Vegan chilli cheese dogs

Cheese is a magnificent thing. It’s delicious. And putting it on pretty much anything is guaranteed to make it better, including hot dogs, or in this case veggie dogs, served with vegan cheese.

Credit: Mary Makes It Easy

• serves

  6

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

Beans

• 3 tsp (15 ml) olive oil
• ½ onion, finely diced
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 (540 ml) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 tsp tomato paste
• 1½ tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp cayenne
• ¼ cup (60 ml) water

Cheese sauce

• 1 small yellow or white flesh potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• kosher salt
• ⅓ cup raw cashews
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp (45 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 4 sliced pickled jalapeños
• 3 tsp (15 ml) apple cider vinegar or jalapeño pickling liquid
• 1½ tbsp nutritional yeast, or to taste
• 2-3 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp chilli powder
• ⅛ tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp kosher salt

Hot dogs

• 6 jumbo veggie dogs
• 6 hot dog buns
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1 small handful coriander (cilantro), optional
• Pickled jalapenos, optional

Instructions

1. For the beans, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook until lightly golden and soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add in the beans, tomato paste, chilli powder, smoked paprika, cumin and cayenne and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until the beans start to pop. Stir in the water, season with more salt and pepper and turn the heat down to low to keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce by placing the potatoes and sweet potatoes into a large pot of cold water. Season well with salt and bring to a boil over high heat. When the water reaches a boil, add in the cashews and cook until the potatoes and cashews are tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Reserve about ½ cup of the cooking liquid then drain the potatoes and cashews and transfer to a high-powered blender. Add the oil, pickled jalapeños, vinegar or pickling liquid, nutritional yeast and 2 tsp of tomato paste. Season with the garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper and salt. Add ¼ cup of reserved cooking liquid and blend until smooth, adding more water, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, and/or salt, if needed. Transfer the cheese sauce to a small pan to keep warm over low heat while you cook the hot dogs.
4. Cook the hot dogs in a pan over medium high or on the grill over medium until lightly charred.
5. Serve dogs in buns, topped with beans, a good drizzle of the cheese sauce and a sprinkling of green onion, coriander and pickled jalapeños, if using.

Note

• Use vegan veggie dogs and buns if you want to make these vegan.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.