Vegan MoFo - H is for Hot Potato Salad

Hot potato salad has been on my list of things to veganise for a while as it is a family favourite that has been around at BBQs for years. The original recipe uses a lot of sour cream and cottage cheese as well as a dried packet of french onion soup. I had been thinking about how to make a good vegan version of this for some time and when I found some tofutti french onion flavoured cream cheese last week it seemed like the perfect thing to try.

The man and son were particularly interested when they saw what I was attempting to make as they are huge fans of this potato salad. Using cashews, nutritional yeast, tofutti, soy milk and seasonings it turned out tasting quite close to the original so I was pleased with the result for a first attempt. I'm certain that I will be requested to make this again as the boys loved it so much that they went back for seconds.  

I also made some Hot Wings from Vegan Dad's blog but found the texture to be mushier than how I'm used to eating seitan. The are two recipes for hot wings on his blog and I tried his one that contains mushrooms. Other people had commented about the texture of these wings so perhaps I'll try the recipe without the mushrooms another time.  

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Hot Potato Salad

1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
1 cup unsalted cashews, soaked for about 4 hours
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup french onion flavoured tofutti cream cheese
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1-2 teaspoons dried onion flakes (I used 2 which gave it a fairly strong taste)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
4 spring onions, chopped
cornflake crumbs or breadcrumbs for toppping

Preheat oven to 180C.

Place the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain the cashews in a colander and rinse well with fresh water. Place the cashews, water, soy milk, cream cheese, nutritional yeast, onion flakes, dried parsley and salt into a blender and process until smooth and creamy.

Drain the potatoes in a colander then spread evenly in a baking dish. Sprinkle the spring onions on the potatoes then pour the blender mixture over the top. Stir gently with a spoon until combined. Top with crumbs of choice and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.