Vegannosaurus Rex

The internet proved to be a wonderful and rewarding place this week.

I received this comment on my first post regarding raw vegan tacos from a fellow raw food blogger based in Perth, Australia:

Your salsa looks yummy! I had taco’s for dinner tonight, layering spicy walnut meat with a salsa and a guacamole into a Cos lettuce leaf to replace the taco. It was very tasty! I’ve also seen recipes for raw taco shells but it seems too involved to be worth it (unless it’s a special occasion perhaps!).

I was a little surprised to get a comment from Perth, Australia, but more importantly i was excited about the suggestion. I took it upon myself to email my blog commenter, asking if she wouldn’t mind sharing her recipe for ’spicy walnut meat.’ She graciously rewarded my inquiry with the recipe, and its reference. As it turns out, the recipe for spicy raw walnut meat is adapted from ‘Rawvolution‘ by Matt Amsden.

Wow, what a difference that made in my raw tacos. The spicy walnut meat makes a huge difference in the raw taco.

Spicy Raw Taco Meat, blend the following:

• 1 1/2 cups of walnuts
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Cumin powder
• 3/4 teaspoons Coriander
• 2 tablespoons Nama Shoyu

as my fellow blogger suggested:

‘Add a little bit of olive oil if you want it to stick together more (it’s a little loose) and I usually add some chili or cayenne powers, or a few pieces of parsley or coriander to give it a bit of color.’

i took her up on her suggestion and added:

• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• cilantro

added a little guacamole

topped with tomato, green leaf lettuce and some lime juice

One of the biggest frustrations i have found about the more upscale raw cookbooks (RAW FOOD real world, RAW) is the need for a dehydrator in a majority of the recipes. I’m new to raw food preparation, and have yet to justify the expense of a dehydrator. Not to mention I have no idea what features make a ‘good’ dehydrator.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, these two books can be a little intimidating. Many of the recipes are long, include multiple recipes that are later assembled into a presentable dish, use many different ingredients, and are time consuming, and the added complication of requiring a dehydrator. My solution has been to use these books as inspiration, and I have done so yet again.

‘RAW FOOD real world’ has a recipe for sushi rolls that includes jicama rice as a component. I make this jicama rice as a stand alone dish, and although I make raw sushi quite often, i have never actually used this jicama rice as a component for my sushi rolls. Once again, not having a dehydrator presents a problem. Sort of. I don’t have a dehydrator, so i’m not really sure how the jicama rice is supposed to turn out, but i do know that my version can hold its own.

in the absence of a dehydrator i press as much moisture out of the jicama after blending. This can be a somewhat delicate process as you don’t want the jicama to turn into one big glob of mush. I us paper towels to press the moisture out, changing towels a few times. I then place the jicama into a large bowl, cover it with a paper towel so the towel is resting on top of the jicama and set it in the refrigerator. The paper towel will continue to absorb some of the moisture, i change it once or twice when it becomes saturated.

After setting in the refrigerator over night i use this jicama rice as i would any other rice.  I spice mine up with a little chili powder, then mix in some vegetables and nama shoyu, but you could really do just about anything you want with it.

Whew, big food preparation night. I got home from the gym around 5:30-5:45, and didn’t stop until 11pm. I did take a break to eat, and drink a few beers, but otherwise did a lot of food preparation. A lot. I tend to plan meals for the week, sometimes longer, then do all of my shopping at the Dekalb Farmers Market on Monday afternoons, then doing as much of the preparation on Monday or Tuesday as possible. The rest of the week, if not longer, is a breeze as all I am doing is assembling meals or snacks. As much as I like playing around in the kitchen, i also like making it easy on myself by getting a lion share of the work done in one…errr…standing.

First off, i made the quinoa tabouli from ‘RAW FOOD real world’ cookbook. I am in love with this recipe. It’s simple, and delicious, plus it yields quite a bit, so you can snack off it for many days.

I also made a new version of rawcotta. I plan to try it out in an heirloom tomato raw lasagna later in the week. This rawcotta is sunflower seed based.

[i'll provide the recipe as soon as i receive approval from the creator]

I also made the sun-dried tomato ravioli recipe provided by Hi-Rawkus for dinner tonight. As i mentioned in a comment on the Hi-Rawkus MySpace page ’twas delicious’.

I only had one zucchini to make the ‘noodles’ for the ravioli, and due to some technique experimentation, it didn’t yield enough noodles to satisfy my hunger. This is where I decided to freestyle. I didn’t have a second zucchini, but i did have a squash, as well as some organic grape tomatoes I bought from the East Atlanta Farmer’s Market about 10 days ago. The tomatoes were slightly under ripe when i bought them, but perfect tonight. I made a little platter of finger food, almost like passed hors d’oeuvres. I sliced thin ‘crackers’ of squash, topped them with a small dollop of the sun dried tomato rawcotta cheese, then some Italian parsley, a piece of the grape tomato and sprinkled with olive oil. Turned out great, and was super simple.

The first book I referenced in beginning my raw food experimentation was ‘RAW FOOD real world‘ from Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis, the founders of Pure Food and Wine in New York City. First of all, this book is beautiful, perhaps one of the most beautiful cookbooks i have ever seen. The design and layout is intuitive, there are ample pictures, all extremely appetizing, and the book as a whole is full of color.

The pictures in this book are beautiful, i wanted to make every single recipe in the book the first time i laid eyes on it, then i started reading the recipes… With eyes popping out of my head, and beads of sweat forming on my brow, i expressed slight trepidation upon first glance at this challenging cookbook. Katie offered sage advice, ‘I use it as inspiration.’ Well spoken. That’s exactly how i have been using it, and it works. The pictures of the final products are so beautiful it is very tempting to attempt to make each and every one of them from start to finish, but i’ve found it far more rewarding, at this early stage in my raw food experience, to use the recipes more as a guideline. Many of these recipes have multiple parts that each have their own recipe and come together to make a greater whole. Instead of diving in and trying to create the masterpiece, i have started by making some of the pieces of the puzzle and applying them to meals in my own way. Its a great way to become familiar with both the book as well as some of the ingredients and techniques, as well as build my confidence, which leads me to my next point.

For some reason i get an incredible sense of accomplishment when i make food from this book. I’ve never had issues cooking, or following recipes, in fact i think i’m pretty good in the kitchen, but i get an elevated sense of accomplishment when completing these recipes. I’m still fascinated by what can be done with raw food, i’m sure that is a contributing factor, and i have someone i can lean on for guidance, which is motivating. Whatever the case, this book continues to provide inspiration.

As amazing as the recipes are in ‘RAW FOOD’ the ‘real world’ section is fascinating. The authors illustrate the path upon which the traveled to a raw diet and lifestyle, and it proves very educational. I’m a huge fan of the tone of these sections of the book, the authors don’t preach, they merely explain the route they have taken. I have referred back to these sections many times, its a fun read. They are honest, sometimes a little too honest, and self deprecating, two characteristics I appreciate in people.