Raw Gastronomy

Moving House: Announcing RawGastronomy.com

2010-04-26T18:53:00.004+09:30

The virtual Gnome Home is on the move.

When setting my intentions for 2010, I made the decision that it was time to set up a new home for the Raw Gastronomy blog. Blogger has served as a great launchpad, but it's time to move to a site with more flexibility and potential. So I've taken the Wordpress plunge! From now on you can read about my explorations in the world of nourishment at:

RawGastronomy.com

Just click the link above, add the new site to your RSS feed, and join me on my delicious, nutritious journey into the culinary unknown. Easy peasy!

Using the Whole Pumpkin

2010-04-12T16:26:00.004+09:30

Hot and Sour Pumpkin Soup

There’s no particular reason that Australians should cultivate such a strong fondness for two particularly brilliantly-hued vegetables. The love affair with the bloody beetroot is fairly obvious: it’s the color of a ruby, it’s got a fantastically sweet and earthy flavor, and it packs a nutritional punch of antioxidants. But as an American, it’s taken me a long time to understand the ubiquity of pumpkin on Aussie menus - it’s just not something I ever ate, aside from in pumpkin pie (which, strangely, isn’t popular here).

Upon planting a few pumpkin seeds in the back of the veggie patch, I quickly came to understand why pumpkin seems to show up in nearly every dish this time of year. The expansive vines have taken over at least half of the garden, and are blocking the footpath to the lemon tree. We must eat pumpkin or be overrun by it. It’s a survival situation: woman vs. pumpkin.

First off, a word about pumpkin. As a child in New England, the only pumpkin I was familiar with was big, orange, and full of seeds. While it was fun to carve (and Mom’s roasted pumpkin seeds were an addictive snack), nobody eats that technicolor specimen. The humble Aussie pumpkin is a totally different animal - er, vegetable. While my seed packet simply said “pumpkin,” my internet detective skills have identified the final product as kabocha, or Japanese pumpkin. This variety is fleshy, sweet, and creamy, and you can even eat the skin.

So being fond of the wise old motto “waste not want not,” I’ve set about my erstwhile battle with the attitude that these pumpkins are going to feed me and my family throughout autumn. So far I’ve made a killer Thai-flavored soup, have added wedges of roast pumpkin to every salad and vegetable dish imaginable, have taken a trick from Mom and roasted the seeds into crunchy, salty, delicious morsels, and have even discovered that my dog loves to eat the raw pumpkin “guts” surrounding the seeds. I think a pumpkin-coriander dip is in my future, and I also have my eye on a recipe for pumpkin muffins. My American sensibilities might just insist on a pumpkin pie, too.

Yes, I’ve come to love pumpkin for much more than just looking pretty. I love it because you can do just about anything with it, from sweet to savory. I love it because it grows in abundance in my backyard, costing me only pennies. I love its color, its nutritional value, its easy adaptability. And I love it cause it’s downright Australian.

Hot and Sour Pumpkin Soup

from epicurious.com

Gourmet | October 2001

Adapted from chefs Ming Tsai and Tom Berry

Blue Ginger, Wellesley, MA

Ingredients

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon chopped peeled fresh ginger

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 (3-lb) sugar or cheese pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)

1 cup dry white wine

2 qt chicken stock, or 1 qt canned chicken broth and 1 qt water

6 lemongrass stalks (bottom 5 inches only), coarsely chopped

1 (1-inch) piece galangal (thawed if frozen), peeled and coarsely chopped

3 to 5 fresh (1 1/2-inch) Thai chiles or 2 fresh jalapeño chiles, trimmed and coarsely chopped (seed chiles if a milder flavor is desired)

4 kaffir lime leaves (fresh or frozen)

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup Asian fish sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

Note: i used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, rice wine instead of white wine, vegetable stock and water instead of chicken stock, and omitted the galangal (because I didn't have any!). I also used lemon leaves from my lemon tree instead of kaffir lime leaves, reduced the amount of fish sauce by about half, and used coconut sugar. I pureed in the blender after adding the sauteed lemongrass and chilies. 'Twas creamy and delicious!

Preparation

Cook onion, garlic, and ginger in 1 tablespoon oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 4 minutes. Add pumpkin and wine and boil, uncovered, until wine is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Stir in stock and simmer, covered, until pumpkin is tender, about 20 minutes.

Heat remaining tablespoon oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté lemongrass, galangal, and chiles to taste, stirring, until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Purée pumpkin mixture in batches (use caution when blending hot liquids) and return to pot. Stir in lemongrass mixture, lime leaves, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Pour soup through a sieve, discarding solids, and season well with salt and pepper.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Scoop the seeds from the inside of the pumpkin. Remove all the "guts" and feed them to the dog. Give the seeds a good rinse and pat dry. Toss with a bit of olive oil, some good salt, and a dash of cumin or another favorite spice. Spread on a baking tray and roast at 200 degrees C for 5-10 minutes, stirring once, and checking constantly as they can burn quickly. Let cool and enjoy as a crunch snack.

Roast Pumpkin

Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds. Cut each half into 6-8 wedges. Arrange on a baking tray; rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 200 degrees C for 3--45 minutes, until soft.

Suggested ways to eat pumpkin wedges:

Hot with other roast veggies such as leeks, brussel sprouts, onions, beetroot, potato, etc.
Hot on top of salad of rocket/arugula and grated raw beetroot with some fresh olives.
Cold mixed into a green salad.
For breakfast, mixed into hot steel-cut oatmeal (porridge) and drizzled with a simple dressing of one part miso paste, one part sesame oil, one part apple cider vinegar.

New Directions

2010-02-11T02:52:00.011+10:30

Recently I've been asking myself a big question: Is 100% raw the best way to eat?

Seeing as this blog has the word "raw" in the title, you probably expect me to say absolutely YES. But having experimented with different degrees of engagement with raw foods over the past few years, I'm currently at a point where the answer falls somewhere along a spectrum. So in order to completely answer the above question, let me tell you a little bit about my journey and where I'm at now.

Believe it or not, there was a time in my life when I did not realize the connection between diet and health.

In my early 20's, I couldn't understand why I felt depressed, had low energy, and couldn't stop gaining weight despite rigorous daily exercise. You'd think I might have realized that chips for brunch just might have had something to do with it, but honestly I didn't make the connection at that time. Looking back on photos of that period recently with a friend who had been in a similar place, we were more than a little shocked by our chubby grins - not to mention the dark circles under our eyes! My friend said to me, "I just want to tell those girls to stop eating."

The reality is a bit more complicated. Of course I was eating too much at that time. I was also eating the wrong "foods" - things that didn't satisfy me nutritionally, so I had to eat more and more to feel full. I was also using food to deal with emotional issues - which of course exacerbated my unstable state as I shoved refined sugar and flour into the void.

It feels like I spent years in a self-perpetuated cocoon, but I did eventually emerge. Not quite as a stunning butterfly, though. At a trainer's advice, I cut out carbs and started exercising like mad. I counted calories and worked myself into a fitness frenzy. And I got skinny, had more energy, harnessed more mental alertness and was able to focus in on my goals and choose positive directions for my life.

There were telltale signs that despite my steps toward health, I still had compromised well-being. My skin would break out frequently, I still experienced extreme emotional shifts, and I was so restrictive with my daily eating habits that I would sometimes loose control and go into binge mode until I made myself sick. I knew my doctor well and had a list of physical and mental health complaints. I sometimes cried for no reason.

Enter raw foods. I can't believe how much this shift changed my life. I haven't been to a doctor since I started eating this way. (As an aside, I did once go to a naturopath who really helped me clear up my skin problems by identifying not only nutrients I should focus on, but also turning me on to skin brushing and the use of affirmations. Score one for alternative health!) I have plenty of energy, and my emotions are more even. I don't obsess over calories. I feel clearer, more certain of the direction that I want my life to take. I am attracted to and attract people who support the way I want to live my life and give me strength and courage. My creativity has skyrocketed. I don't get depressed, and even when I feel a bit down or low energy it passes quickly.

Despite all these benefits, I did notice a change in the past few months. I just didn't feel as clear or as energetic as I had been at the start of eating high raw, and I was gaining weight again. And I started to consider my raw diet. Looking at what I eat every day, I realized that a huge amount of my calories have been coming from fat. I think that was okay for a while, but in the long term it took a lot out of me. One option would be to switch to a diet of almost all raw fruits and vegetables with very little nuts and oils, but I'm not quite ready for that mentally.

So I've introduced some cooked whole grains and vegetables into my diet, and I seem to be feeling a lot better. Mostly sweet potatoes and quinoa, but I've also tried millet, oats, rice and faro. I've read a book on macrobiotics and am experimenting with cooking steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast, having some grains and cooked vegetables at dinner, eating more miso and (raw) pickles, and bringing a sense of balance back into my diet.

The lesson I've learned with all of this change is to KEEP IN TOUCH WITH MY BODY. We are all in a constant state of change - of becoming, evolving, whatever you want to call it. The important thing is to keep the goal in mind, and the details become clearer. The goal is not to "be 100% raw." The goal is to experience vibrant health that inspires me to be a super creative person that spreads joy and beauty. Whatever fuel my body needs to attain that goal is what I need to consume.

As a girl who doesn't do things by halves, I've decided that along with the changes in my diet, I'd like to implement some changes here at Raw Gastronomy as well.

Redefining the concept of Raw Gastronomy as an exploration of holistic nourishment.
A shift towards simpler recipes that use wholesome ingredients - some raw, some cooked - with less focus on gourmet raw recipes.
More discussion about ideas about how to nourish ourselves on all levels.
A beautiful new site with a new design!

I've spent the past 2 months traveling in the US and working on designing a new site for Raw Gastronomy - hence the lack of posts lately. The new site will be live soon - and an announcement will be posted here so you can all find it! I'm very excited about the new directions for my life, my creativity, and my blog - and I hope you'll continue to join me on my journey into the vibrancy vortex.

Gastro Gnome at Rainbow Serpent

2010-01-20T14:47:00.004+10:30

Wanna get inspired and excited about making some living and superfood recipes at home?

Come to a gastro-gnomic workshop at Rainbow Serpent Festival this Saturday, January 23, in the Lifestyle Village at 4pm.

Super Natural Foods for Super Powered Creatures

I'll be talking about the energy, creativity and deliciousness of raw, living and superfoods, as well as demonstrating some easy recipes - with samples! Here's a taste of the action:

Super Powered Snack Mix
Easy Almond Milk
Maca Maple Chia Pudding
Chocolate Sauce with Fruit

I'm looking forward to noshing with you!

Good Intentions

2010-01-03T10:27:00.006+10:30

Vintage postcard - less obsession with weight loss in 1915?

New Year's Resolutions: do you make them, or not? If you make them, do you brake them?

I've always liked the idea of New Year's Resolutions, in theory. It seems like such a positive concept: starting off on a fresh note, untainted by the missteps of the past, we set out to create a new sense of who we are by changing our habits. But old habits die hard, and so often within a few weeks, days or hours we're back into our old, destructive routines.

So I gave up on New Year's resolutions a few years ago after observing both myself and others encounter failure after failure. I came to realize that the error of our ways is not in the difficulty of trying to change our habits, but in the nature of the resolutions themselves.

According to the USA.gov website, the most popular New Year's Resolutions are:
1) lose weight
2) manage debt
3) save money
4) get a better job
5) get fit
6) get a better education
7) drink less alcohol
8) quit smoking now
9) reduce stress overall
10) reduce stress at work
11) take a trip
12) volunteer to help others

While these are certainly all worthy goals, of the twelve resolutions, five of them are worded in a negative way - things we want to do less of. And the others, while written in either a neutral or positive way, are still very vague goals, and very impersonal. The truth is, I've been in the bad habit of making similar resolutions all the time in my life. "I'm going to eat less cooked food." "I'm going to drink less alcohol." "I'm going to spend less money going out." And like many of you, I generally fail to follow these resolutions after a few days. Not only are they pretty much impossible without a plan, they're also not helpful and not fun.

This year, instead of making resolutions about what I don't want to do or setting vague, unrealistic expectations for myself (which might even be based more on what society expects me to want rather than what I really want for myself as an individual), I'm going to set good intentions instead. Good intentions are different than resolutions. They're based upon a vision of being my best light-self - my most creative, fun, vibrant, glowing, abundant self - and they're things that I actually want to do. These are practical concepts that I can grasp onto immediately. And most importantly, these are positive changes. They're action-based, and I can start them immediately. The more positive actions I'm taking for change, the less room there will be in my life for the old behaviors that I'd like to leave behind.

Which brings me to the reason I'm writing this post - because after all, everybody and their mom blogs about New Year's Resolutions, and there's plenty of other good advice out there, so why should you read mine? According to a Quirkology study, women achieve better success with resolutions/intentions when they make them public. So I'm writing this post partly for selfish reasons - to make myself accountable to my readers for the goals I'm setting here, and also to create a space for you to state your intentions in a safe and nurturing environment. So, here are my good intentions for the next journey around the sun:

Writing
1) Design a new Wordpress blog and post 3 days per week on really fun topics, expanding my readership and allowing for the blog to become profitable as well as a labor of love :)
2) Seek out one new writing assignment/market every week.
3) Open myself up to the many possibilities of supporting myself through writing by repeating an affirmation daily.

Food
1) Be grateful for every morsel that I eat or drink by stopping to say "I am grateful for this X."
2) Drink one green juice or green smoothie every day.
3) Drink a bilberry tea every day to improve my eyesight.

Social
1) Email one old friend every week (I've set up an alert on my computer to remind me!).
2) Phone one overseas friend or family member every week (see above).
3) Invite someone from my broader social circle to join me in an activity that I love every week, or accept a similar invitation from someone I want to get to know more.

Fun
1) Spend one entire day outside in a beautiful place hiking/camping/swimming/skiing every month.

So there you have it, my 10 good intentions for 2010. I actually have a lot more, but this seems like a manageable amount for me to focus on at the moment.

What are your good intentions for 2010?

A Heat-Beating Treat

2009-12-31T12:13:00.004+10:30

While the folks back home in New England are buried under masses of snow, here in Melbourne we've had three high-30 degree days in a row. To keep cool and nourished, I'm drinking this:

Come here glass of yumminess, I'm going to drink you...

It's a banana-date-almond frostilicious glass of cold creamy joy. Takes about 1 minute to make, so it's perfect for a hot day when even moving is an effort. You could also add any superfood powders that you like for an extra boost.

Banana-Date-Almond Frostilicious

Serves 1

1 frozen banana

4-5 dates, pitted

small handful of almonds

water

Chop the frozen banana into a few pieces. Toss it in the blender with the pitted dates, almonds, and enough water to cover. Blend until smooth.

Chia Power

2009-12-31T08:17:00.007+10:30

Chances are if I say the
word "chia
" to yo
u, it con
jures up this image:

Amazingly, it turns out that this same little seed that gave us not only the Chia Pet, but also the Chia Mr. T, Chia Britney and Chia Obama - I know, quite a miracle seed! - is also a serious nutritional powerhouse. But why eat something that you can grow into a decorative piece of greenery? Here's a few reasons:

1. It's a complete protein, containing all the essential amino acids (including the famous omega-3 and omega-6) that our body needs to survive but can't produce itself. There are very few plant foods that fall into this category, so it's a fantastic food for vegans or anyone looking to decrease their meat and dairy intake - or just anyone looking for low-cal, high-energy protein source. Chia has been reported to contain twice as much protein as any other seed or grain.

2. It has more iron than spinach! Again, great for those who don't go to red meat for iron.

3. Chia is really high in those good old antioxidants, which we know help fight free radicals and keep our lovely cells stable and cancer-free. It is reported to have three times more antioxidants than blueberries! Further, all those antioxidants help keep chia really stable at room temperature, and can be stored in the cupboard for years without going rancid (unlike flax and many other seeds and nuts).

4. It contains way more calcium than milk (and none of the dubious hormones found in conventional dairy). Don't get me started on the dairy = calcium myth! Let's suffice it to say, it's a big industry with a powerful lobby and a long, strong history. Getting calcium from chia is a much better choice for many reasons. For starters, it also contains the trace mineral boron that helps our bones absorb calcium.

5. Chia has more potassium than bananas. Mix these two together in a smoothie and you'll be cramp-invincible!

6. It slows the release of sugars into the bloodstream, helping to prevent energy spikes. Great for diabetics or anyone, really. Add some chia into your sweet foods or drinks, and the chia creates a barrier between the carbs and the enzymes that digest them. It also means your carbohydrate energy becomes longer lasting, so you feel stronger for longer.

7. As above, because chia slows the release of carbs, it seems to be a great exercise food. If I eat chia and go running or practice yoga later that day my endurance and strength seem to be increased. Perhaps this is also due to chia's water absorption capacity, which keeps the body hydrated and full of electrolytes during exercise. In Mayan tradition, chia was eaten by runners carrying messages over far distances - they always had a little pouch of this "running food" with them.

8. Chia is great at cleaning out your intestinal tract. It acts like a little broom, sweeping into those out-of-the-way corners and removing accumulated waste (yuck, I know, but so much better to get it out of there!).

Chia is one of my favorite superfoods because it is not only packed with nutrition and a source of endless energy, but it is also incredibly versatile in terms of culinary creativity. Here's what the little salvia hispanica seeds look like when dry:

And here's what they look like when soaked in water:

They go all gell-y when soaked and can absorb up to 10 times their volume in water (or juice, or any other liquid). Chia doesn't have much flavor of its own but has a kind of tapioca-like texture, which makes it great to use in recipes. I especially like to create all kinds of puddings using chia as the base, or add the gell to smoothies or juices for some extra slow-release energy.

Black Sesame Chia Pudding

Chia Pudding, Three Ways

Serves 4 for a light breakfast or dessert, or 2 for a hearty breakfast

Basic Recipe

5 Tbsp chia seeds

2 cups almond milk*

1-2 Tbsp raw honey, agave or maple syrup (adjust to taste - sweetness is a very personal thing!)

For Middle Eastern Chia Pudding

1 tsp rosewater

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Add the vanilla, rosewater and cardamom to the basic recipe. Stir well and set aside for at least 10 minutes. Stir again. Serve in shallow bowls, sprinkled with cinnamon.

For Vanilla and Nectarine Chia Pudding

4 nectarines

2 Tbsp agave nectar, honey or maple syrup

1/2 vanilla pod

Cut nectarines in half and remove the stone. Drizzle with sweetener and place, cut side up, on dehydrator screens. Dehydrate for at least 4 hours, or overnight if eating for breakfast.

