Carrot Lox with Homemade Cream Cheese

Why I love it

Which bagel would you go for? I cannot believe how incredible these carrot lox are. I’m not the biggest fan of carrots, especially when they’re cooked. It turns out if you add the perfect ratio of ingredients for the marinade, then they’ll taste exactly like lox. We grew up on bagels and lox in my household. It’s incredible to turn a VEGETABLE into something that reminds me of my childhood. Also I’m way too excited about my homemade cream cheese, gotta love cashews! I loved these bagels with cream cheese a LOX.

Ingredients

Cream Cheese

• 1 ½ cups cashews soaked over night

• ¼ cup plain yogurt (I used Kite Hill)

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (I used Bragg)

• ½ tsp sugar

• ½ tbsp water

Carrot Lox

• 3 large carrots cut in half, not peeled

• ¾ cup hot water (for the marinade)

• 1 tsp grounded up nori (I blended a nori sheet until it formed fine granules- I used Ocean’s Halo)

• 3 ½ tsps rice vinegar

• 1 tbsp miso paste

• 3 tbsps soy sauce

• 3 tsps lemon juice

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• ¼ cup olive oil

Replacements

You can buy store bought cream cheese to save time. For the lox, you can use more lemon juice if you do not have vinegar.

Recipe

1. Make the cream cheese. Combine the cashews, yogurt, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and water in a blender until you achieve a cream cheese consistency. If it is too loose, I recommend putting it in the freezer to harden for 10 minutes.

2. Make the lox. Cut 3 large carrots in half and boil them in salted water.

3. Stir together all the above ingredients for the lox marinade in a bowl.

4. After the carrots are soft, take them out of the water and pat them dry. Peel them into ribbons as they are done in the first photo, or rough chop them as you can see in the second photo. Let them marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge to let the flavors combine.

5. After 30 minutes, it’s time to assemble your bagel. Make sure you toast it! Top it with the cream cheese, then carrot lox, then cucumbers, radishes, basil, or whatever toppings you like. Enjoy!