„Fries before Guys“ or – an ode to self love

This is not a Valentines Day post.

The day that I publish a klichee valentines recipe has yet to be invented.
Hearts and pink sugar icing are just not my thing and will never be. This being my first Valentines Day not being single doesn’t change a thing. Who needs this day anyway?

Selfconscious singles cry themselves to sleep on this day, young couples have to show the world how much in love they are and unhappy couples have their last desperate try to safe what’s not to be saved. Above that all there’s the consumption madly laughing at you for all the money it’s making from selling us unnecessary stuff.
Thanks but no, I can live happily ever after without this day.

So what do you do, when the food blogger universe is creating Strawberry roses, heart sausages, heart cakes and pink sugar icing cupcakes and what ever the heck you can turn into cheesy heart shapes?

I celebrate self love.

Sure, this might sound a little egoistic and narcissistic. But how is one supposed to love and respect other people, if one can’t even get along with his/her most inner self?
Taking time for yourself and doing something good for you is the best thing you can do for yourself as well as your fellow human beings. So why is there a Valentines Day but no ‘Love yourself’ Day?

I personally love my self 24/7 (trying to anyway) and am fully aware that there are certain people who mistake my self love with arrogance. That’s actually a desired fact and filter as I don’t need to spend time with such people ^^

So let’s do something good for us and celebrate our awesomeness!
I personally find freshly roasted, crunchy oven fries with two creamy, vegan dips a great idea.
What would I be without tasty, savory, stuffing carbs? Well, at least 10 kg lighter, but that’s neither here nor there 😀

Carbs are love! Fries before guys! Carbs on carbs! Sometimes it just has to be carbs. Perferably homemade (I’m a food blogger, I have to say that ; )

These oven fries are extremely crunchy even without frying or adding any oil. Thanks to the extremely creamy and tasty vegan dips they still taste amazingly rich.
The dips are both based on cashew seeds and therefore become super tender and slightly sweet.
To the first dip I added lemon, wilde chives and nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast – the secret weapon of vegans for a cheesy, creamy texture – should not be missing.

The second dip got a slightly Asian touch. I added avocado, some wasabi and a roasted nori leave.

In order to make the fries as crunchy as possibly in the oven you should let them stand in cold water for at least an hour. Like this you get rid of excess starch. Apart from that you should season the fries just after baking. The baking temperature should be as high as possible. My oven can reach up to 225°C and they became perfectly crunchy.
Here’s the recipe

Crunchy oven fries with two vegan cashew dips

 

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PREP

1 hour 20 mins

COOK

40 mins

TOTAL

2 hours

 

Portionen / Serves: 2 servings

Zutaten / Ingredients

for the fries

• 3-4 russet potatoes
• some salt

optional

• 1-2 spring onions
• vegan cheese

for the cashew dip

• 150 g (~1 cup) cashew seeds
• ½ lemon
• 1-2 tsp nutritional yeast
• 120 ml (½ cup) water
• optional: wild chives

for the creamy avocado wasabi dip

• 1 avocado
• 50-100g cashew seeds
• ~1/2 lemon (start with less and add more to taste)
• ~ 2 tbsp wasabi (adjust to your own taste of spiciness)
• 1 nori leaf
• some salt
• some water if necessary

Zubereitung / Instructions

Fries

1. Cut the potatoes in thick slices. No need to peel the skin.
2. Rinse the potato slices and add them to a bowl with cold water. Let it sit for at least an hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
4. Spread the fries on a baking paper covered gridiron so that they don't touch each other.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes until crunchy and golden.
6. Season after baking with salt and optionally spices to taste.

Cashew Dip

1. Mix the cashew seeds with the water in a blender.
2. Add lemonjuice, salt and nutritional yeast part by part and to taste.
3. Add the dip to a glas jar. Mince the chives and stir it in the dip.
4. The dip should stay fresh in the fridge for a couple of days. Mine, however, never made it past the second day 😉

Avocado Dip

1. Halve the avocado, remove the stone and slice it lengthwise and crossways. With a spoon scoop out the flesh and mix it in your blender with the cashews and some water if necessary. Add wasabi, lemon juice, salt and a roughly chopped nori leave and purée it thoroughly.
2. The lemon juice prevents the dip from becoming brown. Optionally you can simply add the avocado stone to your jar.
3. The avocado dip should be used up within a couple of days, just like the cashew dip.

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