Scrape the seeds from the 1/2 vanilla pod and add to basic recipe. Stir well and let sit for at least 10 minutes. Serve in shallow bowls, topped with 2 nectarine halves each.

Variation: Omit the nectarines. Mascerate 1 cup of berries in orange juice to cover for 1 hour. Spoon on top of pudding to serve.

For Black Sesame Chia Pudding

1/2 cup +1 Tbsp black sesame seeds

2 cups water

1/4 cup dried coconut

Omit the almond milk from the basic recipe. Instead, grind the black sesame seeds in a spice mill or coffee grinder. Blend the ground seeds with the water in a blender. Add the black sesame milk to the chia seeds and sweetener. Stir well and set aside for at least 10 minutes. Just before serving, mix through the dried coconut. Serve in shallow bowls, garnished with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds and a dusting of dried coconut.

As you can see, chia is highly adaptable. For more sweet chia inspiration check out:

Joanna Steven's recipes for Orange Blossom Scented Chai Pudding and Not-Tella Chia Pudding, or her decadent Chia Chocolate Crackers
Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo's Peach Coconut Pie with Chia Nut Crust, which I must make before the summer is over...drooling...
Ani Phyo has a recipe for Halva Chia Thumbprint Cookies in her new dessert book, which Annemarie Gianni demonstrated on The Renegade Health Show
Angela Stokes-Monarch's comprehensive piece on the history, nutrition and culinary uses this amazing superfood on the G Living blog

Chia can also be added to savory recipes. Carmella's (of The Sunny Raw Kitchen fame) Chia House Dressing is so beautiful, and it has inspired me to being adding chia to all of my favorite salad dressing recipes to thicken them without adding more oil. I recently created the following adaptation and served it tossed through a salad of raw rocket, zucchini and red onion mixed with cooked millet.

Sweet Sunny Chia Coriander Dressing

2 Tbsp chia seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp tahini

2 Tbsp honey

1 1/2 Tsp himalayan salt

1/4 cup (packed) coriander/cilantro leaves

1 cup water

Place everything into the blender and blend away. Mmmmmm. This would also be lovely over sweet potatoes, or any salad really.

Chia are really one of most versatile, remarkable and nutritious foods I've ever come across. I eat the slippery seeds nearly every day, and I suggest you give them a try. And if by some off chance they don't do it for you, you can always use them to do this:

"I pity the fool who don't like chia"

Superfoods for Super Humans

2009-12-26T17:10:00.007+10:30

"The Beginnings of Green" by Alan Jaras

You and I are beams of light, shooting stars, balls of glowing vibrational energy.

And to burn our very brightest, let's add some super fuel to that internal fire, and see what kind of creativity comes glistening, gleaming, shining through!

We can eat anything to get "full" - to satisfy that pure animal appetite that is a grumbly tummy. But what are we getting full of? I want to be full of the materials that make me my best light-self; full of joy, full of love, full of boundless energy and creative impulse. Those materials come to me through plants, which have kindly synthesized nutrients from the earth, the sky and the water in delectably digestible morsels. Their life-force, ingested, adding to my own - imagine the possibilities!

Beyond the beautiful plant foods, there is another class of foods that are exceptionally high in essential nutrients. These are the superfoods, which nutritional visionary David Wolfe describes as straddling the categories of both food and medicine. These foods are among the most nutritionally dense and healing substances on the planet. When we eat them, we not only boost our bodies with vitamins and minerals, we also take on an extremely high level of vibrational energy. You only have to eat a little bit of these foods to feel the spirit of these plants awaken within you.

If you're among the superfood skeptics, bear with me a moment. I'm not talking fads here, I'm talking about foods that have been used medicinally for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. Our contemporary knowledge of the superfoods often comes out of ancient traditions who recognized their power. Take the goji berry, for instance. Chances are if you're reading this, you've not living under a rock and you've seen the ubiquitous goji berry, or its concentrated powder or juice, at your local health food shop. This tart little ruddy guy is so much more than the latest thing in health foods - it has been celebrated within Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries as a powerful longevity-booster, a claim which contemporary scientific study corroborates. It belongs to a class of foods known as adaptogens - substances that, by working on the body in several therapeutic ways, increase overall health. Gojis support the adrenal glands, helping the body deal with stress, while also strengthening the immune system, creating alkalinity, and directly supporting the liver, eyes and blood. On a nutritional level, gojis are a complete protein source, chock full of all the essential amino acids, as well as a range of trace minerals and a host of vitamins. They are also rich in anti-oxidants.

Other superfoods that I know (intimately) and love (deeply) include cacao, spirulina, maca, honey, bee pollen, hemp seeds, coconut, acai berries, sea vegetables, chia seeds and aloe vera, among others. I find these foods so much fun to incorporate into my recipes, and they make me feel AMAZING. Keep an eye out for my superfoods series, in which I discuss different superfoods in depth and explore their potential culinary uses.

The one caveat I would add about superfoods is that while they may be helpful in treating illness, and there are certainly cases where they have contributed to profound healing, they are at their most effective when consumed regularly in order to support ongoing health, longevity and vibrancy. This doesn't mean swallowing tablets or capsules! Superfood ingredients are more and more readily available in health and natural food stores or through the internet, and they are incredibly fun to play with across a range of recipes.

You might just find that the more superfoods you get into your body, the more inspired you feel to create new recipes with them. Go with it!

What are your favorite superfood recipes - what do you eat that really gets you glowing?

Coconut Lucuma Cake with Mango and Coconut Vanilla Creme Swirl

2009-12-13T15:34:00.004+10:30

I've been having fun creating superfood recipes lately, and this one was inspired by a box of ripe mangoes and a dinner party invite. Almonds, coconut, lucuma, honey, mango, banana, macadamias, vanilla - this cake is more chock-full of nutrients than most people's meals. Protein and mineral rich almonds, immune-system and weight-balancing coconut, vitamin-C packed lucuma and mango, enzyme-rich raw honey, and much more.

All that goodness and three delicious, complex textures and flavors to tantalize the taste buds to boot! The bottom layer is a dense, cakey coconut lucuma extravaganza, topped with smooth mango puree swirled with a beautiful coconut macadamia vanilla creme. This is why raw desserts are amazing. Every bite is packed with yumminess and vitality.

Coconut Lucuma Cake with Mango and Coconut Vanilla Crème Swirl

Cake Layer:
1 cup almonds, ground to powder
1 cup dried coconut, ground to powder
½ cup lucuma powder
6 dried apricots
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Tbsp water

Mango Puree:
4 cups fresh diced mango (2 large)
2 dried bananas
1 Tbsp coconut oil

Coconut Vanilla Crème:
1 cup macadamia nuts
1 cup Thai young coconut meat (1 large)
½-1 cup young coconut water or plain water
1 vanilla bean
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp coconut oil

Method:

Grind the almonds to a powder in a coffee grinder or high powered blender. Set aside. Grind dried coconut to a powder using the same method. Combine the almond, coconut and lucuma powders in a food processor and add apricots, honey, coconut oil and water as needed. Whir until combined. Press into a springform cake pan and place in the refrigerator.

Combine mango, dried bananas and coconut oil in food processor or high powered blender and whir until completely smooth. Place in a bowl and set aside.

Rinse your food processor or blender, then combine coconut vanilla creme ingredients and whir until smooth. Add more coconut water or water as needed to achieve a very smooth, creamy consistency.

Spread the mango puree over the cake layer. Then make little wells and add the creme a little bit at a time until it is well distributed. Using a chopstick, swirl the mango and creme together. Place the entire cake in the freezer to set for about an hour, then remove to the refrigerator. Serve chilled and eat within 4 days.

FUNctional Food

2009-11-25T17:34:00.005+10:30

Check out this cake!

I've been thinking for a while about what I'd like to call the Fun Principle. So often this whole raw-health-nutrition scene gets so serious. And yeah, on one level it IS incredibly serious. We've talking about our health here, and as the old saying goes, what have we got if we haven't got our health? So eating the optimal diet is most definitely a worthy goal that ought to be among our highest priorities.

But at the same time, we have to lighten up. I don't necessarily mean by compromising and eating less healthy foods, though there are times when that might be a worthy decision if it supports your social life and lessens stress - but that's not what I'm talking about right now. What I'm talking about is looking at food from the pleasure angle. The Yum Factor. The joyful, blissful, pure enjoyment of really amazing food that makes us feel great and buzz with happiness. The kind of food that makes us want to shout because it tastes so good and is so freakin' full of nutrition you can feel your cells dancing. This is happy food! And it ought to be celebrated.

Hence the celebratory cake above. This is Hi-Cake: full of raw cacao, lucuma and nuts, and topped with a rich raw chocolaty icing made of avocado! I made this cake in honor of my brother, Alex, traveling almost as far as one can possibly go around this little earth of ours to visit me in Australia. After spending 30 hours in transit, doesn't he deserve a joyful cake? I thought so. And what is more joyful than chocolate cake - what, that is, other than raw chocolate cake full of bliss chemicals and heaps of vitamins and minerals.

The recipe comes from one of my heroes: Kate Magic Wood. Her middle name is Magic! How cool is that? Kate is a super raw foods educator, writer and entrepreneur who lives in the UK and operates the funky website Raw Living. But it's not just her passion for raw and superfoods that I dig about Kate. It's her holistic view of things. The way she really gets that the whole point behind this whole nutrition thing is to allow people to fully realize themselves and reach their highest potential, and to provide a basis for the flowering of humanity - the real revolution. And her website is pink and purple - I dig that too. Her superfood recipes are so innovative and have such a sense of FUN flowing right off the page. If only I were in the UK to try some of her food. For now I will have to settle for deriving creative inspiration - like this amazing cake. I added the goji berry spirals because they just seemed to be in the spirit of Kate! I also subbed cashews for brazil nuts and used honey instead of agave - about half as much as called for. Divine.

Look, nutrition is a serious matter. But at the same time it's a laughing matter! Because joy is the true path to vibrant physical, mental and emotional health. So here's to utmost nutrition, unspeakable pleasure, and true creativity, which ultimately are all one and the same. Talk about having our cake and eating it too!

Hi-Cake

by Kate Wood

(published at Raw Living)

Time needed: 30 mins, 3 hours setting time
Equipment needed: blender
Makes 8 large slices

By popular demand, here is a raw chocolate cake recipe for you, so you can see what all the fuss is about. These cakes are so nutrient-dense, one slice is a meal in itself, packed with vitamins, minerals, proteins and healthy fats. Easy to make, and even easier to eat! Remember the Hi-bar? The first raw chocolate bar to be sold in the UK (and beyond!), made with cacao nibs and brazil nuts, this is the Hi-bar in a Cake.

Cake:

250 g cacao nibs
250 g brazil nuts
250 g lucuma
6 tbsp agave nectar
150 ml water

Icing:

2 avocadoes
30 g raw chocolate powder
2 tbsp agave nectar
60 ml water

Decoration:

2 tbsp goji berries
2 tbsp dried cranberries

Grind up the nibs and nuts separately in a high power blender or coffee grinder. Transfer to a mixing bowl with the lucuma and agave. With your hands, mix the all the ingredients so you have an even powder. Add the water gradually, kneading the mixture into a ball with your hands. It should end up as a fairly thick dough-like consistency. Press into a springform cake tin, and leave in the fridge to set for a few hours.

To make the icing, put the avocado flesh in the blender along with the chocolate powder, agave and water. If you haven't got chocolate powder, you can substitute carob or mesquite. Blend until you have a thick cream. Once your cake is set, you can remove it from the cake tin, and spoon the icing evenly over the top and the sides. Decorate with dried goji berries and cranberries sprinkled over the top. Uneaten cake can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks

Green Romance

2009-11-12T18:50:00.006+10:30

I've been having a clandestine affair with spirulina. Just look at those curvy spirals! How could a curly-girl like me resist?

I thought the secret was safe from my long-time superfood lover, cacao, until I returned home from the office with a telltale smear of green on my cheek. Luckily cacao is a generous lover - she's okay with my girl-on-the-side green goddess. So now I'm dosing my body and my tastebuds with both of these phenomenal food-medicines, and life is just one big dance of ecstatic pleasure. Who would have thought that algae could be so racy!

Look, I'm not letting cacao go. I'm still drooling over her gorgeously bitter flavor, her delectable rich oils, her tantalizing way of potentiating other superfood partners. I'm blissing out on her feel-good chemicals: her love-inducing phenylethylamine, chill-creating anandaminde, brain-balancing tryptophan and serotonin, and satisfyingly stimulating theobromine. And as a woman, I appreciate the way her massive dose of magnesium soothes my sensitive soul.

But I'm just not a one-superfood kinda gal. And green is my favorite color. So spiraly spirulina is my new lover, superfood extraordinaire. The number one reason I've fallen for her is an absolutely amazing protein content - we're talking over 65%, which blows animal products out of the water. Not to mention this is a slaughter-free way of getting my protein, and is much more absorbable by my body. So don't ask me again where I get my protein! Or my iron, for that matter. Spirulina gives me super-power energy, balances my brain chemistry, and innundates me with antioxidants, and then some. If that's not sexy, I don't know what is.

This little firecracker is not just for adding to green smoothies or juices anymore, either. I'm eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got a little inspiration from the fabulous video here: Courtney Pool of Tree of Life talking Spirulina Salad on Tim VanOrden's Raw Running Project.

Spirulina salad! Who knew? I've been making awesome green cacao yummies for my darling for a while now, and sneaking teaspoons of the stuff into my own smoothies and juices, but on salad? Whoa now. Green on green. That's madness.

Luckily I adore madness! So I gave it a try. Yeah, it's freakin' good. So good that I've been eating it at least once a day every since. I even had a simple spirulina salad with chard, sesame oil and himalayan salt for breakfast one morning instead of my usual green juice! And I've discovered an even better variation: adding some maca. Wow. The possibilites are endless. Here's my favorite recipe so far:

Maca-Spirulina Salad

Big bowl of iceberg/cos/romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size bits
Good drizzle of Olive Oil
Good sprinkle of Himalayan salt
Big heaped Tbsp Spirulina
Big heapted Tsp Maca
1/2 Avocado, cut into small chunks
1 small tomato, diced

Mix it all up and enjoy the salty/sweet/creamy/tangy/umami/refreshing pure joy.

And yes, just like Courtney says, your teeth get all green and you get a lovely little green moustache. A bit dangerous to eat on my lunch break at the office, but they all know me as health freak girl anyway! Which they don't mind, because I bring in lots of treats that they all agree taste way better than the usual lollies and baked goods, and they love the way these foods make them feel.

But raw superfood desserts are an easy sell. You're just going to have trust me (and gorgeous Courtney) on the spirulina salad. Go try it. Right now. Life will never be the same.

Just make sure to thoroughly wipe your face after - or risk your new romance being discovered.

The Gastro Gnome on the Road

2009-10-30T14:19:00.005+10:30

I'm venturing out of my gnome-home and taking my superfoods with me.

For those of you based in Victoria or South Australia, come visit me in action at three fantastic events over the next month:

This coming Sunday, November 1, I'll be representing Living Raw Magazine at World Vegan Day at the Abbotsford Convent. I'll also have Raw Life! chocolate bars for sale, made with love (and raw cacao!) by the amazing Paulina. Some of my favorite local raw/vegan enterprises will be there too - Loving Earth, le cru, the Melbourne Raw Food Meet-up Group, Helena's Living Foods, Vegan Revolution, Radical Grocery and more. Oh and make sure you stop by Thoran's Raw Lounge. It's all happening!

The following weekend, November 6-9, I'll be at the Entheogenesis Australis Conference in Swanpool, Victoria. This is a group very close to my heart, and the weekend is guaranteed to be paradigm-shifting. In fact it was at this very conference two years ago that I first discovered the magic of raw and living foods, thanks to Sufiyo, Luke and Stil. There will be an incredibly talented range of speakers and workshops all focused around different ideas of evolving consciousness and the human relationship with plants.

Gastro Gnome Superfoods will be sharing a market stall with the talented artistic folks from Izwoz. There will be lots of cacao consumed, so please excuse us in advance for extreme silliness. Better yet, try some superfood yummies and join in the joy. I've got five fabulous flavours on their way, all packed with super natural goodness: Honey Lucuma Apricot, Green Cacao, Maca Cacao Crunch, Orange Goji Mesquite, and Cacao Spice.

The last weekend in November Gastro Gnome Superfoods will make another appearance at the Circuitree Reconnect Festival in Robertstown, South Australia. Granted, it's in the middle of nowhere, but hey, so is Burning Man! And these guys put on a great party. Not to mention some booty-groovin' music, including an appearance by Bleep (Jayson!).

See ya out there in the universe!

Spring Delights, and the Brilliance of the English Language

2009-10-20T18:12:00.007+10:30

Isn't it funny how many idioms in the English language have something to do with food? I suppose this linguistic phenomenon exists because food is such a central aspect of our lives. Not only do we, as animals, need to eat frequently to obtain the nutrients that we require for survival, but we, as humans, need to assign value to our foodstuffs and apply our creativity to nature's produce. So here and there, food words have crept into our daily speak. People, objects and events are "worth their salt," "sweet as honey," or "the spice of life." An unpleasant experience "leaves a bitter taste," and gossip girls "share the juicy details." We've got projects "on the back burner," and, hopefully, clients "eating out the palm of our hands."

It's with the utmost appreciation of the possibility for irony that the quirks of the English language provide that I venture to share with you "what's cooking" in my raw kitchen.

First of Spring Asparagus with Pink Pasta and Pesto

When the first asparagus of spring appeared at the farmer's market, I nearly did a dance of joy right there among the roaming chickens and beautiful hippie children. What I actually did was snatch up a bunch of the slender stalks and danced a mental jig. I brought the beautiful babies home and did absolutely nothing to them - they were just too perfect and sweet and crunchy to adulterate in any way. I took some inspiration from Raw Chef Russell James' gorgeous Purple Pasta and topped them with some zucchini fettucine dyed with beetroot juice and a great big mound of ad-hoc pesto, consisting of just about everything green I could find in my garden mixed with walnuts, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, himalayan salt and nutritional yeast. The dish was not only beautiful, but also really fresh and comforting at the same time, and pretty easy to whip up.

