Vegannosaurus Rex

Quick, easy and painless. That was the theme of the night. I made this ‘Quick and Spicy Avocado-Corn Salad‘ from GoneRaw.com.

• 1 avocado
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 ear of corn
• 2-3 green onions
• 1/2 lime, squeezed
• small handful of cilantro
• sprinkle of cayenne
• sprinkle of sea salt
• sprinkle of pepper
• splash of olive oil

this was delicious. Although the recipe says it serves two people, i enjoyed it so much i ate the entire thing. I served mine with ‘Ezekiel 4:9′ Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Flourless Tortillas from Food For Life.

I haven’t figured out if these tortillas qualify as raw or not. They must be stored in the freezer, and they are made entirely from sprouted grains, but i don’t know of they are baked or dehydrated, or, or….i think i need to call them directly and get to the bottom of this….

Thursday night was prep night. I have more food than i know what to do with in the wake of my prep fest. I find that i’m much more motivated, and accomplish far more when I am hungry. I put this to the test Thursday night, and it proved correct yet again.

I amended the delicious spicy walnut taco meat that i made earlier in the week. I added a little bit more cilantro, a small handful, plus 3/4 of a serrano chile and approx 1 tablespoon of olive oil to moisten the mixture. Even better than ever.

Next up was curried kale. This was one of the first ‘raw dishes’ that i was introduced to, through Katie. Katie’s curried Kale is delicious, addictive, simple to make, and has a long shelf life. The perfect food.

[Katie is setting up a catering business (more about that later) as I type this, so i'm not allowed to publish her recipes, but if you email me directly, and are only going to use the recipe or personal use, i'll pass it on.]

blend:

• olive oil
• curry powder
• garlic
• cumin
• lemon juice
• salt
• dates

per the recipe you should chop 6 bunches of kale and combine with the curry mixture. I used 6 stalks of kale and found the richness of the curry mixture to be overpowering, i diluted with 3 additional stalks of kale. Chalk that up to personal taste/preference.

While I had momentum i made some pesto as well. Nothing too exciting here, i’ve discussed the recipe in the past.

I know I don’t have the best camera, or perfect lighting for still life photography, but its still odd how closely the pesto and spicy walnut taco meat resemble each other.

My friend Erlene introduced me to a friend of hers (well, she tried to) that has been a raw vegan for the last 3 years. Erlene also sent me a link to her LiveJournal blog on which she has posted several recipes. This recipe for a raw vegan chili struck my eye, and I had all of the ingredients in house, with one exception, dulse. Dulse. Dulse was the bane of my existence for several days this week. I did my usual internet research, so i was more than familiar with what it was, its nutritional value, indigenous regions and cultures, how it’s used, you name it. What i couldn’t find was a store to sell it to me. Being stubborn I looked around town for a few days before giving up and sending Katie a txt message asking for help. I got a response within 30 minutes listing 3 stores that sell dulse plus an alternative ingredient i could use (wakame) if i couldn’t find dulse. Mission accomplished.

• 2 cups blended tomato (3-4 medium tomatoes)
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded
• 1 cup fresh basil, mint or cilantro leaves or a combination
• 1/2 cup whole-leaf dulse
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup nama shoyu
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

i garnished my chili with some green onion and cilantro. I used to eat my non-raw/vegan chili with rice on the side, taking a spoon of rice then diving into the chili. As a replacement to the rice i used sprouted quinoa and was pleased with the results.

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

Although my attempt at making raw cauliflower korma the other night was quite deflating, i was redeemed the next night with a new creation. Lemongrass Jicama. I’ve had a lemongrass tofu recipe in my arsenal for over a year, and i took myself to task last night to attempt a raw version.

First step was to replace the tofu. I chose to cut jicama into small cubes and slightly dehydrate it in the oven.

Unfortunately i didnt track the time necessary to prepare the jicama. Basically, cut the jicama into cubes, place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and put in the oven at about 100 degrees. I believe i left them in the over for about 20-30 minutes. The consistency is a personal preference ultimately.

For the lemongrass blend the following:

• 3 stalks of lemongrass (use only the ‘meat’ from the bottom 2-3 inches)
• 1.5 tblsp nama shoyu
• 1 serrano chile
• 1/2 tsp chili flake
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3 green onions
• 1 shallot
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp basil oil
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup of water

put the jicama in a bowl, top with lemongrass mixture, top with a little chopped basil and some chopped peanuts. Enjoy. I was extremely pleased with how this turned out. Warning, its a little spicy, so if that isn’t your cup of tea you may want to cut the chili flake, or cut the serrano chile in half. I didnt gut the serrano chile prior to adding it to the mixture, so you may want to do that as well to cut the heat somewhat.

