Bold in colour and flavour, this creamy pate is a delicious addition to a nibbles platter or cheeseboard.
I love beetroot at the best of times, but I'm feeling particularly inspired by its possibilities at the moment. Yes, there will be more beetroot recipes coming your way soon.
This recipe was a bit of an experiment. Using soaked cashews in the same way you would for raw desserts and vegan cheesecakes, I blended them with roasted beetroot and a few other bits and pieces then chilled the mixture to set.
It worked very well. The texture is smooth and creamy, thick enough to slice and spread, and it is of course delicious. And that colour, just wow.
The only problem is that I just don't know what to call this! Dip or spread seems a bit casual for something so great. Mousse is a contender but I don't think this is quite light enough. So pate is where I've come to. Purists be damned.
This pate is delicious as part of a platter, alongside or as an alternative to cheese. It also works really well as a more substantial part of a vegetarian meal. I enjoyed this alongside salad, falafel and pita crisps. It was like a big pink rainbow on my plate. So pretty.
I only used two tablespoons of coconut oil in this recipe, just enough to set the pate. Because cashews and coconut oil are great and all, but the overall fat content is getting pretty up there. You could easily double the quantity of coconut oil for more of a firm cheesecake texture. I think it would be pretty great that way too.
I used a small springform cake tin lined with cling film so that I could easily remove the pate and turn it on to a platter. You could also use a small loaf tin, put it straight into the bowl you plan to serve it in, or even pipe the mixture into something a bit more artful.
Hands on time for this recipe is minimal, but you'll need to think ahead to soak your nuts, and allow a few hours to cook and cool your beetroot. Cooking the beetroot is easy though, I didn't even peel or trim mine - I just threw it in the oven as it was, then peeled the skin off with my hands and trimmed it once cool.
You'll need a high speed blender or food processor for this recipe.
Get the recipe

INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup cashews soaked (preferably overnight)
- 1 medium sized beetroot
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil melted if solid
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 180C fanbake.
- Roast the beetroot, whole, for 90 minutes or until easily pierced right through with a bread and butter knife.
- Cool beetroot until you can handle it, then pull the skin off and trim the leaves from the top. This is really easy to do once the beetroot is cooked.
- Drain the cashews and put everything except the coconut oil in your blender.
- Blend until really smooth. Stop and scrape the sides down from time to time to ensure there are no chunks.
- Once smooth, add the coconut oil and briefly blend to combine.
- Pour into a lined dish (if you want to be able to turn it out onto a platter) or into any other bowl or serving dish. Refrigerate overnight or for at least six hours to set.
- Makes approximately 1.5 cups of pate. This will serve 8 as part of a platter, or 4 as a more substantial part of a meal.
suparna
Could I use half cashews and half sunflower seeds to up the nutritional value?
Amber
Soaked cashews blend very smoothly - almost to the texture of cream cheese. I don't think sunflower seeds would blend so smoothly, so you might lose out a bit on texture but I think the taste would be great. Let me know if you try it!
narf77
This would look seriously amazing with a selection of tapenade and pesto at a picnic. A lovely selection of homemade crackers and bread to accompany them and I think I have this summer lunches covered 🙂