Primavera Celebration

Also known as This is Totally Not Lasagne. I have a real problem with calling this raw dish lasagne, even though clearly some the inspiration comes from the baked pasta classic. But come on, what do layers of zucchini, fresh tomatoes, living marinara, nut cheeze, and vibrant pesto have to with the stodgy casserole? I don't want to serve this dish and have my guests expect lasagne, and I don't want you to anticipate any similarity except in structure. This is a rich raw dish, but it's a celebration of fresh spring vegetables, not layers of starchy noodles and cheese and meat cooked into oblivion (no offense to lasagne - I used to love you). I made this dish because juicy, local tomatoes are finally back, as are the first of spring's local zucchinis. And because I had brazil nut pulp left over from making the most creamy, amazing nut mylk to pour over my grawnola.

Middle Eastern Salad

Sometimes the best inventions just kind of happen. Yesterday was one of the first long, warm, sunny afternoons, the kind that really feel like summer. After taking the dogs to the park, I just really felt like bright, sunny Mediterranean flavors, and this dish seemed to create itself from there. The base is chopped beetroot leaves, but I've added almost as much fresh coriander (cilantro), lots of chopped tomato and cucumber, some grated beetroot, fresh spring onions, and a fantastic mix of ground brazil nuts with cumin, coriander, turmeric and tamari, all dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. The garnish is the eggplant bacon recipe from Matthew Kenney's book Everyday Raw. I could eat this all summer long.

Quinoa Sprouts

Not too much to explain here! It turns out that quinoa is incredibly easy to sprout. I followed a really basic method - soaked the grains overnight, then left them suspended in a fine-mesh collander for a couple of days, rinsing twice daily. By the third day they had these lovely tails and I stored them in the refrigerator, where they kept for about a week (I'd eaten them all by then). I ate them in just about every salad I had during this time, and they were delicious.

Sauerkraut

This is perhaps my best discovery in ages. A head of cabbage costs less than AUD$4, and it makes two big jars of sauerkraut that last for ages. It takes about ten minutes to make, and all it requires is salt and caraway seeds. Furthermore, it's fantastic for encouraging healthy bacteria to flourish in the gut and really improves the ecology of the body. My inspiration came from watching Donna Gates on the Renegade Health Show - though I haven't tried her method yet. The technique I used here is simple: finely chop a head of cabbage, massage in two tablespoons of himalayan salt and one teaspoon of caraway seeds until the cabbage releases a great deal of moisture (about 2 minutes), and then pack it all tightly into jars. I then left it to ferment for about a week, after which I stored the living sauerkraut in the refrigerator. Jayson says it tastes like the real thing, and he's half Aussie German! Oh yeah, it's pink because I added in a little bit of purple cabbage that I had left over, and it colored the whole batch. Amazing.

le cru: Creating a Better Way

2009-10-12T17:53:00.005+10:30

This article appears in Issue 3 Winter 2009 of Living Raw Magazine, on sale now at select stockists and online.

In opening le cru, Melbourne's first raw restaurant, Carolyn Trewin's inspiration didn't come from the exploding raw scene in Australia.

When I pointed out that the interest in raw foods in our corner of the world has grown astronomically over the past few years, she did agree that perhaps the timing of her restaurant’s birth was auspicious. But she’s not the type of person to be motivated by trends. Rather, she follows her subconscious instincts on her quest to create a healthier society.

At the heart of the le cru project is Carolyn’s belief that vibrant health is achievable, but not through the channels that mainstream western medicine have provided us. She is a questioner; she wants to know why doctors receive one semester of nutrition at best while every supermarket in Australia contains multiple aisles of refined, heated products and carbonated water that induce ill health. “There’s got to be a better way,” she states emphatically.

I know she’s right, because I’m sitting in the middle of it. The restaurant, the physical manifestation of Carolyn's vision, occupies a beautiful space. It is lovingly furnished with warm wooden chairs and tables, tapestries and metal objects that create an opulent eastern vibe. Everything seems to have been carefully selected to create an aura of calm, a peaceful oasis from the dizzying Melbourne dining scene. Yet there’s a buzz in the air that reminds me that I’m in a restaurant, and I’m excited. I peruse a menu full of dishes that not only sound appealing, but are created out of nourishing, plant-based, living ingredients. I want to try everything.

But it’s only 10:30 a.m., so I forgo the rest of the menu (for now) for chef Nush’s offering of tiramisu and a cup of lukewarm brazil nut milk coffee and retreat with Carolyn to her upstairs office. As I settle myself into a deep armchair, pondering how to simultaneously take notes and enjoy my generous gourmet breakfast, Carolyn transitions from the flurry of morning preparations – getting change, taking bookings, cleaning, consulting with the kitchen – into a more pensive mode. She’s flipping through the first issue of Living Raw curiously.

“Training tips for raw vegans,” she muses aloud. “Why doesn’t it say anything about humility?” Carolyn’s question about vegan morality disarms me, as a vegan inclination is often taken for granted among raw enthusiasts. Turns out, she’s become more than a little wary of the term. In fact she wonders why some vegans flaunt their veganism like it’s a medal of honour.

“I dislike the word ‘vegan’,” Carolyn laments, describing a run in with a couple of haughty customers who short changed their account, another who complained that her budget had been blown, and yet another who trashed the restaurant with incorrect facts on an online message board. It’s a common problem for a young restaurant – attracting a clientele that understands what the establishment is about and embraces it joyfully. The difficulty for le cru is even more pronounced because there is a certain eagerness among the vegan and raw populations to adopt the place as their own, yet expectations for what a raw vegan restaurant ought to be vary widely.

Melbourne has a trend towards vegetarian restaurants that offer large portions at cheap prices but le cru is more on the casual fine dining end of the scale. Dishes are moderately portioned, and prices reflect organic ingredients and the labour intensive preparations that gourmet raw food entails. Furthermore, not all dishes are vegan as the restaurant uses honey in many recipes, which has caused a stir among some potential customers. But le cru stands by their decision to include honey, citing its health benefits and noting that all of the restaurants at which Carolyn and Nush trained in America (including Pure Food and Wine, Quintessence, and Café Gratitude) also use honey. They strive to keep their prices accessible despite demanding the very best organic and local ingredients.

Le cru certainly strives to be all embracing, and sees itself as a space to include everybody. They’re not about labelling people or lifestlyle; rather, the intention is to create a space for healing that brings wellness to the community. For these reasons, they deliberately reject the “vegan” moniker and opt for the all-inclusive “plant-based” title instead. It’s a viewpoint that focuses on the bounty of nourishing ingredients available rather than defining itself by what it excludes – a rather uplifting and liberating way of thinking about a high-raw lifestyle.

Carolyn is sure that embracing such a positive mode of thinking is the basis of health, happiness and success. She draws upon lessons learned from a background in psychology in asserting that the brain is our most powerful tool, and keeping this tool in working order requires clean fuel: “A clean body leads to a clean brain, which provides clear answers.”

This is the basic idea around which Carolyn bases her detox and nutrition programs, and what led her to explore a raw foods path in the first place. It’s a story that began with her initial diagnosis of breast cancer in 1994 and has been a complete journey since.

A recurring tumor in 1998 followed by extremely painful metastatic cancer in her ribs led her to “have a chat with her higher being.” At that point she had two young adopted daughters who had already lost their first mother, and Carolyn couldn’t see any reason that they ought to lose a second. “I had a job to do,” she explains earnestly, “and I hadn’t completed it.” From this experience she learned that she had to take not only her health, but her life, her very existence, into her own hands.

Since then she’s adamantly insisted against the contemporary inclination to hand over one’s entire being to a doctor. She doesn’t understand why the modern medical profession effectively hands out death sentences, and encourages people to instead decide for themselves whether or not they feel as though they will live or die.

In working with others on healing and detoxification, Carolyn strives to provide another mental picture – the option of choosing life. She has helped several people clear themselves of cancer, and another to lose 30 kilograms and rid himself of diabetes. Her technique? Detoxification through alkaline water, foods and green smoothies, for a start.

She teaches her clients to remove the acidity from their bodies, thereby changing their physical terrain to make it unsupportive of disease. She derides the fact that western doctors are provided with one semester of nutrition at most, yet at the same time echoes the disclaimer that spouts from the lips of so many raw food educators that she’s not a doctor. She doesn’t want her clients placing their lives in her hands any more than they’d sign themselves over to a doctor. Rather, she insists that each person’s health is up to him or herself, and what she strives to offer is education and support for each journey.

For local Melbournians seeking such support, le cru’s Tuesday night programs offer a great starting point. In May they offered a series of detoxification and nutrition classes, and in June followed up with a number of workshops focusing on raw food preparation. They have also hosted evenings featuring Scott Fry’s Loving Earth chocolate, Jemma Gawned’s Naked mineral makeup, organic food and wine matching, authors and other local enterprises that they see as being in line with their principles. Setting aside Tuesday evenings to focus on education and community support is telling about the intentions of the le cru team.

One of these intentions is, of course, to share a passion for food. That passion is embodied in the bundle of energy, creativity, generosity and hard work that is chef Nush. In my interactions with her, I’ve gotten the impression that she is so obviously meant to be a chef. She has a way of owning the kitchen, which I’ve rarely seen her leave unless it’s to check on her customers to make sure they’re enjoying their meal, or to offer a little nourishing treat to hungry visitors.

Carolyn has clearly passed on a nurturing instinct to her daughter, through it’s fascinating to see how differently they express it. With Nush, that innate quality that makes a chef a chef shines through constantly. An appreciation for good food can be traced to her childhood, when she and Carolyn would cook together. But as Carolyn says, this was simply family bonding – she had no idea that she was grooming a young chef. Yet clearly something about food – and even more, about her mother’s experiences with raw food – sparked her attention. She trained in the culinary arts and worked as a pastry chef before embarking on raw food preparation skills. She went to New York to study with Dr. David Jubb, then travelled around the US with Carolyn observing the way that different raw restaurants operate.

The resulting restaurant is a true collaboration between mother and daughter. While Carolyn manages the front of house, accounts and events, Nush’s domain is the kitchen. Carolyn tells me that Nush spends at least twelve hours a day in the kitchen; my impression that she rarely leaves turns out be grounded in reality. Carolyn and Nush work on menu development together, creating daily specials and updating menus to reflect seasonality and ongoing inspiration. They’ve recently added warming soups, dehydrator-heated items, and heartier dishes such as an apple crumble and an essene bread to reflect the desires of customers through the winter months. They constantly seek out opportunities to further their knowledge and spark their creativity, such as working with chef Felix Schoener during his recent visit to Australia.

Ultimately the message that le cru sends out is that there is an alternative to sickness, and that is vibrant well-being. There is an alternative to food-as-commodity, and that is food as physical and spiritual nourishment. There is an alternative to business as either large commercial enterprise or struggling independent endeavours and that is a community created through a supportive network of like-minded people.

By embracing ideals of gratitude and generosity and placing them at the heart of le cru’s operations, Carolyn, Nush and the rest of the team embody the “better sharing and caring way” that they envision.

le cru restaurant
137 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park, VIC 3206

Cosmic Carrot Lemon Cheesecake with Red Raspberry Sauce

2009-10-06T20:00:00.005+10:30

I’ve got a bit of a bakery habit. While I rarely feel any pull to actually buy one of the gorgeous cakes – I know that despite their lovely appearances, they’re made of low-energy, dead food products like white flour, sugar and butter – I really love to ogle them. I admire the artistry that is patisserie. In fact I know that many of the master bakers out there, while they may differ with me on matters of diet, hold the same core philosophy close to their hearts: namely, using the best quality ingredients and preparing their little delicacies with the utmost attention to detail. Ultimately, it comes back to that old hang-up of mine: integrity.

Look, I’m not trying to argue the merits of pastry. No matter if your baker is using the finest flour and organic butter imported from France. That croissant is still nutritionally dead. Despite its beauty, it’s not doing anything to make you a glowing diva radiating an aura of earthly energy. I’m just giving credit where credit is due: to the creativity and artistry of the patissiere.

My latest addiction is a little cake shop on Little Collins Street in Melbourne. They make the most delicate, gorgeously petit cakes – miniature versions of French classics with contemporary twists. One that I’ve really admired lately is the “cosmopolitan:” a layer of carrot cake, a layer of cheesecake, and a topping of raspberry jam. I just had to have a go at rawifying it.
I’ll be the first to admit that mine didn’t come out nearly as pretty as the delicacies on display at Le Petit Gateaux. Then again, I haven’t been disciplined under the exacting eye of a French patissiere! So I’ll give myself a break in terms of design, and suffice it to say that the flavors are HOT. Sweet, spicy carrot cake, given a depth of flavour with the additional superfood boost of mesquite meal, layered with lemony cashew cheesecake and tied together with the sweet-tart, lip smacking sensuality of raspberry-honey sauce. This is a super-powered cake. Carrots, coconut, mesquite, cashews, lemons (from my lemon tree!), dates, berries, honey – this cake is seriously nutritious. Yup, my cake packs more vitamins than most people’s so called “healthy” meals, but don’t eat it for that reason. Eat it because it’s delicious, it makes you feel great, and because there’s absolutely no reason that every single bite you put into your mouth shouldn’t satisfy on every level.

Cosmic Carrot Lemon Cheesecake with Red Raspberry Sauce

Crust

1 cup dried coconut
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup dates
pinch himalayan salt

Carrot Cake Layer

3 1/3 cups finely grated carrot
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups medjoool dates (pitted)
1 1/3 cups shredded coconut
2/3 cup mesquite meal
1 tsp grated nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Cheesecake Layer

2 cups cashews
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 small vanilla bean
water, as needed

Raspberry Sauce

2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen and defrosted
2 Tbsp honey, softened

For the crust: Grind macadamias and coconut in food processor. Add dates. Press into the bottom of a cake pan.

For the carrot cake layer: Squeeze as much moisture as possible out of the shredded carrots. Grind the sunflower seeds to a powder in the food processor. Add dates and process to combine. Add shredded coconut, mesquite meal, nutmeg and cinnamon, and pulse a few times. Add carrots and process until combined, leaving some texture.

Press half (or all, of you prefer 2 layers) of the carrot cake mixture on top of the crust, and place the cake in the freezer to set a bit while preparing the next layer.

For the lemon cheesecake layer: If honey and coconut oil are firm, melt over a double boiler. Combine cashews, lemon juice, melted honey and coconut oil and vanilla bean in food processor or high powered blender and whir until smooth, adding water slowly as needed (up to 1/2 cup).

Smooth half of the cheesecake mixture over the carrot cake layer. Place in freezer for 10 minutes to solidify, then top with the remaining carrot cake mixture. Again, freeze to solidify, then top with remaining cheesecake mixture.

Will keep frozen for a few weeks, about 1 week in the refrigerator.

Make sauce just before serving: Soften honey over a double boiler, then combine with raspberries and mash with a fork. Drizzle over each serving of cake.

Weekly Wine: Spring Seed Wine Co. Four O'Clock Chardonnay

2009-09-28T16:27:00.006+09:30

A wise man once told me, when in doubt about which wine to choose, pick the one with the coolest label. I swear that's not what led me to choose an offering from the Spring Seed Wine Company as the first Weekly Wine feature, but I just can't begin this discussion without drawing attention to the absolutely beautiful bottle. Each wine features artwork from vintage seed packets - my 2008 Four O'Clock Chardonnay has a painstakingly detailed illustration of sunflowers doing their worshipful thing. The label indicates an attention to detail and appreciation for the slower way things used to be done, so before I've even taken a sip I'm partial to the drop.

Empty bottle of chardy, keeping company with my leeks.

It's made by the Bosworth family in McLaren Vale, South Australia, from certified organic, estate-grown grapes from low-yield vineyards. They are into traditional, minimalist winemaking, and, according to their website, aim to "ensure the purity, integrity and flavour of our vineyard" in their wines. Purity, integrity, and flavor: what more can one ask for in a wine? The winemaking techniques are pretty cool too: they picked the grapes in six batches over ten days, then fermented each batch separately to create complex flavors. After the ferment they left the wines on solids to protect against oxidation to decrease the amount of preservative needed. Cool fermentation temperature and the avoidance of malolactic fermentation retain the delicate chardonnay flavors and acidity. The results?

I'm not a wine expert, just an enthusiastic punter, so I'll describe what I tasted in my own language. A big, sweet opening - incredibly floral, a touch of stone fruit, a hint of citrus - but pretty short length giving way to a crisp, acidic finish. A strong mineral profile which clearly suggests to me a taste of the soil, a true sense of terroir. It's unoaked, but still maintains a pretty strong structure, with a touch of a vanilla aftertaste.

I knocked back a couple of glasses with my girl Kristina during a collaborate dinner making session. We munched on some crudites with two beautiful dips that I made using a recipe from The Kitchen Dispensary - beetroot and zucchini/avocado. The wine was well suited to the light, bright, clean flavors of Kelly's recipes, and went down pretty easily as we danced about the kitchen creating and nibbling. Suffice it to say Kristina and I finished the bottle.

Kelly's dips:

Zucchini & Avocado Dip

1 Large Zucchini

1 Medium Avocado

1 Tsp Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt

Juice of 1/2 a Lemon

1 Tsp Cumin

1 Tsp Tumeric

1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 Large Clove Garlic

Chop up the zucchini, avocado and garlic into smaller pieces.
Add with the remaining ingredients to your food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth.
You can add a little water if the dip seems too thick.

Beetroot Dip

1 large beetroot

20 soaked brazil nuts

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 Large Clove Garlic

1 Tsp Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt

Chop up the beetroot and garlic into smaller pieces.
Add with the remaining ingredients to your food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth.
You can add a little water if the dip seems too thick.

Both of these dips should keep for a week in an airtight container in the fridge.

Introducing Weekly Wine @ Raw Gastronomy

2009-09-23T17:32:00.007+09:30

I've been harboring a dilemma for a while now. Here it goes:

I love a good drop.

But I hate a hangover.

Obviously not drinking in excess is one key factor that leaves no room for debate. But what about the comforting embrace of a glass of merlot on a Friday evening, the first sip instantly melting the tedium of the (office) work week through its magical spell of round, robust fruity goodness. Or an evening shared with friends, sipping cabernet and swapping life stories over a meal made with love. Or a lazy warm afternoon, passing the hours between beach frolicking and a late summer supper with a glass of mineraly riesling and a plate of juicy summer tomatoes. As a gastronome, these are intense pleasures for me.

On the other hand, I am deeply concerned about health on every level - my body's health, my mental health, and the health of the environment in which I live (which are all, ultimately, the same thing). Over the past few years as I've journied down the path of nutritious eating, I've become increasingly convinced that everything that I put into my body has a profound impact on the way I feel. And I want to feel great, all the time! If I'm going to enjoy a drink or two tonight, I still want to wake up feeling great and energetic tomorrow morning. So therein lies the great question: is it possible to enjoy alcohol (responsibly) without detriment to my overall well-being?

