Post Punk Kitchen- Cashew Queso

This recipe is from the Post Punk Kitchen Web site (click here). The picture does this no justice. It's amazing and I think it tastes exactly like Mexican cheese dip, I don't see how someone would even know it's vegan.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours or overnight (I soaked mine for half an hour, but I have a blender that is similar to a Vitamix) 
  
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons white miso (I used brown miso)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced (keeps seeds if you want more heat)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin (I used whole and toasted them, they were ground when I blended the mixture)
• 1 teaspoon ground ancho pepper (or any mild ground red chili) 
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

Drain the cashews. In a blender or food processor, puree them with vegetable broth, miso and cornstarch until very smooth. This could take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes depending on your device. Rub between your fingers to test; slight graininess is okay, but try to get it as smooth as possible.

In the meantime, preheat a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Saute onion, red pepper, and jalapeno in oil with a pinch of salt until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute about a minute more.

Transfer vegetables to the blender where the cashew mixture is. Add cumin, ancho, nutritional yeast and salt. Blend again until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender with a spatula to make sure you get everything.

Transfer mixture back to the pot. Whisking often, turn heat up to medium until the queso comes to a slow rolling boil. Lower heat so that it doesn’t burn and cook for about 20 minutes. Whisk often and check to see that it’s thickening, if it’s not, then turn the heat up a bit. It should become nicely thickened but velvetty and pourable.

Stir in the lemon juice at the end. If the queso seems too thick, drizzle in a little water and whisk to desired consistency. Taste for salt, spices and lemon juice and adjust as you like.

Serve hot!