Daring Cooks Nut Butter Challenge

Last month I joined the Daring Cooks and was absolutely thrilled to find my first challenge was nut butters. I've been cooking away all month and these are my adventures...

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

You can find a PDF of all the recipes here.

My experience with nut butters is completely limited to peanut butter which I find sickening or delicious depending on the day of the month and while my well documented obsession with Indian food has lead to me cooking with whole nuts my nut butter cooking is limited to house warming gifts and ex-boyfriends.

The first of the challenge recipes I tried was the Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms. Can you guess my alterations? Yes the chicken went. Out of all the challenge recipes this was the only one I was disappointed with. For me it was just too creamy, to bland and it just didn't much taste of anything. It wasn't bad, it just didn't sing. but it was a good introduction to cooking with nut butters.


So then we turn to safer ground, from my perspective at least. Chicken with Curried Tomato Almond Sauce. Again I changed the obvious, replacing chicken seasonal new potatoes and courgette, but I also veganised the dish and made some slight alterations to the spices.

My Ingredients List:

1 Tablespoon (15 ml) oil
About 8 new potatoes halved and half a courgette sliced.
Salt to taste

Spice Blend:
1.5 tablespoons (20 ml) garam masala seasoning
1 teaspoon (5 ml) ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon chili powder

Sauce:
4 oil
1 large onion, cut in half pole to pole
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-ounce/425 g) can tomato sauce
⅓ cup (80 ml) almond butter
¾ cup (120 to 180 ml) vegetable broth or water, more as needed

Hot basmati rice for serving
Chopped coriander garnish

It's cooked in the same way only with veg instead of meat. And please, give this one a try. It's perfect for those moments when you just want something light and full of sauce to swirl into your rice. And, of course, any seasonal vegetables can be used instead of the potatoes and courgettes. just cook them in whatever way you want and dunk them in the curry in the end.

The other star of the challenge recipes for me was the stunning sauce of the Noodle Salad With Cashew Dressing. As you can sea I messed around with the ingredients and in the weeks since I made it first I've used the leftover dressing on almost any veg you can think of. Having it in the fridge is prefect for picnics and quick suppers. Here the dressing is used over chard, peppers and mushrooms. Slightly charred around the edges, just how I like it.

Last of the challenge recipes was Walnut White Bean Dip with Rosemary and Sage. I had to add a little balsamic to sweeten it up and bind the flavours which added a cute pink hue. I took this to the parents evening at Guides and the girls ate it before their parents arrived. There is no winning with that lot.

Of course I wasn't about to let my experiments in nut butters keep me from my continuing adoration of Viva Vegan! So I thought I'd whip up a batch of the traditional peanut butter for Llapingachos. Mashed potato pancakes with peanut sauce. Simple words. Doesn't really sum up how light and refreshing, yet filling these little guys were. The peanut dressing added a touch of sweet and salty that added up to a perfect dish.

One month on and there is no way I'm going to stop cooking with nut butters. Most of these recipes demand to be eaten again and again. I might even end up liking them on their own, cashew butter was an unexpected treat, but I won't be packing the PBJ just yet.