I've spent a bit of time researching this question, and the best solution I have so far is to keep my wine, like my food, as natural and local as possible. It seems kind of obvious: I wouldn't buy Woolworth's apples, tainted with unknown pesticides and preservatives and possibly sitting in cold storage for a year, no matter how cheap they were. So why would I buy an $8 bottle of Jacob's Creek made from high-yield, heavily sprayed, machine harvested, lesser quality grapes that have been pumped full or preservatives? But it's not obvious, because many people who eat really healthy food don't apply the same principles to their plonk. They think, "It's just alcohol, it's not good for me anyway, so I might as well buy the cheaper stuff, right?"

Wrong.

The truth is, a good organic/biodynamic/natural (and I'll get into the distinction soon) wine is good for you. First of all, it's raw, which is something that few other alcohols can claim. Beer is usually made from roasted malt, and spirits require heat for distillation. But wine, in its pure form, is a really natural product. Grapes, left to their own devices, will ferment into wine, provided some yeast is present (and it will be in a vineyard that isn't sprayed with chemicals that kill the majority of living things that cross its path). Which means that the resulting beverage is not only potentially tasty and pleasantly inebriating, but also full of beneficial bacteria, as well as vitamins, minerals and antioxidants from the grapes themselves. Look, I'm not arguing that you should drink wine to get your vitamins. I'm just pointing out that like any food product, wine can be as good for you as the ingredients from which it is made - even more so than many products because heat hasn't been introduced to degrade the nutrients.

Which is why if you're like me and get massive enjoyment out of a bottle, I seriously recommend you spend a bit more and go for the good stuff. There are a few options here, all of which I have been, um, researching with amazing results. First off, there's organic. In Australia, as in most countries today, "organic" means certified, which basically means no chemicals. Of course the fact that a wine is certified organic doesn't mean it's going to be any good (in fact, until a few years ago, it almost guaranteed that it wouldn't be, but that's changing). But it does mean that no chemicals have been used in the vineyard, though it doesn't guarantee a lack of preservatives or non-vegan fining agents (such as egg whites or isinglass). Most organic wines tend to use a far smaller quantity of preservatives, because they are using a higher quality fruit harvested and fermented with more care, so less spoilage is likely to occur. So going organic with you wine is a really good bet.

Then there's biodynamic, which again in Australia is a certificiation issue. This simply means that the grapes have been grown according to the principles of biodynamics, which encompasses organics but also includes a close attention paid to the rhythms of the planet, the seasons and the cosmos. In terms of the winemaking, there's not a huge distinction here from organic. But through conversations with both organic and biodynamic certified winemakers, I've found that most people who have taken the time to grow their grapes with these labor-intensive methods are also making the effort to mirror such natural practices in the winery in order to produce the most authentic wine possible.

Finally there's natural wine. This has nothing to do with certification and everything to do with integrity. And if you're read any of my previous posts, you'll know that I'm all about integrity when it comes to what I eat and drink. Drinking natural wine is sort of like buying your produce from the farmer's market. They may not be certified, but you've gotten to know them and you know that they are growing good quality food without chemicals and with the utmost respect for the land. Like organic and biodynamic, these grapes tend to be grown in a chemical-free environment and are always hand-harvested. Where natural wine most differs is in the winery. Strict adherents to the concept of natural wine shun preservatives, fining agents and pretty much any other intervention while the grapes are doing their fermentation thing. In terms of flavor, this is it - rustic, alive. Not all natural wines are great, but the great natural wines are the best wines. They are deep expressions of terroir, with nothing but the flavor of excellent fruit grown in healthy soil coming through - or so I'm told. I have yet to find an Australian natural wine, but I'm on the lookout, and when I do I promise to deliver a full report. (For a more in-depth exploration of natural wines, check out Pameladevi Govinda's fantastic article in Imbibe.)

There are lots of really, really good organic, biodynamic and natural wines out there these days. Unlike the early days of the recent re-birth of organic winemaking, many of the people making these drops today know a thing or two about winemaking. They are passionate about the land and organics, sure, but they are also trained winemakers who know how to gently coax the grape on its journey from fruit to wine like a concerned, responsible and loving parent. Its an idea a bit late in coming to Australia, but in France the most revered wines have been the biodynamics for years now, and natural wines are now considered by many to be where it's at.

It's also worth mentioning that many organic and biodynamic winemakers are following the natural wine ethos. But it's not a certification, not something you're going to find stamped on the bottle, at least not in Australia. If you want to find the best wines out there, both in terms of flavor and natural methods, you're going to have to get out there and talk to winemakers - which is exactly what I intend to do here in this space. If you're lucky enough to have a boutique wine shop near you, start by talking to the staff, and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

For my Aussie readers out there who enjoy a good, natural drop, I'm starting a new segment on this blog called "Weekly Wine." Each week I'll introduce you to a different organic, biodynamic or natural wine, and tell you a bit about its story as well as how it tastes and what sort of raw dishes would complement it. Look out for the first post in the next few days. Please feel free to leave suggestions for wines you'd like to hear more about in the comments.

Cheers! To your health.

De-stressing with Dessert

2009-09-17T12:50:00.006+09:30

When I feel emotionally drained, stressed or otherwise out of sorts, I find the most soothing thing to do is to get into the kitchen. As I begin chopping, mixing, molding and, yes, tasting, I feel myself relaxing, my posture softening, my breath slowing, my mind quieting. I work on instinct, sometimes referring to various recipe books or websites, but always tweaking things as I go based on my personal culinary sensibilities and the ingredients that I happen to have on hand.

These truffles are something that just sort of happened during one of my evening de-stressing sessions. I really liked the idea of a maca-cacao truffle, something that I'd seen in Matthew Kenney's book Everyday Raw, and I also had some juicy prunes sitting around. I thought their richness would be wonderful with cacao, but wanted to sweeten the mixture a bit more so brought in the dates, honey and a splash of orange juice. The almond-brazil nut combo came about because of their different flavors and fat contents; they balance each other perfectly here. Cinnamon came in at the last second and I really like the subtle spice it adds to the maca coating (after all, I'm still an American girl at heart, and as obsessed with cinnamon as the rest of my compatriots).

Not every kitchen experiment is blog-worthy, but I was really pleased with how these turned out. Give them a try, or use them as a jumping off point for some inspiration of your own. Please share your creative results in the comments section!

Rich Cacao Maca Truffles

Makes about 20 truffles

1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup brazil nuts

1/2 tasp Himalayan salt

1/4 cup pitted prunes

1/4 cup pitted dates

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp coconut oil

1/3 cup + 1 heaped Tbsp cacao powder

juice of 1/2 an orange
a few drops vanilla extract
2 heaped Tbsp maca powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine almonds, brazil nuts and salt in food processor and grind to a powder. Add prunes, dates, hon ey, coconut oil, cacao powder, orange juice, vanilla and 1 heaped Tbsp maca powder. Whir until a sticky dough comes together. Place in the freezer for 1/2 hour.

Put the remaining 1 heaped Tbsp maca in a shallow bowl and mix in the cinnamon. Roll truffle dough between your hands into small balls, then roll in maca cinnamon powder to coat.

Another recipe I came up with recently on a rainy Sunday (gotta love rainy Sundays, I feel entirely justified spending the entire day in the kitchen and not out frolicking in the sunshine) is a new twist on oatmeal raisin cookies. You may have also noticed that I love oatmeal raisin cookies. I've tried a few recipes, and the truth is, they're all good. This time around I subbed soaked buckwheat for oats, which worked a treat. I like using buckwheat in raw versions of baked goods because they create a really satisfying doughy texture. These cookies are sweet, soft and slightly spicy - everything you want a oatmeal (or buckwheat) raisin cookie to be.

I use honey here - beautiful, raw, local honey - because it really deepens the flavor. There are differing opinions out there on the use of honey, as some people prefer to avoid all animal-related products, but I personally find it to be health-giving and utterly delicious. I've heard that eating local honey is a good remedy for hay fever, too. Personally it makes more sense to me than using agave imported from the other side of the globe, but there are times when I prefer the runnier texture and more subtle flavor of this sweetener in more delicate recipes. Follow your own instincts.

Buckwheat Raisin Spice Cookies

Makes 9-12 cookies

1 1/2 cups almonds, divided

1 cup buckwheat, soaked overnight and drained

1/2 cup pitted medjool dates

1/3 cup raw honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Grind 1 cup almonds to a fine powder in a powerful blender, food processor or spice grinder. Remove and set aside.

Place the remaining 1/2 cup almonds in a food processor and pulse a few times until the almonds are chopped into small pieces. Remove and set aside.

Combine buckwheat, dates, honey, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and cardomom in food processor. Whir until the mixture comes together. Slowly add in the 1 cup of almond powder and continue whirring until you have a solid dough. Add a little bit of water if necessary. Remove to a large mixing bowl.

Stir almond pieces and raisins into the dough. Scoop out heaped tablespoons of dough and arrange on dehydrator sheets. Dip the spoon in water and press down the tops of the cookies with the back of the spoon to create even circles. Dehydrate for 2-3 hours on one side, until firm on the outside, then flip onto dehydrator screens and dehydrate another 4-5 hours for a soft cookie, longer for a firmer cookie.

Salad a la Japonaise

2009-09-02T14:50:00.005+09:30

I love the great tradition of the French composed salad. The composed salad is about compartmentalization, about showing off the gorgeous simplicity of good quality ingredients without a lot of fussy tossing. Think the classic nicoise: lettuce, boiled potatoes, hard boiled egg, black olives, tuna and green beans, everything in its right place. The composed salad is to the tossed salad what Vermeer is to Jackson Pollock. It's a detail thing: one about order and exactness, the other about explosive bursts of creativity.

As a lover of Japanese food, it occurred to me that the clean, sexy and somewhat restrained flavors of this cuisine lend themselves incredibly well to the composed salad form. What I'm talking about is more or less a nori roll, deconstructed. A gorgeous bed of greens, slightly wilted and lightly dressed in sesame oil, tamari and a touch of chilli, supporting an artful array of vegetables, finished with a mound of spicy ginger pate.

Don't be alarmed by the seeming complexity of this recipe. It's simple, really. Dress the greens, make the pate, and arrange. Done.

Just resist the urge to toss.

Salad a la Japonaise

Serves 2

Salad

6-8 large chard or spinach leaves, finely chopped (about 2 cups)

1 bunch bok choy, finely chopped

1/2 tsp himalayan salt

1/3 cup wakame (dry), soaked in water to cover for 10 minutes and drained

2 Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp tamari

pinch of red pepper flakes

Ginger Pate

1/2 cup brazil nuts

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 cm square piece of fresh ginger

1 small clove of garlic

1/2 tsp himalayan salt

juice of 1 lemon

1/4-1/3 cup water

Toppings*

2 medium swiss brown or white mushrooms

1 Tbsp tamari

1/2 Lebanese cucumber, julienned

1/2 carrot, shredded

1 medium tomato, cut into small wedges

2 small handfuls sprouts, any kind
4 radishes, thinly sliced

For mushrooms:

Slice each mushroom in half, then into 1cm slices. Place in a shallow bowl and toss with 1 Tbsp tamari. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.

For salad:

Combine chopped chard or spinach and bok choy in a large bowl. Add a pinch of himalayan salt and massage for about 30 seconds, until the greens just begin to wilt. Add rehydrated wakame, sesame oil, tamari and red pepper flakes, and toss to coat. Set aside while you make the pate.

For pate:

Combine brazil nuts, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic and salt in food processor and pulse until grainy. Add lemon juice and water as needed, and process until fairly smooth (similar to hummus texture).

For assembly:

Divide salad into 2 large shallow bowls. On top of the greens, place a large scoop of the ginger pate in the center. Surround with individual piles of carrots, cucumber, tomato, sprouts and marinated mushrooms. Serve immediately.

*Use any vegetables you have on hand for the toppings. Thinly sliced red capsicum, snow peas, broccoli, daikon, gobo, or many other vegetables would go just as well here.

Fruit Feasting in Far North Queensland

2009-08-31T08:45:00.007+09:30

Banana tree growing free

There's something romantic about nature in Far North Queensland. The sun seems to nurture rather than scorch, the ocean to soothe rather than rage. The sky seems bluer, the plants greener, the flowers more vibrant. Life bursts all around, and I can loose myself walking on a glorious stretch of beach or exploring in the dense rainforest, in sheer awe of nature's perfection.

Of course the other side to the extreme beauty of the tropics is the intense humidity and rainstorms of the wet season. But it's the special combination of heat and rain that produce what I consider the best feature of the tropics: the fruit. Rare and wonderful gems of the tropics like star apple and abiu thrive in conditions that are enough to drive most human beings insane.

Tropical Fruit Bowl of Yumminess

As a tourist, the place to sample some of these goodies is the Cape Tribulation Exotic Fruit Farm. It produces a commercial crop of mangosteens, but the orchard is dotted with a wide assortment of fruit trees producing their various bounty in their own seasons. Even visiting at the end of the dry season there's an exciting assortment to taste and view in the stunning orchard, set just at the foot of the rainforest.

Today's Menu

Our tasting guide is Trish, who nurtured a passion for fruit growing up in Brazil. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and she soon has us gasping and mmming our way through a gigantic bowl of exotic goodies. We start with water spiked with West Indian lime, to cleanse the palate, and then we dive right into the tasting.

Pummelo is first, a fruit I remember from my travels in Israel. It's sweeter than a grapefruit, but still retains a hint of tartness. It reminds me of my childhood breakfast of a halved grapefruit sprinkled with brown sugar. Interesting, but not exotic enough for me yet. Next is longan, which is similar to a lychee. The skin is thinner and brown, but when peeled away it has that eyeball texture and mildly sweet juicy flesh with a slight sour tang.

Pummelo

By this time I'm eying off some of the more unsual fruits in the bowl, and my wish is granted. Trish holds up an abiu fruit, which she calls the "guardian of the mangosteen" because of the trees' big, shady canopy that protects the young trees but which can pruned back to practically nothing when it's the mangosteens' turn to shine. The abiu is a tropical exclusive; it can't be transported because it is incredibly fragile and oxidizes quickly. It's like nothing I've ever tasted - gentle and approachably sweet with a soft texture. It's so good that we all eat it down to the skin, only to be left with a strange sticky residue on our lips as though a big bubble of gum as been burst in our mouths. It's a strange sensation, but tasty enough to leave us wanting more.

Abiu - sweet and lovely

Moving on the sapote family, we have a taste of the sapodilla or sapote chico. It's not a fibrous fruit, and the texture is smooth and avocado-like. The flavor is reminiscent of a ripe date - lots of sugar and hint of spice. Imagine Christmas pudding in a fruit and you ahve the sapodilla.

The yellow sapote is possibly even less fibrous, with a texture like crumbly cheese and a color like the yolk of a fresh egg. I'm in love with this fruit - the flavor is sweet, but there's something more, something lusty. This is a fruit for grownups, it's mature and a little bit dangerous. Add it to my list of aphrodesiacs.

Yellow Sapote, you naughty thing

The star apple is a bit of a misnomer. It's related to the apple in color only, though a cross section of the fruit does reveal a glorious star. Hailing from Haiti, this big round dark orb is mildly sweet and refreshing on the inside. It's an easy to eat fruit, but again it leaves that sticky-lip feeling when you eat too close to the skin (and you do, because it's so good).

Trish with a glorious but misnamed star apple

Our only Australian native of the day is the Davidson plum. Again, it's not a plum, it only looks like a plum. Seems the English had a propensity to name things for things they looked like back home - a sentiment I understand, because whenever I travel I always find myself searching for a familiar point of comparison. It's taste, however, is not plum-like. It is one of the tartest things I've ever tasted, but not necessarily unpleasingly so. While everyone's faces pucker up as if we'd eated a bowl of lemons, we agree that it would make a nice chutney for red meat or could be cooked up with sugar to make a paste for a cheese plate (a la Maggie Beer), if you go in for that sort of thing. In the raw kitchen, I could see it adding a piquant bite to a sauce or salad, and I'm interested in getting my hands on some to have a play with. By itself it's full on, though I do spot my dad going back for seconds (I suspect he was alone in chosing this as his favorite of the day).

The final two fruits belong the custard apple family. First is rollinia, a South American native that closely resembles the custard apples I find in Victorian markets both inside and out. The taste is remarkable: lemon meringue pie, with the texture of, well, custard. The rollinia is a big hit, and it's followed by guanabana, also known as soursop. It's the only fruit in the custard apple family that has juice, so the pulp can be frozen, or the juice can be extracted for those who don't like it's overly fibrous texture. It tastes like a really sweet pineapple, minus the acidity, and with a faint hint of bubble gum. A bit too sweet for my taste, but truly exotic.

Rollinia (left) and Soursop aka Guanabana (right)

After the tasting I spend the rest of the week trying any tropical fruits I can get my hands on. Black sapotes turn out to be a bust, as the only ones I can find are full of seeds, but I do gorge myself on several pawpaws (aka papaya) and enjoy amazing local avocadoes and some dried mango.

I guess I'll have to go back in the wet so I can feast on the holy grail of tropical fruits: a fresh durian.

Mom and I basking in tropical glory

Cool Rawkin' Aussie Stuff

2009-07-31T15:04:00.005+09:30

Wanna make your raw life better? Here are few fantastic raw enterprises recently rolled out by a couple of amazing Aussie lasses which I think are worth checking out, supporting, and generally showing some love to. They'll love you right back!

#1 - Monkey Mike's Raw Food Cookbook: an Un-cookbook Book for Kids. By Melbourne's own Joanne Newell! Those of you who follow the blog at RawMom.com will be familiar with Joanne's work, and let me tell you, she's one passionate, lovely lady. Her book looks really well laid out and easy to follow for kids from about 7-years-old and up. Also a nice reminder that raw food prep needn't be overly complicated to be delicious, and that's it accessible for everybody. Get it for kids in your life that you care about (including your inner child).

#2 - Passionate Gourmet Uncooking School. Just launched in Perth! How I wish I were in Perth right now so I could attend one of these classes offered by the talented, passionate and endlessly inspiring Kate Quinn (also the creator, editor and publisher of Living Raw). She also does catering, coaching and about a million other things. Catch her if you can!

There are so many other amazing things happening on the Australia raw scene now as well. I welcome anyone to post other great Aussie raw stuff in the comments section so we can all benefit from the snowballing creative energy going on here.

