France is the land of cheese, and fondue is a common meal, especially in the colder regions of France like the Alps. When staying in Paris with a lovely couch surfing host, Karine, found a vegan cheese recipe for fondue and we wanted to try it out.
We prepared all of the vegetables in the afternoon, then went to a comedy show called ‘How to be Parisian in 1 hour’. I learned the noises Parisians make. Some of you may recognize the ‘pff’ at the beginning of this video.
We spent the rest of the evening chatting over the fondue. If you drop your vegetable in the fondue, the rest of the table can ask you any question they want. This opened up some very interesting conversations.
Cheese Fondue
This cheesy fondue sauce doesn't rely on nuts, as so many vegan cheese sauce recipes do. And it can very easily be made gluten-free by using gluten-free rolled oats (or replace the oats with rolled millet, quinoa or rice).
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
Fondue Sauce
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 3 Tbsp arrowroot powder, or whole grain flour
- 2 Tbsp onion powder
- 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
- 2 cups white wine
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp sea salt
- pinch black pepper
- pinch nutmeg, optional
- 1 oz kirsch liqueur, optional - traditional for French cheese fondue
- 1 clove fresh garlic, pressed
Vegetables
- 1 head broccoli
- 1 head cauliflower
- 2 cups mushrooms
- 2 sweet potato
- 1 squash
Instructions
- Cut your vegetables into florets and cubes. The squash and the sweet potato should be steamed or baked, and the mushroom should be raw. If you like, you can leave the broccoli and cauliflower raw, or steam half of them to have many different flavors.
- Put the nutritional yeast, rolled oats, tahini, arrowroot, onion powder, salt and milk in a blender or food processor and puree until it's totally smooth.
- In a fondue pot (or sauce or crock pot), rub the pressed garlic around the pot (ailler), pour in the wine and bring to a boil. Add the kirsch and 'flambe' - light on fire. To have more success than Kelric and I did, don't heat the kirsch - or at least don't boil it, which will burn off all the alcohol before you have a chance to do an impressive flambe.
- Add to the pot the mixture from the blender and stir well. Leave to simmer for 5-10 min, until it is very creamy and thick. It should be the consistency of melted cheese (like pudding). If it doesn't thicken after 10 minutes, you can add more arrowroot powder, but be sure to dissolve it in water before adding it to the fondue. Add the lemon juice, pepper and nutmeg at the very end and stir it in well before bringing the pot to the table. Traditionally, fondue is served with cubes of bread, but vegetables are much healthier and tastier.
Nutrition
Calories: 409kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 727mg | Potassium: 1063mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 17350IU | Vitamin C: 117.1mg | Calcium: 270mg | Iron: 3.6mg
