cream cheeses but I’ve never tried a baked cheese yet. I was wondering whether it would have enough flavour to warrant the effort of making it… the cheeses that usually appear in salads - like feta and goats - tend to have very strong flavours. Do you think the baked cashew cheese adds another dimension of flavour to a salad, or is it more of a texture thing?
I definitely think it’s worth it! It’s got that nice salty tang to it which is a lovely contrast to the earthy/sweet flavours of the roasted veg (at least in my opinion!) I want to try making a nut cheese cultured with rejuvelac too as apparently that really makes it even more cheese-like in flavour and texture.
This looks so good! It’s all vibrant and tasty looking and stuff. Cashew cheese and sweet potatoes are some of my favorite foods, so I’m all over this!
So good! I love colourful food
Making this as we… speak!! hhahah
Yay! Hope you love it
Please report back!
Catching up with your posts! Me too, it’s really fun to veganise dishes, proving that they taste better! I also love making cashew cheese, too, with the wheat berry rejuvelac (boy they stink but they are pretty tasty to make cheese!) Just beautiful salad - sweet potatoes & beetroot, delicious! Before I was a vegan, I remembered going to a lot of Chinese restaurants with my family - and there were loads of dishes that I would love to veganise, but I hope to find the time to do it! Well done Emma for veganizing this wonderful dish!
I still haven’t tried making cheese with rejuvelac but have seen some tutorials online and really want to give it a go. Especially as you say it makes a good cheese!
Look forward to seeing all your veganized Asian dishes
wow, very healthy dish, sound so delicious … Yum!