Goji and Blueberry Cheesecake

2009-07-28T14:57:00.006+09:30

When life hands me blueberries, goji berries, and "really raw" cashews, what do I do? Why, make goji and blueberry cheesecake, of course. Silly question.

The colors and textural interplay in this cake are amazing. Bright orange cream filling, violet blueberry sauce, and dark chocolatey crust create a striking image - and we eat with our eyes first. I love using blueberries in the filling because combined with the "really raw" cashews (not steamed to remove the shells), they create an airy cream filling. The combination of brazil nuts, vanilla, cacao and coconut in the crust reminds me of a darker, richer version of oreo cookies. I add some more textural interest by sprinkling a crust layer in the middle of the cake, and drizzling a blueberry syrup over the finished cake. This leads to a cheesecake that is flavorful and light - so you can eat it and feel totally satisfied, not sick.

I got nearly all of the ingredients for this cake from the Melbourne Living Foods Co-op this month. We are so lucky to have this group, because it allows us to buy loads of fantastic organic, raw products each month at a low price, and to support local farmers and enterprises in the bargain. I highly recommend joining a co-op like this if you have one in your area.

Goji and Blueberry Cheesecake

Crust:

3/4 cup brazil nuts
3/4 cup dried coconut
pinch Himalayan salt
1 heaped Tbsp cacao powder
1-2 Tbsp honey or agave
1 Tbsp cacao nibs or 7 cacao beans
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:

1/2 cup goji berries
1 cup cashews
1 1/2 fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup melted cacao butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup honey or agave
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
pinch Himalayan salt

Topping:

1 cup blueberries
3 dates
water as needed
a handful of gogi berries

Method:

To make the crust, combine brazil nuts, dried coconut, Himalayan salt and cacao powder in a food processor. Whir until ground well. Add honey or agave, cacao nibs or beans, and vanilla extract. Pulse until large crumbs form. If not sticky enough, add a bit more honey or agave.

Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan. Refrigerate to set.

For the filling, grind goji berries to a sticky powder in a spice/coffee grinder. In a food processor or high speed blender, combine goji powder, cashews, blueberries, melted cacao butter or coconut oil, honey or agave, lemon juice and salt. Blend/whir until totally smooth. *If you are using frozen blueberries and they are not totally thawed, blend the other ingredients first until really smooth and somewhat warm. Add the berries one at a time to keep the temperature constant so that the melted cacao butter or coconut oil doesn't seize up.

Spread 1/2 of the fillling over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining crust mixture on top and refrigerate for 10 minutes to set. The spread the rest of the filling over the top and refrigerate or freeze until ready to eat - at least an hour.

To make the topping, combine one cup of blueberries with the dates in a food processor or high speed blender. Blend/whir, adding water as needed to achieve a thick syrup. When serving, drizzle the sauce over the cake and top with a few goji berries.

Emerald and Ruby Grawnola

2009-07-27T10:31:00.003+09:30

This is the best grawnola ever! Its base is crunchy and nutritionally-dense buckwheat, which makes for a really satisfying raw breakfast cereal. Then its studded with gorgeous little jewel-like cranberries, apricots, pistachios and pumpkin seeds. The contrast of the deep ruby cranberries and dark amber apricots with the glistening green pistachios and pumpkin seeds is visually stunning - and don't forget, we eat with our eyes before we even taste a morsel.

What really makes this grawnola shine - both in appearance and taste - is a coating of olive oil and a dark/light sweetener combination. The oil and sweetener act as a glue to hold the mixture together, and they really amplify the flavors of the ingredients. I've used two sweeteners to give more depth to the flavor and to create a more broad mineral profile. I used a beautiful local raw honey with a sweet, mild flavor and dark agave in my mixture, but feel free to experiment with the fruitier flavor of yacon syrup or the complex sweetness of maple syrup.

You could use another oil if you prefer, but I like the savory flavor of olive oil (along with a bit of Himalayan salt, my favorite) in contrast with all the sweetness in this recipe. I'm a big fan of combining sweet and savory - I love the big punch of a broad flavor profile on my tongue. I guess I'm a bit of a flavor junky! Try it for yourself and see if you don't become an addict, too.

Emerald and Ruby Grawnola

3 cups buckwheat, soaked overnight
1 1/2 cups pistachios, soaked overnight
1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds, soaked overnight
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried apricots, cut into quarters
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup strong sweetener (dark agave, B or C grade maple syrup, yacon syrup, strong honey)
1/2 cup light sweetener (light agave, A grade maple syrup, mild honey)
1 tsp Himalayan salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Drain and rinse buckwheat, pistachios and pumpkin seeds. Combine in a large bowl. Add olive oil, both sweeteners, salt, cinnamon and cardamom. Toss to coat thoroughly. Mix in cranberries and apricots. Spread over teflex dehydrator sheets and dehydrate for 36-48 hours, until buckwheat is crunchy and mixture is mostly dry (will still feel a bit sticky). Place in a cool spot for a couple of hours, and the granola should harden so that is is completely crunchy and no longer sticky.

Stored in airtight containers, it will keep for a few weeks. Serve with nutmilk and fresh fruit, or just eat it on its own as a snack. Yum.

Stir-Dehydrate - or, an impromptu weeknight dinner

2009-06-23T16:56:00.004+09:30

I learned to appreciate vegetables at a young age. In fact, there was not really any learning to be done - I have always instinctively loved all things veg. Unlike most food-fussy children, I had no problem gobbling up broccoli, and I salivated at the mere mention of spinach. While I shunned anything that was of recognizable animal origins (I could handle hamburgers but balked at steak or chicken), I happily snacked on raw veggie sticks and filled my plates with seconds of peas, potatoes and parsnips.

One of my mom's staple weeknight dinners was the classic stir-fry, and as a vegetable lover this was always a favorite of mine. Hers tended to be very onion-and-pepper centric, but I did learn from her the beauty of throwing a bundle of whatever vegetables are on hand into a big ole' frypan and making them taste delicious by topping them with assorted savory sauces. As I learned to cook for myself, particularly as I appreciated the beauty of healthy vegetarian eating, I relied more and more on the stir-fry for a quick, easy and yummy weeknight meal. In fact for ages my favorite post-yoga dinner was a big bowl of stir-fried greens and tofu.

Transitioning the stir-fry to the stir-dehydrate takes a tad bit more planning, but it's just as forgiving and delicious as its cooked counterpart. I say it takes more planning simply because I like to warm it for at least half an hour in the dehydrator, but you could eat it totally fresh if you're short on time. In winter I really need to eat my food slightly warmer than room temperature for comfort reasons - my old house is really cold, and warm food really seems to help me keep the chills at bay.

The only requirements for this recipe are a lot of asian greens - in fact, today's inspiration is some lovely local bok choy with gorgeous little purple streaks and an intensely cabbagey flavor - and a good savory sauce. Other than that, you can play around with the veggies you add or subtract - just use whatever you have on hand. I even tossed in some tempeh here to bulk it up a bit more. I serve this one with strips of coconut meat as noodles because I like to add a bit more fat into my winter diet, but you could lighten it up with zucchini or kelp noodles instead. Either way, definitely try this sauce - it's a winner that I keep coming back to again and again.

Stir-Dehydrate

3 bunches bok choy, chopped width-wise into thin slices
1/4 head of cauliflower, cut into tiny florets
4 large swiss brown mushrooms, sliced thinly
3 spring onions, chopped into 1cm pieces
meat of 1 young Thai coconut, cut into ribbons
drizzle of olive oil (or use sesame or other oil of your choice)
big pinch of himalayan salt

Sauce:
2 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp miso paste
1 tsp honey
3 Tbsp olive oil (or sesame, or other oil of your choice)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic
a few drops toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2-3 Tbsp sesame seeds

Mix chopped vegetables, coconut noodles, oil and salt in a bowl and toss to coat. Place bowl in dehydrator, or spread veggies over teflex sheet, and leave at least 1/2 hour to warm and soften veggies.

For the sauce: combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine thoroughly. Adjust seasoning to your taste - remember, the taste should be intense but balanced as it will be spread over all those veggies.

When veggies are warm enough for you, toss with sauce in a bowl. Top with sesame seeds and eat with chopsticks! Serves 2 as a main meal.

Celeriac

2009-06-17T13:46:00.005+09:30

A relatively lovely specimen, from marcwomm on flickr

Celeriac is one ugly bugger. It's a knobby, tangly, dirty root hiding beneath a mop of straggly greens. Why I selected it from the assortment of root vegetables adorning the winter vegetable display at the farmers market is a bit of mystery - perhaps I felt sorry for the homely little guy. All I can say is, I'm glad that something prompted me to bring this sad specimen home. Because hiding beneath the gruff exterior is a unique and enjoyable flavor experience.

I decided to try my hand at adapting a traditional French preparation for celeriac - the remoulade. It took a bit of work, but I didn't mind. I lopped off the greens and made myself a green juice (celeriac tops, 1 apple and 1/2 a lemon) to fuel me up for a culinary task at hand. Then I simply cut away all of the gnarly exterior. What was left resembled a turnip or swede. The celeriac was treated to a quick grating (I used a box grater, but I sure am missing the grater attachment to my food processor that is buried in a box somewhere from my last move) and set aside.

A traditional remoulade is dressed with a garlicky mayonnaise. Since I'm not averse to the idea of raw egg, I've tried this before. But I found the results to be so rich that eating it made me feel kind of sick. So I decided to make a lighter version of the creamy, garlicky dressing using avocado as the base, with an assortment of seasonings including parsley from the garden and fresh raw organic garlic (I'm definitely going through a garlic phase at the moment, eating about 1 clove a day...hopefully nobody's noticed). The resulting dressing packs a lot more nutrition and is easier on the stomach than the original.

I tossed the dressing with the grated celeriac and, voila! A lighter, brighter version of celeriac remoulade. Yeah, it looks a little bit greener than the traditional type, but in the raw food world we're used to our food having a slight tinge of green.

Light, Bright Celeriac Remoulade

If you haven't tackled celeriac yet, I urge you to try it. Its flavor has hints of celery, but nuttier and sweeter. Once you cut away the exterior, it is really easy to handle, and has such an unusual taste that is really surprising. Don't let its funny looks deceive you.

Light, Bright Celeriac Remoulade

1 celeriac root, trimmed
1/2 avocado
3 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp himalayan salt
1 tsp tamari or nama shoyu
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp mustard
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Grate celeriac into a bowl. Set aside.

Combine avocado, olive oil, lemon juice, himalayan salt, tamari, nutritional yeast, mustard and garlic in food processor. Whir until smooth. Add parsley and pulse until just combined.

Toss dressing with grated celeriac. Serves 2 as a side or 1 as a big meal.

Chocolate Orange Ganache Tart

2009-06-14T14:20:00.003+09:30

This is a celebration cake! It features a chocolate cookie crust filled with layers of rich chocolate ganache and orange cream. I actually made it about a month ago for a raw potluck that got canceled at the last minute, so instead of attempting to devour the whole thing myself, I stuck it in the freezer. It worked a treat. With Jayson's birthday in mind, I pulled it out the day before our family celebration. Then we all gorged ourselves silly on this incredibly rich tart for his birthday dessert.

This amazing cake comes with a word of warning: do not eat late and night, and do not eat in large quantities. It is insanely delicious, but so rich and packs quite a punch of cacao power. So make sure to share it with people you love!

The idea for this cake is a combination of Matthew Kenney's Chocolate Hazelnut Tart from Everyday Raw, and Raw Goddess Heathy's Chocolate Orange Cake. I didn't really plan for it to be that way - basically I couldn't find hazelnut extract, and I felt that I needed a bright, clean flavor to cut through all that chocolatey-ness. So I tweaked the tart recipe a bit, stuck an orange cream layer in the middle, and voila! Chocolate Orange Ganache Tart. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Orange Ganache Tart

*This recipe requires a few days of advance planning, as you need to make the cookie crumbs at least 3 days before the tart. Since the whole thing is pretty labor intensive, I recommend making it in advance for a special occasion and then refrigerating or freezing until ready to serve. If freezing, take it out of the freezer the day before you're going to serve it.

Crust
2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
1/4 cup melted coconut oil

Sub-recipe: Chocolate Cookie Crumbs

2 cups cacao powder
2 cups oat groats, ground to powder in a spice grinder
3/4 tsp himalayan salt
1/2 cup agave
1/2 cup raw honey
1 1/2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients (cacao powder, oat powder and salt) in a large bowl. Add agave, honey, melted coconut oil and vanilla and mix well. You'll probably have to get your hands in there! Crumble into small pieces onto dehydrator screens and dehydrate for 3 days.

Now you have lovely cookie pieces to do with what you will! You'll want to pulse about 3 cups of the pieces in a food processor to get small crumbs to use for the above crust, but you can use extras in lots of fun ways - crumbled over raw ice cream, mixed into raw chocolate or white chocolate base recipes, in other raw cookies, or just munch on them! Store in a sealed jar.

Back to the Tart...

Chocolate Ganache Filling
1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked for 2 hours
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup agave
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
1 cup cacao powder

Orange Cream Layer
3/4 cups cashews, soaked for 2 hours
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
3 Tbsp agave
1 Tbsp melted cacao butter
1/2 tsp melted coconut oil
tiny pinch himalayan salt

Garnish
Dark Chocolate glaze (melted coconut oil, cacao powder and agave)
Orange segments
A bit of orange zest

To assemble the crust, mix chocolate cookie crumbs with melted coconut oil in a bowl until the crumbs hold together. Press the mixture into the bottom of a tart pan and place in the freezer while you make the filling layers.

Make the chocolate ganache by combining all of the ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor (often these creams require a high speed blender, but mine came out totally smooth in my trusty old battered food processor) and processing until completely smooth. Spread half of the mixture over the cookie crumb crust, and put the rest aside. Place the half-filled tart into the freezer to set while you make the orange cream.

Make the orange cream by combining all ingredients in high-speed blender or food processor as above. Spread the cream layer over the bottom chocolate ganache layer. Place in freezer to set. After about 1/2 hour, remove from freezer and top with the rest of the chocolate ganache. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve, or freeze if not using with a day or two (remove from freezer one day prior to serving).

I made a quick dark chocolate glaze by mixing about 2 Tbsp melted coconut oil with 1 Tbsp cacao powder and a bit of agave, then drizzling over tart just before serving. Decorate with orange segments.

Beetroot Dip

2009-06-04T12:46:00.003+09:30

Avocado Stuffed with Beetroot Dip

The pace of our lives can be terribly fast, and it often feels like we're moving in whirlwind with no time to slow down and relax. Running from job to job to errands to meetings to social engagements - this life of speed has come to be a common experience today. I have been experiencing this tornado of activity lately in my life, and while I certainly enjoy being busy, I also miss being home at mealtimes to indulge in the pleasure of culinary creation. Often my lunch has been a salad or bowl of fruit gobbled down at my desk, my dinner has been sneaky bites of veggies in the back kitchen towards the end of dinner shift, and my snacks have been juices, granola bars and teas. These simple foods have nourished my physically, but I find that I'm lacking in the spiritual nourishment that I derive from a little kitchen inspiration.

Today I finally had half a day to myself, so I decided to whip up something creative for lunch. I wanted to make something raw and healthy, but a little bit outside of my recent comfort zone of an amazing big salad with everything on it. Rather than just make something to eat, I wanted to consider flavors and textures, experiment with colors, and use some power tools!

I opted to create an original dip - a forgiving palette on which to experiment with different elements. Jayson has been buying some lovely vegan dips lately, and I've been thinking to myself how easy it would be to come up with raw versions. So today's challenge was to create a raw beetroot dip with all the depth of flavor of a cooked dip, but way more nutrients. Chopped beetroot, tomato, red onion, garlic, parsley, sunflower seeds, lemon juice, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard and a pinch of himalayan salt all went into the food processor. Then I played with seasonings a bit until the taste was just right. The surprising ingredient in here is actually carob powder, which adds both sweetness and depth to balance the acidic flavors.

Beetroot Dip Prep

I was going to eat this with crudites, but then I saw two ripe organic avocadoes purchased at CERES market yesterday that were just calling my name. So I filled half of one with the dip and ate it over a bed of greens from the garden with a few plump, juicy Mt. Zero olives. I think there are endless ways you could use this dip - as a sandwich spread, thinned out with a bit of water and poured over salad as a dressing, tossed with zucchini pasta, over steamed sweet potatoes and quinoa, or just as is with some raw crackers and veggies.

Beetroot dip with crudites and garden greens

Taking the time to nourish myself with inspiring flavors, and to enjoy the process of creating loving food for myself, is so important to keep me on track on so many levels. I know that no matter how busy I am, culinary creation is a priority.

Beetroot Dip

1 cup raw beetroot, roughly chopped
1/4 cup red onion, roughly chopped
1 packed TBSP fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 tomato, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 tsp brown mustard
1/2 tsp himalayan salt
1 tsp cumin powder
2 heaped tsp carob powder
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in food processor and whir whir whir until you achieve a smooth, creamy consistency. Adjust flavors to taste - add cayenne if you like a spicier dip, or a bit of agave/honey if you like a sweeter dip. I like to add lots of black pepper for a little surprise zing.

Viva Las Vegan

2009-05-29T13:22:00.005+09:30

Jayson was, er, "sick" today, and we celebrated having a lovely, crisp sunny day together by riding our bikes to Las Vegan in Collingwood for lunch. I've been meaning to visit Las Vegan since I moved to Melbourne, but somehow it has never been convenient (they're only open for lunch Tues-Fri). An entirely vegan cafe, featuring an assortment of yummy meals and baked goods - how fantastic! Actually Smith St. in Collingwood is kind of a vegan heaven, because it is also home to Friends of the Earth, Organic Wholefoods, Soulfood Cafe, and a vegan shoe store. Why don't we have all of this in Brunswick (though in all fairness we do have an Organic Wholefoods and the Radical Grocery, but I'm holding out for a vegan cafe)?

The cafe is lovingly decorated and offers an assortment of lunch options, including calzones, soups, salads, and heartier meals. Jayson had the "chili non-carne" on rice with salad, and I had a lentil patty on a beautiful bed of salad. We both had some room left so we took home some muffins (chocolate orange and carrot). Somehow it felt like the ride was uphill both ways. What's up with that?

