Warm Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Blue Corn Chips

I used to love this dip back in my, well, both omni and vegetarian days. It's a very common appetiser in restaurants back home but I have never seen it over here. Now it's not a very vegan friendly dish, calling for usually, cream cheese, parmesan and/or mayo and sour cream! There are so many recipes out there with tons of variations but I decided to veganise one that looked fairly straightforward by simply replacing the dairy versions with their vegan counterparts.

Well, I absolutely loved it!! I can't say how much it tasted like the 'original' as it's been years since I've had it but I can say it was very good in it's own right. What doesn't come through in the picture is how light and creamy it is! No broken chips dipping into this dip ;) Now, certainly I didn't like the vegan cream cheese, mayo or cheezly when I first had them 2 years ago but now love them, and this recipe calls for all three!! So, do make sure you like the replacements although I was thinking nutritional yeast would be a good taste with this so may try at some point making it with a nooch based alfredo sauce - I'm sure it would be just as good :)

Whenever I had this in restaurants back home they would be served with warmed red and blue corn chips. I've never seen them over here until I saw this bag at Asda of all places, and they're organic to boot! This range had other flavours too, a flax seed and soya one looked nice too, but the blue chips go perfectly with this dip.

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip:

125g raw spinach, washed

125g artichoke hearts, I used chargrilled marinated ones in a jar

85g tofutti cream cheese

35g vegan garlic mayo, I use plamil

25g super melting mozzarella cheezly

1/8 tsp red chili flakes

1/8 tsp fine sea salt

1/8 tsp garlic powder

Boil the spinach in salted water until tender, just a couple minutes. Drain well pressing the spinach a bit as you do. Place the artichoke hearts into a food processor and just process until it looks finely chopped. Add the spinach and process until it just comes together. You could just pulse a few times if you want the spinach 'chunkier'- I wanted my dip a bit smoother. In another bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients then add to a small saucepan with the spinach and artichoke mixture. Heat gently and mix well until the cheezly melts and it's nice and warm.

If having with the corn chips, heat the oven to 200C and place some chips on a baking sheet. Just heat up in the oven until nice and fragrant and warmed up - shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes. Serve at once.

♥