I had a monumental failure Sunday (10/14/07) night.

[Before I continue, i want to add a disclaimer. I love the site goneraw.com, its community listing of raw and recipes in which you can comment on the recipes others submit. Its a god-send. I have made many recipes from this site to great success.]

Sunday night, i didn’t feel like going to the farmer’s market so i was a little desperate to figure out something for dinner from my meager existing ingredients. I found this recipe for raw cauliflower korma on goneraw.com. It required the following ingredients:

• 1 Small Carrot, Chopped
• 1 Small onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons Water
• 2 tablespoons Mild curry powder
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 small red bell pepper
• 1 small handful cashew nuts
• 1 sprinkle turmeric
• 1 sprinkle cumin
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ head Cauliflower
• ¼ cup raisins
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 large date or 2 small

I didn’t have the dates ore the raisins, but i decided to give it a try anyway. I replaced the small onion with half an onion, and used a large roma tomato. I didn’t have mild curry powder, so for some strange reason i decided that i could use garam masala in place of the curry powder.

I would consider my attempts to make this dish a monumental disaster. First of all, the onion was overpowering, and i cut the quantity in half. But that is simply a personal preference. i really think the garam masala ruined this dish. And, for the record, the failure is 100% attributable to user error. I plan to give it another shot with the proper ingredients (i.e. curry powder) at a later date.

I purchased a small bag of flax seed crackers from a vendor (name escapes me) at the EAV Farmer’s Market 2-3 weeks ago. My intention was to attempt to make some type of flax seed cracker, but had assumed I needed a dehydrator to do that, so i kinda just considered this purchase as an easy way to throw a couple dollars to a good cause- a local organic grower. I stumbled across a fellow local vegan blogger the other night, and her most recent post was a very simple recipe for flax seed crackers made in the oven. An added bonus, on this first truly chilly day of the fall season, the garam masala i blended with the cracker mix made my apartment smell extra delicious, and very autumnal (and, yes, i’m quite proud of myself for working the word ‘autumnal’ into a blog post). I attempted to set my oven to a temperature at or less than 118 degrees, in an attempt to simulate a dehydrator, and thus maintain the cracker’s ‘rawness.’ In the absence of a thermometer, there is no telling what actually happened. I think its time to get a dehydrator.

If you have a dehydrator, and are looking for a true-raw preparation, try this one over at Hi-Rawkus.

I made a little pesto

• sundried tomatoes
• garlic
• basil
• oregano
• olive oil
• sea salt
• pine nuts

Steamed a spaghetti squash and chopped some spinach.

Put it all in a bowl and eat. Why ’slow food’ you ask? Or maybe you didn’t ask, or even care for that matter…but i’m going to tell you anyway. Steaming spaghetti squash reminds me of that old adage about a watched pot never boiling. I don’t know what my problem is, but it takes for-f*ing-ever to steam spaghetti squash. I actually had a friend cancel plans we had last night because the spaghetti squash screwed up our timeline by about 30-45 minutes.

I’ve started to try to make raw version of cooked foods that i like. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Actually, many times it doesn’t, but, tonight, i’m quite proud of my concoction. A stuffed red pepper. Very simple, and straight forward, and also very easy to amend to your liking.

ingredients (all raw; yields 2-4 stuffed peppers):

• organic red pepper
• corn
• tomato
• green onion
• garlic
• spinach
• cilantro
• serrano chile
• quinoa
• sea salt
• ground cumin
• olive oil

Step 1:

sprout 1 cup quinoa (or more depending on how much you are making). To sprout soak in water overnight, rinse once or twice, after draining. Let the quinoa drain for a few hours, you want it to be semi-moist, but definitely not wet.

step 2:

Add chopped tomato, minced garlic, chopped spinach, chopped serrano chile, green onions cut length-wise approx 2 inches long, olive oil, ground cumin, sea salt, white pepper, and corn.

step 3:

cut red pepper in half, hallow out the pepper.

step 4:

stuff the red pepper and eat.

Make the stuffing to taste. I used 1 roma tomato, 1 clove of garlic, about 1/2 cup of corn, 1/2 serrano chile, and sprouted 1 cup of quinoa. Be careful with the cumin, i used a tad too much, but also realize that the red pepper will offset some of the stronger flavors in the stuffing. I’m going to try a slightly mellower pepper next time, orange or yellow.

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.