I love all types of chillies… I also love mac 'n' cheese.
So I put the two together. This vegan queso blanco is so addictive, you will need a spare bag of tortilla chips just for dipping into the sauce alone.
This dish has a little heat to it, if you don't like chillies too much you can always put a small amount in or just omit them completely. The cumin and coriander are still big flavours to give this dish what it needs.
I love chillies though so I'm putting them in - did I mention that already? Plus, because it's a little bit nippy, that definitely warrants a cold Mexican beer to sip whilst cooking. Just to take the edge off the heat, of course.
If you have a bunch of folk over for a night or doing a potluck this is a great dish to make… you don't even need cutlery if you're using tortilla chips.
Ingredients
8 tbsp olive oil
250g bag of macaroni
1 large white onion diced
5 garlic cloves diced
2 jalapeno chillies, deseeded and diced
2 dried habanero chillies rehydrate and slice
1 block of vegan cheese grated
½ carton of unsweetened soya milk
1 tub of vegan cream cheese
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp vegan bouillon mixed with a small amount of warm water
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 large handful of coriander chopped
2 tbsp of flour
Method
1 Cook the macaroni in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for about 10 minutes, drain well and set aside.
2 Heat the oil on a medium heat and add the onion, chillies and garlic. If they soaks up all the oil you can use a little more as you have to add the dried spice and cook it off a little bit.
3 Pour in a touch of milk, as you have to pop the flour in now and cook that off. Use a whisk and keep stirring as you don't want to be left with any lumps, adding a little more milk every time until you have used up all the milk.
4 Now you can add the bouillon.
5 Let this cook away for about 5 minutes on a medium heat until it has a rich, smooth consistency. Time to add the cream cheese, grated cheese and nutritional yeast and prepare yourself for a good ten minutes of stirring. It's really worth it to get that nice creamy and lump free sauce. If it seems too runny you can add more nutritional yeast or cheese.
6 Now might be a good time to open one of those beers, it can get hot at the stovetop.
7 The only thing really left to do is to add a little bit of salt and pepper to taste, add the chopped coriander and get a tortilla chip in there to see if its ready to throw the macaroni into.
8 It may need a bit more seasoning, or a bit more chopped coriander: it's up to you but when it's to your taste, get the macaroni in there and get it all covered in that delicious sauce. I serve this with some fried tortillas or a bit of salad, that's after I've had a good few spoonfuls out the pot.
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