Vegan salmon(carrot lox) & cream cheese bagel

Back to years and years ago (goooosh I feel like a granny now!), when I was in Uni, I used to work in Brick Lane as a bartender. There were two very famous historical bagel shops at the of Brick Lane open 24 hours.

I remember we were all in our 20s and on most weekends we finished work at 3am. Then we would all stay for drinks, and drinks, and more drinks until 5-6am. Our favourite way to end the crazy working and drinking night was at the bagel shop, and I would always order a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel.

Since I stopped eating seafood, I do miss/crave squid, octopus, scallop or tuna occasionally, but hardly ever smoked salmon. I don’t miss the taste of the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel, but sometimes I can be a bit nostalgic. I miss the taste of my youth, the people I used to work with every day – I may not see them again in my life and all those beautiful memories.

Today I want a smoked salmon(carrot lox) and cream cheese bagel!!!!!

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Soak the raw cashews in boiling hot water for 30 minutes (or in lukewarm water overnight).

And you need carrots!! Basically, it is about 1 carrot for 1 bagel.

Place the peeled carrot on a lined baking tray and sprinkle a pinch of salt on top. Bake for 30 minutes until they’re tender and fragrant.

Meanwhile, combine all the rest of the carrot lox ingredients together in a mixing bowl, mix well.

Once the carrots are ready, remove them from the oven and let them cool a little bit. Peel them into very thin slices with a peeler or a mandoline.

Transfer the carrot slices and the marinade mixture into a sealed bag.

Try to squeeze the air out of the bag so the bag can lay flat and the mixture covers the carrot evenly. Ideally, leave the carrot marinating overnight to develop a stronger flavour. However, if you are on a rush, a minimum of 30-60 minutes can do the trick as well.

While we are waiting, let’s make the vegan cream cheese. Rinse the soaked cashews with water and shake through a sieve to remove any excess liquid.

Add the soaked cashews and the rest of the vegan cream cheese ingredients into the food processor and blend until its creamy. You may need to use a spoon or spatula to re-position the cashew mixture to help it blend evenly.

Sadly, if you don’t have a powerful food processor like me, you probably can never get the cream cheese proper silken creamy. But don’t worry, it’s more important that it is super tasty! After 4-5 minutes of hard work, my £29.99 portable food processor managed to get the cashews in a decent smooth texture.

Spread the vegan cream cheese onto the bagel, top with the vegan smoked salmon, fresh dill, red onion, and cucumber – and serve.

Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, someone who wants to cut down fish intake, or you just simply want to try something new. Why not try this colourful and tasty smoky carrot lox with creamy cashew cheese and soft bagel? It makes a perfect brunch or lunch! You may also be interested in checking out my deep fried vegan calamari (oyster mushrooms) recipe.

Let me know if you try out this recipe. You can leave a comment below, or take a picture, tag it with #k33_kitchen and share it on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, hope you enjoy my recipes!