As I sit here writing this, I am drinking a pot of gorgeous "plum pudding" tea (a lovely Christmas gift from my lovely former housemate Jackie) and eating my vegan carrot muffin. Totally un-raw, I know. But that's part of what I want to talk about today, and where this review of sorts is heading. I mostly write about raw food recipes on this blog, and I LOVE raw foods and how they taste and make me feel, but I do not eat 100% raw food in my life. I have gone through periods when I did, and I probably will be at that place again. But right now, that just doesn't work for me for reasons both practical and emotional.

I've been reading Kevin Gianni's new ebook "High Raw" lately and I have found that his advice is fantastic. His first principle for following a high raw lifestyle is to "think like a raw fooder," which means to build a foundation by which I'm eating approximately 75% raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. When I have this foundation, I don't have to stress over an urge to eat, say, a vegan carrot muffin. Because sometimes I do have these urges, and I think stressing out about them is the worst thing I can do! Either eat the muffin and love it, or don't eat and and eat something else instead, but either way don't stress.

By the way, I have tried to make raw muffins but haven't been satisfied with the results. I'm not sure this is the kind of thing that is really going to translate well into a raw form. But I'm open to ideas.

In conclusion, if you love healthy vegan food with lots of raw ingredients and happen to be in Melbourne, visit Las Vegan. And if you're at all interested in optimising your health and feeling great every day without stressing over it, read Kevin Gianni's "High Raw" immediately!

Simple Simple

2009-05-26T13:15:00.003+09:30

A simple but delicious lunch of juicy persimmons

I got really sick last week! I came home from my Wednesday night shift, got into bed and started shivering. It wasn't even a cold night. I couldn't stop shaking for over an hour, even after covering myself with layers of clothing and blankets. I spent the next 2 days in bed with a fever.

I had been working without a single full day off for about a month, not getting regular exercise and my diet was kind of erratic. For several days leading up to my illness I was eating calorie dense foods - a lot of nuts and raw desserts, as well as some cooked food. My stress levels were high and I wasn't allowing for any release through relaxation or exercise. Is it any wonder that my body reacted by overheating and then shutting down?

The cure was SIMPLE, however. I just stopped eating and rested! I drank water at first, adding in juice as my appetite began to return. Then I moved on to some simple vegetable soup. I slept a lot, and went for some short walks as my strength returned. Within two days I was feeling pretty great.

The lesson I learned, which I'd like to share with you, is this: keep your raw food simple! Raw desserts are great, but they should be treats for special occasions. I am now focusing on designing a daily way of eating that incorporates fresh juice, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, greens, and lots of water and herbal tea. I personally have a tendency to forget that the above is the basis of a happy, healthy diet and go overboard with the raw sweets and gourmet recipes. Yes, these are raw, but they are really dense and hard to digest and shouldn't be eaten every day.

The other lesson is to give myself time off to play and relax! So I have now adjusted my work schedule so that I have one full day off every week. And that day happens to be Sunday, which is a day off for Jayson as well, so we can spend the day together having fun. This past Sunday we went bushwalking in a kind of eerie feeling gorge near Bacchus Marsh.

My question today is, what do you do to remind yourself to "keep it simple?" And what do you do to relax?

A little bit of unbaking

2009-05-15T09:54:00.003+09:30

I've been working like a fiend lately - full time at one restaurant, casual at another, and a 2-day-a-week temp job in a government office. Needless to say I haven't had much time to spend in the kitchen, and the spare time I have had has mostly been spent sitting on the couch in a daze or sleeping. But I finally had a few quality hours to myself on Wednesday morning, and I decided that what I needed to do more than anything else was make cookies!

I had a hankering for good old fashioned oatmeal cookies - I suppose I was really craving something wintery and comforting. I used to make an amazing oatmeal raisin spice cookie in my pre-raw days, but despite their tastiness they were loaded with butter and sugar and flour. Not the best way to coax nutrition out of the remarkable little oat! So I set off to find something that would satisfy my cravings and give my body lots of energy.

I found a great recipe in Heathy's Just Desserts ebook (which, by the way, is incredible - this girl really knows what she's doing with raw desserts - I've made a couple of the cakes and they are spectacular). Just looking at the photo had me longing to curl up on a couch with a plateful of these babies, a mug of warm almond milk and a good book. So I ran out and bought the ingredients, as well as lots of fruits and veggies for juices and salads (a girl can't live on cookies alone!). Arriving home, I made myself a giant green juice and got to work on my cookies.

A tempting bowl of raw oatmeal raisin spice cookies, perfect with a cuppa and a good book.

There were quite a few steps involved in these cookies, but it was definitely worth it. Basically, it involved mixing a lot of wet ingredients in a food processor, grinding nuts and oat groats, and then stirring it all together with raisins. I guess that's actually not any more steps than is involved in making traditional cookies, come to think of it. I added extra spices - nutmeg, allspice, clove and cardomom - to the original cinnamon because I just love a spicy cookie. I had them in the dehydrator by early afternoon, and ate warm cookies for breakfast in the morning! I also ate a lot of batter along the way. And I'm not the only one who was eagerly licking the bowls:

Bazza, my kitchen companion and bowl-licker extraordinaire.

I had enough extra batter to make a batch of Heathy's Super Granola Bars. The base was the same as the oatmeal raisin cookies, but to these I also added goji berries, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped dried apricots and dried coconut. Heathy's recipe called for cacao nibs, but I left these out as I feel that I already consume enough cacao in hot chocolates and desserts. I spread the batter out on a teflex sheet in my annoyingly round-shaped dehydrator, and when they were finished cut them into wedges. They are a perfect, filling snack, and easy to take on the go. I found that eating just one before work kept me feeling satisfied for hours, so I've actually individually wrapped the rest so that I can grab one and throw it in my purse for emergency munchie situations (seriously - when working in hospitality, these do occur regularly, and it's good to have a yummy raw snack on hand so I'm not tempted by less healthy foods).

How gorgeous are these babies?

Super yummalicious granola bars to keep the munchies at bay.

The only question now is what kind of cookies should I make next?

Inspiration: Golden Canneloni and Carrot-Butternut Soup

2009-05-01T15:36:00.003+09:30

Inspired raw dinner!

I have been doubly inspired lately. First, by the glorious wisdom of nature, bestowing me with a garden and farmer's market full of beautiful, seasonal fruits and vegetables. And second, by the creative genius of all the wonderful raw chefs around the world who share their creations so graciously via the web! This desire to give, this sense of abundance at the very heart of the raw food movement is exactly what I love about it. The more we eat natural foods prepared with love, the more we appreciate the gift of such foods, the more energetic and grateful we feel, and the more we want to share our passion and creativity with others. It's a big cycle that I am so happy to be a part of.

So today's inspiration comes, firstly, from golden zucchinis and pumpkins in the garden. I've had lots of fun playing with both of these gorgeous fruits this autumn, but I'll admit I was starting to feel a little bit bored of them. Then I saw Matthew Kenney's drool-worthy Golden and Green Canneloni over at G Living and, viola, I was suddenly excited about golden zucchini again! What a miracle to have such special fruit growing in my own backyard! I didn't really follow Matthew's recipe, just kind of took his general idea and ran with it, using whatever I had on hand to make my own version. This was a pinch-dash-handful-drizzle kind of recipe, no measurements as such: a few slices of mandolined golden zucchini for the canneloni shell, layered with thick slices of luscious farmer's market tomatoes, a simple pesto of basil and rocket from the garden pulsed with a handful of walnuts, a bit of garlic, pinch of salt and drizzle of walnut oil, and an impromptu cheese made with cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a dash of water. Here's the result, which was oohed and aahed over and then gobbled up hungrily by J and myself:

Golden Canneloni: inspiration from the garden and Matthew Kenney

With the canneloni we also enjoyed a nice big green salad with rocket and ruby chard from the garden, a bottle of quite drinkable but ultimately immemorable red (I think it was Shiraz Grenache Viognier?) from Organic Vignerons Australia, and a couple of little mugs of my spiced-up version of Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl from Gina at Choosing Raw. Gina's recipe combines carrot juice, butternut, avocado, stevia, cinnamon and nutmeg for a sweet, creamy bowl of yumminess. I prefer my soup a bit more savory so I added some turmeric, a bit more himalayan salt, and a nice big pinch of cayenne (and then another pinch of cayenne). It was pretty spicy, and very orange. Definitely a big beta carotene kick!

Sweet and Spicy Carrot-Butternut Soup

So happy to be inspired again! C'mon nature and raw chefs of the world, what are you gonna throw at me next?

Thoughts about Cancer Research

2009-04-26T14:57:00.003+09:30

After reading Gina Kolata's recent New York Times article on the continuing search for a cancer cure, I wanted to throw my hands up in the air in frustration. Apparently Barack Obama has pledged increased funding for cancer research over the next few years in the hope of finding a cure for the disease. He is, of course, just the latest in a line of leaders who optimistically encourage us to think that if we keep on the current track of scientific research, this plague of the modern world will be eradicated.

Noble intentions, certainly. But as Kolata points out, hundreds of billions of dollars have already been poured in this type of research with only the slightest drop in cancer deaths over the past 55 years. And here's the thing: most of the more innovative research never gets funded, because of its riskiness compared to research that will make tiny, incremental advances. A lot of what is being funded is basically drugs and treatments that will keep cancers at bay, maybe give patients a little bit longer to live.

I'm not saying that any of this is bad. It's fantastic that there are doctors and researchers out there trying to improve the prognosis for cancer patients. And how wonderful that some government money is going to health research. But I just think the entire system is approaching this disease from the wrong angle. I know I don't have a medical background, so I'm only saying this from my own perspective. But doesn't it seem like more than a coincidence that the rise in cancer coincides with an increase in processed food consumption, increased industrial activity, and the use of chemicals in our homes? I mean, how obvious can it get?

I think this is a disease that is going to be slow to eradicate, and I say that because I think what is required is a fundamental shift in the way we live. We're just exposed to so many carcinogens in our modern world, and really the obvious solution is to remove as many of these toxins from our environments as possible. Eating non-processed, organic, plant-based foods, using natural cleaning and beauty products, drinking the best water we can get, and keeping our minds positive will go a long way towards stopping this disease in its tracks. There are stories of people who have "cured" their cancers with juice feasts, affirmations, or ever laughter! I wonder how much research money is looking at these sorts of possibilities?

But the problem here is that the research money seems to be looking for more of a quick-fix - a drug or treatment regimen that will "cure" cancer in an individual patient. Yes, I understand this desire. Like most people in this world, I'm no stranger to friends and family who have struggled through - or died from - cancer. It's scary, and I like to think that should I receive such a diagnosis, I can be cured. But I'm not convinced that this sort of research is the best approach. And cancer drugs and treatments can have so many side effects - after all, it's not just the cancerous cells that are affected by pharmaceuticals and radiation.

These are just my thoughts on the subject - I have no medical background and really know very little about the topic. And I certainly wouldn't tell any of my loved ones to ignore a doctor's recommended treatments and use entirely alternative approaches - though in all honesty if I received such a diagnosis myself you can be sure that I would research every single alternative/complementary option before trying anything that conventional medicine has to offer. I would be really curious and grateful to anyone who has any more information on this topic and would like to share to leave a comment - I think this is a really important discussion.

A Few Reasons to Love Winter

2009-04-08T16:03:00.004+09:30

Someone must have been playing a big joke when the universe ordained that I be born on a cold, gray January day in cold, gray Hartford, Connecticut - insurance capital of the Western world. Ha ha, very funny. The truth is, I'm not a big fan of winter. I start shivering just about the time when we turn back the clocks, and can't get rid of that bone-knocking chill until it begins staying light well into the evening again.

For a girl who grew up in New England, escape was the only answer. Yet somehow I still manage to find myself in cold climates. I know, Australia is supposed to be warm, but not Melbourne! I might yet make the move to the tropics, but for now I have to face facts and learn to embrace winter. There are actually many things to love about the colder months, and I've compiled a little list as an exercise to psyche myself up for the blustery days ahead.

1. Hot chocolate. Need I say more? There's nothing like curling up with a big mug of spiced hot chocolate and a good book. It's a great way to pass...

2. Evenings by the fire. Okay, so my old single-front worker's cottage doesn't have a real fireplace, but there's still something cozy about huddling in the lounge room with my partner and my dog, electric fireplace ablaze, all of us reading or watching movies or typing away on our laptops (dog excluded - he's more likely to be sticking his snout on the keyboard, angling for a pat). It's a snuggler's paradise.

3. Hot baths. I love a good soak in the tub, complete with essential oils to relax my mind and candles to set the mood. I like to follow an evening bath with a cup of chamomile for ultimate relaxation.

4. Soup. So simple, so satisfying. Sometimes in winter my body cries out for a warm meal, and soup just does the trick. One thing I've learned on my raw journey is to take it slow and listen to my body, so if my body says, "Cooked foods, please!" then a big bowl of homemade soup is my answer. And if I want to keep it raw - preserve all those lovely enzymes - I simply heat it slowly over a low flame until it reaches baby bottle temperature, or leave it a bit longer in the blender until it gets warm. I love making a pumpkin soup using veggies and herbs from the garden, and I am dying to try this Butternut Squash Coconut Soup from Raw Epicurean.

5. Cups of tea. I drink herbals teas constantly year-round, but in winter they're all the more appealing. Peppermint, rooibos, green tea, lemongrass, sage, ginger, chamomile, and on and on. I can't get enough. For my birthday, my amazingly insightful mother gave me a book about herbs called 2009 Herbal Almanac and I can't wait to read more and vary my tea regimen accordingly.

6. That crisp, clean feeling in the air. I associate it with falling leaves, jack-o-lanterns, hayrides, and apple picking. You can't take the New England out of the girl! We don't have all the appropriate accoutrements of autumn here in Melbourne - it even comes at the wrong time of year! But we do still have lovely crisp mornings, those first days of sweater-wearing and digging out of hats and mittens from the depths of the closet. And it is a relief to know it's never going to get cold enough for me to wear my deep-winter jackets from back home.

7. Red wine. I spent 2 1/2 years living in South Australia, land of shiraz, so I learned to love a hearty red. And you just can't drink them on hot summer days. So bring on winter, and with it a nice drop o' red. These days I try to splash out with moderation, and I prefer to drink something organic and preservative free - if I'm avoiding nasty chemicals in my food, why on earth would I want to drink them in concentrated form in my booze? My favorites at the moment are Kalleske from the Barossa Valley and Seresin Estate from Marlborough. Yum.

That's a good start towards get me feeling a little more positive about the cold days to come, and I am actually feeling kind of warm inside now! Time to go do a little yoga practice to stoke the internal fire.

Please share your favorite things about winter via comments...I am needing all the encouragement I can get!

Fun with Figs: five ways to enjoy my favorite fruit

2009-04-01T15:05:00.006+10:30

This post is so late in coming! I've been obsessing over figs over the past few months, and sadly they are no longer on offer at my local farmer's market. But I have spied a few juicy specimens hanging from some of my neighbors' trees, and there's nothing like a fresh fig sneakily plucked from over the fence. If they're still available where you live, enjoy my suggestions on ideas to jazz up these perfect gems. If not, enjoy my homage to my favorite fruit, and let it be an inspiration to you for next fig season (the only good thing about the end of fig season is that it means it's almost time for persimmon season). With no further ado, I give you my meditation on figs.

I’m a cook (or un-cook), so what I’m about to say is a little bit hard for me. I’d like to suggest that there are some foods out there that are already perfect just they way they are, and can’t be improved upon through kitchen tampering. I’ve come to this decision after many attempts to write an article about my favorite fruit, figs. They’ve just come into season in Victoria, and I can’t get enough. But each time I buy or pick some ripe, juicy specimens to bring home and experiment with, I encounter the same problem. They never make it home. I just can’t help myself – I love fresh figs so much that I always eat them all straight away! I can’t think of any preparation I can do that could possibly improve upon the pure pleasure of a fresh fig. So you know what? I give in. Mother Nature, you win. You are the ultimate chef, and with the fig you’ve created the perfectly balanced food.

That being said, I feel that I’d be letting you dear readers down if I didn’t at least try to conceive of a few ways to dress up your figs. So while I don’t expect any of my inventions to rival those of my muse and culinary hero, Nature, they are still worth a try for a little variation, particularly if you happen to be one of those lucky folks with a fig tree in your backyard (if this is you, please invite me over! I can offer zucchinis, pumpkins, rocket or lemons in trade). Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you to blend, dehydrate, or otherwise adulterate your perfect figs. The recipes are only ideas, playful flavor combinations. If you feel inspired, have fun with them - if you can get your figs home without eating them all!

1. Fresh figs au natural (courtesy of Mother Nature)

Eat them right off the tree, sun-warmed. Best recipe ever, though I can’t take credit for it!

2. Fresh figs with pistachio mousse

16 fresh figs
1 large, very ripe avocado
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp light agave
1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup raw pistachios, roughly chopped
1/2 cup dark agave or raw honey
Freshly ground black pepper

Cut figs into quarters from the top downward, leaving the base intact. Arrange on a platter.

Combine avocado, vanilla extract, light agave, salt and water in a food processor, and whir until smooth. Add 1/2 cup chopped pistachios and pulse until well combined.

Place a dollop of mousse in a the center of each fig. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped pistachios and drizzle with dark agave or honey.

Variations: Replace the vanilla extract with rosewater. Decorate the plate with edible rose petals.

3. Watercress, pickled onion, fig and candied walnut salad

For the pickled onions:
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp agave
large pinch himalayan salt

combine and marinate at least 8 hours at room temperature

For the candied walnuts:
1 cup walnuts
2 Tbsp agave
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cinnamon

Toss walnuts with agave, oil and cinnamon. Spread on teflex sheet and dehydrate for 2 hours.

For the vinaigrette:
2 T apple cider vinegar
¼ cup walnut oil
1 T agave
¼ t salt
grind of fresh black pepper

Whisk together all ingredients, or combine in food processor.

For assembly:
1 bunch watercress, stems removed
1 head endive, sliced thinly
12 fresh figs, cut into quarters

Mix watercress and endive together and arrange in a large bowl or platter. Top with pickled onions and fresh figs. Sprinkle nuts over top. Drizzle with vinaigrette, toss lightly, and serve.

4. Fig, Almond and Cream Parfait

A bunch of figs
A handful of raw almonds, roughly chopped
Your favorite raw whipped cream recipe

Cut figs into quarters. In parfait dishes (I use old-fashioned champagne glasses for great presentation) layer a dollop of whipped cream, chopped figs, chopped almonds. Repeat with as many layers as you like.

