This gorgeously colorful platter of seared spring vegetables with cashew green goddess earns its place as a side dish or as part of a genuinely fun appetizer spread. Fair warning: this one’s for the true onion lovers. Green onions and chives are in the sauce and there’s sumac onions on top.
The cashew green goddess is the dish’s anchor. Blended smooth with basil, chives, green onions, capers, and garlic, the sauce has an herby and savory depth that makes everything around it taste better. You may have seen a version of this as a dip with my smashed purple potatoes recipe! My mayo-free version here is just as satisfying.
Sumac onions are one of my favorite low effort/high reward food finishes. They have a fresh, bracing bite to them that I find addictive. You want a little of everything in each bite, so that the lemony and bright sumac can cut through the richness of the cashew sauce and earthy veg.
The vegetables get a quick, aggressive sear in a cast iron pan. The trick is to not hover. Let them sit, get some color and a little browning. Radishes do something magical over high heat: they lose their sharpness, moving towards mellow sweetness. Paired with the snap peas and asparagus, you get a satisfying mix of textures.
I love to serve this as a fun and unique appetizer. Set out a bowl of pita or tortilla chips alongside for scooping. As a side dish, it’s great with grilled proteins or as part of a warm weather “salad-scape” kinda dinner. And if you have a vegan feta you love, crumble some on top before serving.Make this while the spring vegetables are at their best.
Seared Spring Vegetables with Cashew Green Goddess & Sumac Onions
Ingredients
Sumac Onions
- ½ small red onion, small dice
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¾ teaspoon sumac
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Cashew Green Goddess
- ¾ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours and drained
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon hot sauce
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 green onions, chopped
- ½ cup basil leaves, packed
- ⅓ cup chopped chives
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 2 cloves garlic , peeled
Seared Spring Veg & Assembly
- 1 bunch radishes, tops removed
- 200 grams asparagus
- 200 grams snap peas
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- chopped fresh basil/green onions/chives, for serving (I used chive blossoms in the photos)
Equipment
- Blender
Notes
- Typically sumac onions are done with sliced red onions. I did small dices because it just made more sense for this dish.
- I love serving this with pita chips or tortilla chips for scoping up a bit of the sauce and the veg. So good!
- If there’s a vegan feta that you like, crumbling some on top to finish this dish is exquisite.
Instructions
Make the sumac onions.
- In a medium bowl, combine the sliced onions, apple cider vinegar, sumac, salt, and pepper. Give them a toss with your hands and set aside for at least 20 minutes.
Make the cashew green goddess sauce.
- In an upright blender, combine the drained cashews, water, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt, pepper, green onions, basil, chives, capers, and garlic.
- Run the blender on high until you have a smooth and creamy sauce, about 1 minute. Give the sauce a taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Transfer the cashew green goddess to a sealable jar and keep it in the fridge before serving.
Start on the seared veg.
- Dice the radishes into ½-inch pieces. Remove the tough ends from the asparagus and slice into ½-inch rounds. Slice the snap peas into ½-inch pieces.
- Heat a large skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-high heat. Once hot, pour in the olive oil. Add the vegetables all at once and let them sit for a full minute. After the minute is up, stir them and season with sumac, salt, and pepper. Let them sit another full minute. When you start getting some char marks/golden brown spots, the veg is done. This takes about 3-4 minutes total. Remove the skillet from the heat.
Assemble the dish.
- Swoop the cashew green goddess on a serving platter. Dump all of the seared veg on top. Finish with extra chopped herbs.
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