5. Red Fruit Salad with Spiced Floral Syrup

A bunch of figs
A handful of red grapes
A few little blood plums
Seeds from ½ a pomegranate
A few dried figs

Syrup:
2 Tbsp Agave
Juice of 1 lemon
Dash of rosewater
Dash of vanilla extract
1 tsp minced fresh lavender, or 1 drop lavender oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cardamom

Cut figs into quarters, grapes into halves, and blood plums into quarters. Remove seeds from ½ pomegranate. Chop dried figs into slivers. Arrange all fruit in a bowl.

Combine syrup ingredients in a bowl and whisk by hand. Drizzle over fruit salad and let marinate for 1 hour before serving.

Breakfast and Beyond: Spiced Hot Chocolate, Grawnola, and Buckwheaties

2009-03-28T16:29:00.008+10:30

Grrrrr-awnola and Buckwheaties: Crunchy goodness in a jar.

Breakfast rocks! There's something so lovely about waking up, with a whole new day stretching before me, and thinking to myself, "What would I like to start my day with today?" The answer depends both on what's on hand and my appetite. I always start with a nice big glass of water, and then I usually squeeze myself a fresh fruit or vegetable juice. From there, the possibilities are endless.

Having been out for a rather filling dinner recently, I woke up the next morning feeling not terribly hungry but in need of a little kick where it counts. So I had the brilliant idea of making myself a nice spicy hot chocolate, full of eye-popping, mind-motiving, body-driving goodness. The recipe is simple and just begs for variations. I poured oat milk (any sort of milk will do - a nice creamy nut milk like almond or brazil nut would synergize gorgeously) into a small pot, and added a heaped tablespoon of cacao powder and agave to taste. Then, I went spice crazy! Like a good American, I adore lots of cinnamon, and I also added a bit of nutmeg, cardamom, and a whopping pinch of cayenne. I heated it slowly over a low flame, removing it as soon as it felt hot to the touch. This drink really gets me going like nothing else. After having it for breakfast, I felt super creative and energized. Powerful stuff. And, it's all warm and chocolatey!

"I'm spicy and chocolatey and I'll kick you in the pants!"

A little later on, I thought I ought to have something a bit more substantial in my tummy before heading off to work. Grawnola! Again, the American in me just loves a bowl of cereal with fruit and milk, and my raw version is just so much better than any commercial breakfast cereal I've ever tasted. The process is simple, though it does take some planning in advance. I soaked a big bowl of buckwheat overnight, as well as a small bowl of almonds and a small bowl of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. In the morning I rinsed and drained all of these and mixed them in a big bowl with the proverbial two scoops of raisins, a handful of chopped dried apricots, a handful of goji berries, some agave, cinnamon and grounds cloves. Then onto dehydrator sheets for a full 24-hours of dehydration. The next morning my kitchen smelled like cinnamon and my grawnola was crunchy and warmmmmmm! Into a bowl with some oat milk and sliced banana.

My yummy breakfast bowl, with some orange-beetroot juice.

I'll let you in on a little secret while I'm on the subject: buckwheat is amazing. When you're soaking some for your grawnola, soak double the amount you need and dehydrate it separately - just plain - on dehydrator sheets. In less than 24 hours it comes out dry and crunchy, and it goes well on anything. I am a big fan of the crunchy-creamy combo, so my favorite thing is to stir it into some banana ice cream - frozen bananas, pulsed in the food processor with a little almond milk. I made an amazing version the other night, into which I stirred not only buckwheaties but also some carob candies (made by stirring together carob powder, agave and a little coconut oil) and a little ribbon of agave. It totally tasted like something from a Ben & Jerry's carton, but it was all raw and nutritious. You can use buckwheaties in a million other ways, so trust me, just make it and do with it what you will.

Somehow this post has gone from breakfast to ice cream. Am I suggesting ice cream for breakfast? Hey, that's up to you. Just be creative and have fun with it, and let each day be an exciting adventure, culinary and otherwise. We all need a reason to bound out of bed in the morning!

RECIPES:

Spiced Hot Chocolate

1 cup milk of your choice
1 heaped Tbsp raw cacao powder or ground nibs
2 tsp agave (or to taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
large pinch nutmeg
large pinch cardamom
large pinch cayenne
small pinch Himalayan salt
1 cinnamon stick (for garnish)

Combine all ingredients except cinnamon stick in a small pot. Heat slowly over a low flame, stirring constantly, until the drink is hot to the touch (but not boiling!). Remove from flame and pour into a nice big mug. Garnish with cinnamon stick.

Variations: Vary the spices to suit your taste. Other options include clove, star anise, allspice, ginger, black pepper. If you're sensitive to cacao, replace half of it with carob powder and use half the amount of agave.

Jess's Grawnola

3 cups buckwheat, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup almonds, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
1 cup sultanas or raisins
1/2 cup goji berries
1/2 cup dried apricots, cut into quarters
Juice of 1/2 an orange
1/2 cup agave or raw honey
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Spread over dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 40 degrees C (115 F) for 24 hours. Store in glass jars or airtight containers. Eat for breakfast with milk of your choice and fresh fruit, or on its own as a snack.

Variations: Try using other dried fruit, nuts and seeds - whatever you like best, or whatever is in the cupboard. Cacao nibs are also a great addition if you want a little extra boost. Vary the spices to suit your taste, and try using other fruit juices instead of orange. Vanilla or almond extract would be lovely too. Let me know what you come up with!

Buckwheaties

Place buckwheat in a bowl or jar. Cover with filtered water - the water should be about 1 inch higher than the buckwheat as it expands a bit as it absorbs the water. Soak overnight. In the morning, drain and rinse the buckwheat. Dehydrate at 40 degrees C (115 F) for 24 hours. Store in jars or airtight containers.

Eat it as a breakfast cereal, stir into raw ice creams, mix with a basic raw chocolate recipe for raw nestle crunch, grind in spice mill into flour for raw breads and pizza bases - do with it what you will! Feel free to post your buckwheatie creations here.

Recipe Directory

2009-03-15T12:27:00.014+10:30

Drinks and Smoothies
Caramel Green Smoothie
Jayson's Favorite Fruity Brekkie Smoothie
Oreo Milkshake
Spiced Hot Chocolate
Ultimate Get-Me-Through-Dinner Shift Chocolaty Smoothie
Vanilla Pear Smoothie

Snacks and Sides
Beetroot Dip
Buckwheaties
Carrot-Butternut Soup
Creamy Capsicum and Sunflower Dip
Emerald and Ruby Grawnola
Grawnola
Mushroom Dip
Rocket Pesto

Sauerkraut
Savory Green Smoothie Soup
Sweet & Savory Pumpkin, Onion and Coriander Bread
Tamarillo and Pear Salsa
Tamarillo Chutney

Salads and Dressings
Light, Bright Celeriac Remoulade

Maca-Spirulina Salad

Middle Eastern Salad
Quinoa Tabbouli
Red Cabbage Salad with Sweet Sesame Dressing
Salad a la Japonaise
Spiced Rare Tuna and Lotsa Veggies Salad
Spicy Almond Dressing
Sprouted Wheat Salad with Tangy Tamarind Dressing
Tangy Thai Salad
Tropical Cos Wraps
Watercress, Pickled Onion, Fig and Candied Walnut Salad
Wilted Silverbeet Salad with Avocado Dressing

Main Dishes
Amaranth "Saag"
Caulibroc Curry
Chana Masala
Coconut Spinach Rice
Durian with Chocolate Sauce

First of Spring Asparagus with Pink Pasta and Pesto
Golden Canneloni
No-no Nori

Primavera Celebration
Raw Stifado
Stir-Dehydrate
Winter Chili
Zucchini Fettucine With Rocket and Swiss Brown Mushrooms

Desserts
Apple Pie
Banana-Carob Pie
Blueberry White Chocolate Cheesecake
Buckwheat Raisin Spice Cookies
Carob Carrot Tamarillo Cake
Chocolate Orange Ganache Tart
Coconut Cream Pie

Coconut Lucuma Cake with Mango and Coconut Vanilla Creme Swirl
Fig, Almond and Cream Parfait
Fresh Figs with Pistachio Mousse
Gogi and Blueberry Cheesecake

Hi-Cake
Jess's Oatmeal Cookies
Mini Carrot Cakes
Orange Goji Berry White Chocolate
Orange Icing
Rich Maca Cacao Truffles
Raw Chocolate Delight
Rawreo Pie
Red Fruit Salad with Spiced Floral Syrup

On Process, Nourishment, and an Awesome New Website

2009-03-04T14:48:00.004+10:30

There are as many ways of eating raw as there are raw foodists, and I'm not here to praise or condemn any particular diet. I think that each of us has a unique body and mind, and our individual dietary goals should be to connect these two aspects of our being in order to eat in a way that nourishes both. Which begs the question - what nourishes you? Lately I've realized that for me, nourishment means so much more than the nutritional content of the food I eat.

My personal journey through raw has only been a year and half long so far, and I still feel like a beginner at times. As I explore this lifestyle - and I say lifestyle, not diet, because going raw (or even going vegan, for that matter) changes you in so many ways beyond what you eat - I find my culinary inclinations changing. At first I began by adding lots of whole fresh fruit into my diet. Then I added more salads, and experimented with green smoothies. It didn't take long for me to discover the wealth of raw recipe books and internet sites. I'd always loved gourmet cooking, so why not gourmet un-cooking?

My pasta maker was replaced with a mandoline, my toaster with a blender, and my espresso machine with a juicer. The food processor came out of storage and has gotten a steady daily workout every since. My coffee grinder became a flax seed mill, and also made perfect small quantities of dressing and desserts. It's funny how quickly these new techniques became automatic to me. I soon developed a repertoire of standbys, and making zucchini pasta or lettuce tacos became a more natural instinct than poaching an egg.

A year and a half later, and I'm still un-cooking. As I delve deeper into my raw journey, I find myself craving simple foods more and more. Whole fresh fruit, salads, juices - I could almost live on these alone.

Yet I still feel an urge to create gourmet raw dishes, and I suspect this desire comes more from the satisfaction I gain through the creative process than from the pleasure of eating the end result. Don't get me wrong - I love tasting a new dish - but ultimately my goal in the kitchen is to enjoy the process.

So lately I've spent my garden and kitchen time ruminating on the theme of the spiritual nourishment that one gains through food preparation. As a result, I've written a piece entitled "Mindfulness and Food," which can be found on the amazing new website RawPeople.com. Go ahead and have a read, and when you're done explore some of the other fantastic articles covering topics such as choosing a juicer, hydration (and dehydration!), and dining out at non-raw restaurants. The site is a wealth of information and ideas relevant to the raw food world, with the goal of empowering its readers through knowledge. Pretty amazing!

So whatever foods you choose, remember: this is your journey, and yours alone. Slow down, enjoy the process, and let yourself be nourished.

Dips

2009-02-24T09:38:00.006+10:30

Creamy Capsicum and Sunflower Dip

Just like any other cuisine, it's easy to get in a rut with gourmet raw foods. You know the scenario: preparing the same limited repertoire of dishes over and over again until you're bored sick. While I don't think I'll ever get sick of big salads, I do need some variety from time to time as well. So I got to thinking of other ways to make eating raw veggies a little more fun.

The answer? Dips! The beauty of dips as a raw food eater is that not only can you pack lots of veggies and greens into the dip itself, but you can also use different veggies and greens as the dip vehicles, so to speak.

Rocket in my veggie garden

I love celebrating seasonality, so I've developed a few new dips using the best of local summer produce. First is a simple rocket pesto, made from the bounty of my garden. The wild rocket in my garden is ultra peppery, with a much more spicy and juicy flavor than the kind you buy in a shop. I like to balance this with some sweet sundried tomatoes, crunchy pumpkin seeds, and intense local olive oil. It's lovely as a dip with crisp veggies sticks, makes a great condiment for marinated portobello mushrooms, and can be tossed with some zucchini pasta.

The second dip is all about capsicum. As any Italian cook knows, roasting capsicum really intensifies and sweetens the flavor, but it turns out that dehydrating does the same thing! To make a creamy dip similar to the ubiquitous dairy-rich version, I used germinated sunflower seeds. Lots of lemon juice and a generous application of spices creates a symphony of flavors.

Mushroom Dip

Finally, creamy mushroom dip was inspired by these amazing swiss brown beauties that have been grown just down the road at CERES. I've been lucky to play with these lovelies all summer, and this is my favorite dish so far. It tastes even better on the second day, as the mushroom flavor just seems to grow overnight. The texture is creamy - you'd swear there was cheese in there!

I like to serve the dips with a variety of vegetables and greens for dipping. Cucumber rounds are great with the mushroom dip, rocket or spinach leaves compliment the capsicum dip, and any sturdy vegetables match the rocket dip.

Rocket Pesto
2 cups fresh rocket, tightly packed
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked to rehydrate
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp sea/himalayan salt

Combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse until fairly smooth (leave a bit of texture). Voila! Super easy.

Creamy Capsicum and Sunflower Dip
2 large red capsicums (bell peppers), chopped and dehydrated 8 hours
2 cups sprouted sunflower seeds*
1/4 red onion, chopped
juice of one lemon
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
pinch of cayenne
up to 1/2 cup water

Combine all ingredients in food processor and whir until smooth, adding water as necessary to achieve a very smooth texture.

*For info on sprouting, see my post on Sprouted Wheat Salad with Tangy Tamari Dressing. In this case it is sufficient to soak the seeds overnight, but you'll get more nutrition out of them if you leave them a day or two until they have tiny tails.

Mushroom Dip
12 swiss brown button mushrooms
1/2 tsp sea/himalayan salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 leaves fresh sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
3 Tbsp cashew butter, or 1/4 cup really raw cashews, soaked
1 Tbsp tamari

Reserve 2 swiss brown mushrooms; finely chop the remaining 10 and place in a bowl with salt, olive oil, sage and thyme. Let marinate for 1/2 hour or longer. At the same time, cut the remaining 2 mushrooms into thin slices and marinate in the same mixture but in a separate bowl.

In a food processor, combine marinated mushrooms along with the marinade and juice, nutritional yeast, cashews or cashew butter, and tamari. Whir until very smooth. Place in a bowl and top with the marinated mushroom slices.

Blueberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

2009-02-20T09:57:00.005+10:30

If that title doesn't have you salivating yet, how about this photo?

Yeah, this recipe is a stunner. I'm not going to bother with too much chatter here, because I think it really speaks for itself. Let's just say I had two dinner guests last night, and I served them a main course of salad because I didn't want to detract any attention (or room in their tummies) from these blue babies.

Credit where credit is due: the inspiration for this dish came from Vanessa Sherwood over at G Living. I opted for blueberries in my version because they are absolutely perfect and abundant right now in Victoria. I also cheated a little and used cashew butter instead of whole cashews because I don't have a Vitamix yet (I'm saving up).

So use my version, or use Vanessa's, or come up with your own creative variation. Go forth and make cheesecake!

Blueberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust
1/2 cup brazil nuts, soaked 4-6 hours and drained
1/2 cup shredded dried coconut
1 heaped Tbsp cacao powder
1/2 vanilla bean, or 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 generous Tbsp raw honey/agave
1 Tbsp cacao nibs

In a food processor, combine brazil nuts, coconut, cacao powder, vanilla and salt. Pulse until you achieve a fine, crumbly consistency.

Add honey or agave and cacao nibs. Continue to pulse until the mixture comes together into a crumbly dough. If necessary, add more honey/agave.

Press the dough into the bottom of either a small (9 inch or smaller) springform cake pan, or six cupcake molds. Put into freezer to chill while you make the filling.

Filling
1 punnet blueberries
2/3 cup cashew butter, or 1 cup soaked cashews
2 Tbsp melted cacao butter
1/4 cup honey or agave
juice of 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt

Blend all of the filling ingredients in a vitamix or food processor until smooth. Fill your cake or cupcake molds with the filling, then lick every last yummy morsel (I like to give this last job to my dog - he waits so patiently at my feet throughout the whole process, sweet little thing)!

Place in fridge to set at least one hour. Can be frozen, just take it out 15 minutes before serving.

Embracing the Journey

2009-02-18T15:03:00.005+10:30

Sometimes I feel like the whole world is vibrating on my frequency.

Okay, that's a bit of an overstatement. But I can't help but notice that as my raw food journey continues, and my thoughts regarding this process evolve, that people with similar views and ideas just seem to pop into my life. Is this synchronicity, or is it simply a natural instinct within me seeking out the likeminded?

I refer specifically to a recent blog post by the awesome Raw Diva Tera, announcing "The 90-Day Don’t Be So Obsessed About What You Eat Detox." Wow, has she been reading my mind? And on the same day, I discovered the group A.C.E. (Accepting Conscious Eaters) on the bangin' forum Give It To Me Raw. What these guys are suggesting is that maybe there are many ways to eat healthy. And maybe it's more important to relax a bit about what we're eating and put our energy towards various creative endeavors. I, personally, have come to this same conclusion, but would like to take it a step further and suggest that we actually embrace the confusion, the difficulties, the ups-and-downs of the journey as we move along our personal raw (and general life) paths.

Part of my personal raw journey is this insatiable appetite for knowledge. I visit all of the forums, read blogs, check out books, try recipes. I try to keep an open mind, but sometimes this learning can be frustrating. Just as in the non-raw nutrition world, there are so many conflicting ideas out there! Is cacao good or bad? How much? What about supplements? Superfoods, or green smoothies? Avocados and coconut oil, or 80-10-10? And suddenly, instead of loving my food and feeling 100% confident that what I'm eating is good for me, I'm feeling stressed out. A little voice in my head is saying, "Oh no, you're eating too much cacao, too much fat, gotta go on a juice feast." And yet I don't desire to fast at the moment. And I feel unsatisfied without the fats. Am I doing something wrong?

This is when a little voice in my head starts to tell me to relax. Anxiety over food choices is causing all this stress, which is about the most harmful thing I can do for my health! So here's my answer:

Enjoy the journey.

The thing about transitioning to raw foods is that it involves undoing not only my own lifetime of less-than-ideal eating patterns, but also those imprinted in me by my parents, their parents, and 4 or 5 more generations who grew up eating largely processed diets. This is going to take time! It's unrealistic to expect that after just over a year of raw eating, I'm going to feel perfectly healthy and satisfied living off of greens and fruits. Yeah, in an ideal world, I'd eat like a chimp. But chimps didn't grow up eating mashed potatoes, pasta, and -gasp- hamburgers. So, a bit of patience as my body catches up to my high-minded ideals, please.

This doesn't mean I'm going back to cooked foods. But it does mean that I'm giving myself time - as much time as it takes. Probably a number of years, though I'm not putting a number on it because I just don't know how my journey is going to progress. What I have decided is to stick to an entirely vegan diet (except for honey, which I have particular reasons for eating, more on that in the future), because I feel that the stress on my body of the occasional meat, fish or dairy is too great. I have also noticed that in general, my body naturally prefers raw food. Even eating out at a vegan restaurant, I feel heavy and sluggish the next day after consuming rice and tofu. I don't really WANT to eat cooked meals, but I also don't want to put pressure on myself in social situations. So, for now, a few cooked vegan dishes here and there is a decision that I can feel comfortable with.

The next decision is to be okay with my relatively high fat diet. Long term, yeah, I want to cut back. But I just don't feel ready. What I can do, though, is make sure the fats I'm eating are lovely raw fats, like avocados (miracle food), coconuts, olives, flaxseed oil, etc. I wonder if, in time, I will begin to desire fewer fats. I have already noticed that I crave greens like crazy, and I eat salads and green smoothies or juices every day. So perhaps the abatement of my love for fats is something that will happen naturally as well.

About that juice feast - this is something I do highly desire to accomplish within the next year. But again, it doesn't feel like the right time. Sometime soon it will be. No rush.

Realizing that transitioning from a cooked, omnivorous diet to a raw one is a long process is a huge relief to me. I am, by nature, a perfectionist, and this realization allows me to see that what I'm eating now is exactly perfect for where I am now! Everything I consume is intended to nourish me on some level, and therefore it does. What a wonderful gift to give myself. And to whatever forces in the universe or within myself brought these great people with similar ideas into my life at precisely the crucial moment, thank you!

Sprouted Wheat Salad with Tangy Tamarind Dressing

2009-01-27T11:52:00.006+10:30

Ayurvedic beauty: a balance of flavors and nutritional elements

I've been playing around with soaking and sprouting a lot lately, and I am tickled pink with the results. Here's the deal: nuts, seeds and grains are fantastically rich sources of nutrients, particularly for those of the raw and/or vegan persuasion, but all of their goodness is locked away in dried up little packages. Luckily, the key to releasing all that nutritional bounty is one that, for most of the lucky folks who are able to read this blog, is readily available and even free! I'm talking about water, basic H2O. To turn a dry little nut, seed or grain into a yummy source of living nutrition, all you have to do is soak it (preferably in filtered water, please!).

Why bother sprouting? Well, I'll give you a little perspective from one of my raw food heroes. In her book 12 Steps to Raw Foods, raw foods pioneer and educator Victoria Boutenko relates an anecdote about her family's quirky preparation for the Y2K scare. While her neighbors were busy hoarding canned goods, Victoria went to a health food store and bought only thing: a giant bag of wheat grains. This may seem like an odd purchase for a raw family. Dry, hard wheat grains (also known as wheat berries) are not very appetizing or easily digested, and she surely wasn't going to pound the grains into flour by hand and bake bread. So what on earth was she planning to do with a massive bagful of inedible grains that would allow her family to survive a potential global crisis?

Sprout them, of course. Sprouts are a miracle of the raw food diet, and would actually be a highly beneficial addition to any type of diet. Through sprouting, a hard, dry kernel becomes a tiny living plant the delivers a powerful punch of nutrients. Just think about it: a grain, nut or seed is a blueprint for a grown-up plant. All of the nutrition that the plant needs to grow is stored inside a tight, tidy little package. And it will keep indefinately, just waiting for the right conditions to germinate and grow.

People attempting a raw or vegan lifestyle in cold climates often have a really hard time accessing fresh, organic greens. In fact, unless you happen to live on your own organic property (lucky you!), buying fresh organic produce can be difficult and expensive. Sprouting is a such a simple way to get fresh greens into your diet on a daily basis for very little cost. The beauty of sprouting is that it can be done easily in a home kitchen, in any climate, at any time of year, for minimal cost. With the tiniest bit of effort, anyone can have fresh, organic sprouts year-round.

It really is essential to germinate your nuts, seeds and grains, because this process releases enzyme inhibitors and allows the body to access the plant's nutrition. Sprouts are one of the best sources of raw vegan protein around, too - in fact, they are a much easier protein for your body to absorb than ANY animal protein. In fact, I would go so far as to call sprouts superfoods! So go ahead and give it a try - they are really so addictive once you get started. You can crunch a handful as a snack, sprinkle them over a green salad, or make them into a main dish, as I've done here.

Sprouting 101

First off, you gotta soak your grains, nuts and seeds. Give them a good rinse in filtered water, then place them in a nice big glass jar and cover them with plenty of the same. If you're worried about bugs or dust etc. entering your sprouts, cover the top with cheesecloth or screen and secure it with a rubber band.

Wheat berries after soaking overnight and 1 day of sprouting - see the cute little tails?

In Carol Alt's book The Raw 50, she's included a really useful chart on germinating and sprouting times which I have bookmarked and refer to constantly. Find such a chart on the internet, buy her book, or write one yourself, but I guarantee you it will be useful thing to have in your kitchen.

Once you've soaked your babies for the required amount of time - for the wheat berries in the recipe below I just soaked them overnight, but according to Carol they need 7 hours soaking to germinate - drain the water and rinse them again. Place the jar upside down so that air can still flow through the jar - what I do is actually stand the jar upside down ontop of a fine mesh strainer suspended over a bowl. There are lots of ways to rig this up, so again have a good look on the internet/books and I'm sure you'll find one that will work for your kitchen and with materials you have on hand.

Your nuts, seeds or grains are germinated now and ready to eat. But for many things, they are tastier and more nutritious if you give them time to sprout. For example, the wheat in the following recipe was sprouted for two days. I rinsed them twice a day, then left the suspended jar sitting around. That's it. By the third day, I had gorgeous long tails on my sprouts, so I stored them in a tupperware container in the fridge. The wheat sprouts taste lovely and sweet on their own, and I'll admit I crunched a few handfuls before I got around to making this salad.

Tada - wheat sprouts!

The salad I've created with my sprouted wheat is all about balance. Not only have I included a variety of nutritional elements, but I've also given a lot of thought to flavors and textures that will complement and challenge each other. I started with the sweet wheat sprouts, then added raisins to play up the sweet note even more and cashews for creamy crunch. Tamarind and lemon in the dressing add tartness and a bit of astringency, while coconut oil and a full palette of spices conjure up Indian imagery. A fresh burst of coriander and a hint of celery's salty crunch finish the dish. I couldn't resist a bit more green goodness on my plate, hence the cos and avocado (what can I say, I'm green-food obsessed). Harmony and dissonance in every bite - an ayervedic symphony.

Sprouted Wheat Salad with Tangy Tamarind Dressing

Salad:
1 cup sprouted wheat
1 stalk celery
1/4 cup fresh coriander/cilantro
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup cashews
6 cos lettuce leaves or 2 small handfuls of mixed greens
1/2 avocado

Dressing:
1 Tbsp coconut oil, softened
1 Tbsp tamarind puree
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
juice of 1/2 lemon

For the salad: Thinly slice celery stalk on the diagonal and roughly chop the coriander. Combine sprouted wheat, sliced celery, chopped coriander, raisins and cashews in a bowl.

For the dressing: In a small bowl, combine softened coconut oil, tamarind puree, spices and lemon juice. Mix vigorously to form a thick dressing.

Assembly: Pour dressing over salad and toss well to achieve uniform coating. Prepare two serving bowls or plates, each with either three cos lettuce leaves torn in half or with a small handful of mixed greens. Top each plate with half the salad mixture. Thinly slice the avocado half on the diagonal, and garnish each plate with 1/4 of the avocado.

Variations:
-Replace half or all of the raisins with goji berries or chopped dried apricots.
-Replace the sprouted wheat with sprouted brown rice or any other grain of your choice.
-Replace cashews with sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.

Durian Appreciation 101

2009-01-20T10:21:00.003+10:30

The durian is a bit of an enigma. Just look at the thing. Weighing in at 2-4 kg and covered with precarious spikes, it's not exactly screaming "eat me!" Yet here I am, eagerly watching as Sufiyo breaks into the precious commodity. All I can think is, how did I get here?

Peaches and apricots adopt lovely orange and pink hues to encourage consumption, leading one to rightly assume that the flesh will be soft and sweet. Berries shine in the sun and tempt with obvious juiciness, while mangoes and other tropicals emit tantalizing aromas. But the durian plays no such tricks. Its color is a dull brown, the countless spikes are actually quite sharp, and a fresh one smells like old gym socks (I kid you not). Why on earth does anyone eat this thing?

The fact is, the durian is a sort of raw food holy grail. If you like durian, you're a true raw foodie. Now I was having my first taste with veteran raw foodies and durian obsessees, so I must admit I felt a lot of pressure to actually enjoy this strange fruit. And strange it was. Ours had been frozen, which is, unfortunately, the only way they are available in Melbourne. So it didn't give off much of its infamous odor, which was probably a good thing for my first time. As I listened to Sufiyo explain how to choose a good durian (make sure it gives only slightly to touch, peel away the spikes a bit while the shop owner isn't looking and inspect the texture of the flesh), I felt a mixture of excitement and revulsion. But when she cracked the thing, I thought that the large, custard-colored pods looked rather inviting. So I went for it.

The taste is really something indescribable, but since I'm a writer, I'll give it a shot. My first observation was texture - creamy, smooth, custard-like. The initial flavor impression that I got was mildly sweet, sort of vanilla with a hint of almond, but slowly something that didn't seem to belong crept up. I can only describe it as fried onions. Not offensive, but really strange and hard to get used to.

"It tastes...strange."

Between four of us we polished off about 1 1/2 durians. I don't know if I could have eaten as much if it hadn't been for Sufiyo's amazing cacao sauce. She actually used Loving Earth's coconut cacao butter as a base, adding some agave and melting it in warm water, but it would be easy to make a homemade version with coconut oil, cacao powder, and agave. Dipping the durian flesh in the cacao sauce was like heaven, and took some of the oniony edge off of the fruit's flavor.

Durian + cacao = tryptophan heaven

About ten minutes into gorging ourselves I started to feel really giddy, giggly and silly. This was followed by waves of calmness. I can only attribute this to the high tryptophan content of the fruit (tryptophan is a seratonin precursor, as well as an essential amino acid). In fact, cacao is also relatively rich in tryptophan. So not only does this stuff taste good (well, interesting, at the very least), it also makes you feel good. Raw food is amazing.

So was it worth it? Well, I'm glad that I went with my animal instinct and had a chomp of this forbidding fruit. My experience was closest to that of the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who described the fruit in 1856 as, "A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds...but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes," but I must admit I do understand why chef Andrew Zimmern thinks it tastes like "completely rotten, mushy onions." I'm not rushing out to buy anothe durian tomorrow, but I am eager to taste one fresh off the tree next time I can make it to tropical paradise. In the meantime, I'll let myself be lured by the fruits that flaunt their flavor. Excuse me while I go have a mango.

Neomania (and some really great chana masala and saag)

2008-12-21T16:11:00.009+10:30

Raw Chana Masala and Amaranth Saag

I have an insatiable appetite for the new. When I come across a food I've never tried before, all of my senses come to focused attention like a puppy at a banquet waiting for the crumbs to drop. Nevermind what I came to the shop for, I must immediately purchase and take home this rare treasure. Then comes the fun of taking little nibbles to assess its culinary properties and doing copious research on the internet to come up with an exciting preparation. Some of my experiments may be disasters, but truth be told I'm more excited by the process than the results. And every so often, my creativity may just lead to something inspired (she says modestly).

The philosopher Roland Barthes calls my penchant for novelty "neomania." In his view, a neomaniac was not a particularly flattering thing to be called, as it suggests a lack of contentment with what we already have. I suppose this is a fair enough assessment when we're talking about consumers and the need to buy more more more. But come on, a little joy over a new vegetable at the farmer's market? Far better to exhibit neomania than neophobia.

The neomaniac in me did a little jig when I stumbed across a gorgeous bunch of amaranth at my local market recently. I'm familiar with amaranth grain - it seems to be in every health food shop these days in flour or breakfast cereal form - but I've never seen the leaves for sale here in Australia. However, I've heard that they're used in northern Indian cooking in the same way as spinach or mustard greens. A nice creamy saag popped into my head instantly. I ran home and got some chickpeas soaking to make an chana masala as well, and soon a lovely little Indian spread was in the works.

A lovely green tangle of amaranth leaves

One of the drawbacks of raw cuisine is the need for patience. I had to wait three days for the chickpeas to soak and sprout. Sprout faster, little chickpeas! But my patience paid off big time. Since I've studied Indian cookery in some depth, I had an idea of the flavors I wanted to bring out in these dishes and the ingredients that might combine appropriately.

I think the chana masala was one of my best raw dishes to date, and non-raw partner J raved. The key was mimicking the creaminess of a cream-based sauce with avocado, creating the complexity of flavors in a cooked curry with raw ingridents, and balancing the spices properly. The complexity problem was solved by using sundried tomatoes as well as fresh tomatoes and red onions to up the sweetness factor, and adding fresh ginger for a real kick. I played around with the spices until I had the balance of flavors that I was looking for - using a special blended curry powder made for me by an Indian friend didn't hurt either. There are lots of good commercial curry powder blends out there in a variety of flavors and spiciness, so find one that you really love. The star of the curry was the crunchy sprouted chickpeas, which both J and I actually preferred to mushy cooked chana. They're also such a filling, nutritious ingredient for a raw foodist. So much more lifeforce in these babies than their sad, starchy cooked counterparts.

The saag was lovely as well - creamy, tangy and slightly bitter. Turns out amaranth tastes like a slightly less sweet, slightly less juicy spinach. The key ingredient here is a good mustard - I have a fantastic stoneground variety that is made with apple cider vinegar. If you can't find such a mustard, substitute some ground mustard seed and a bit of ACV. Creamy tahini and olive oil balance with tangy lemon juice, pungent scallion, and a handful of spices to create a really memorable saag. I recommend making these two dishes together, as the colors and flavors combine for a really complete meal.

With these two successes under my belt, I'm looking foward to exploring the flavors of the subcontinent in more depth. For some other inspiring raw Indian recipes, check out the creativity happening at Roshi's Raw Lifestyle.

Chana Masala

1 cup sprouted chickpeas
1/4 very ripe avocado
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 red onion
1 fresh tomato
1-inch piece of fresh ginger
1/4 cup sundried tomato (soaked if hard)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
salt and pepper, to taste

To sprout chickpeas: Place chickpeas in a glass jar and cover with plenty of filtered water. Soak overnight. In the morning, drain and rinse the chickpeas. Attach a piece of cheesecloth or screen to the top of the jar with a rubber band and turn the jar upside down over a bowl. Or stand the jar over a fine-mesh colander over a bowl. Rinse the chickpeas twice/day until little tails appear. You can let the chickpeas sprout as much as you like. When they're ready they'll taste crunchy and slightly sweet.

To make masala sauce:
Place avocado, olive oil, onion, tomato, ginger, curry powder, cumin, and coriander in a food processor. Whir until smooth. Mix the sauce with the sprouted chickpeas.

Amaranth "Saag"

1 1/2 cups tightly packed amaranth leaves (or spinach)
1 large scallion/spring onion
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp good quality mustard
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in food processor and whir until smooth.

All-Green Meal

2008-12-12T15:46:00.003+10:30

Inspired by a) Raw Epicurean's Green Leafy Recipe Contest, b) a lot of spinach I needed to use up before going on holiday for a week, and c) having a few friends over for dinner, I decided to concoct an all-green dinner. I felt a bit the next Iron Chef: Iron Chef Raw. And the theme ingredient is...spinach! Allez cuisine!

For starters, I whipped up a cheezy spinach dip and a classic bowl of guacamole with lots of crudite. Then a bit of finger food: nori rolls stuffed with a ginger-sesame cauliflower rice and lots of spinach and veggies. Finally, my newest creation was coconut-spinach rice, using more cauliflower of course. This last dish combined some interesting flavors that I would not normally put together, but happened to have on hand - coconut and spinach, for example, turned out to be a sumptuous match.

Coconut Spinach "Rice"

Meat of 1 young coconut
1 Tbsp coconut water (or plain water)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 small clover garlic, minced
1/4 head of cauliflower
1/4 red onion, minced
pinch of himalayan/sea salt
1 tightly packed cup finely chopped spinach

Puree coconut meat with coconut water in food processor until you form a thick coconut cream. Add ginger and garlic and whir for another 10 seconds.

Break cauliflower into florets and add to food processor. Pulse slowly until cauliflower achieves a rice-like texture.

Remove coconut-cauliflower mixture to a bowl. Stir in minced onion, salt, and chopped spinach. Place in dehydrator to warm for several hours (either place entire bowl in dehydrator or spread over teflex sheet), or simply let the mixture marinate at room temperature for several hours for the flavors to mingle.

Unbaked

2008-12-09T13:10:00.006+10:30

Before going raw, I always found a lot of joy in bread. I love picking out an artisanal loaf, or baking a special recipe myself. Most of all, I loved the simple pleasure of a sandwich, slathered with mustard and stuffed with salad.

Good new for raw foodies - bread is back! I guess it was never really gone, but my dehydrator was out of commission for a while, so I've been sadly sandwichless. Now that my dehydrator is sitting happily on my kitchen bench, plugged in and humming softly (a constant background noise that I've grown to love), I'm unbaking up a storm.

The first recipe I tried was the Sweet Onion & Thyme Bread from the RawforLife Blog. Wow, was this delicious, and easy to boot! I didn't have thyme on hand so I simply left it out. As soon as it was done, I made a little open-faced sandwich for lunch (see the photo at the top of the page). It was so satisfying that I'll admit I went back for seconds.

With my first unbaking success under my belt, I decided it was time to get a little more creative. I borrowed Debbie's base concept - sunflower seeds, flax seeds, olive oil, and water - and experimented with some other flavors. Recalling the lovely marriage of flavors that was 101Cookbook's Roasted Pumpkin and Onion Salad, which I made for my Vegan Thanksgiving feast, I opted to combine similar ingredients into a bread. Pumpkin, red onion, and coriander all manage to balance sweet and savory elements so perfectly. This bread took a lot longer in the dehydrator, as the pumpkin was quite moist, but the result was a really soft-textured bread that was amazing spread with some ripe avocado and topped with a few sprouts. Or divine j ust on its own.

And what fun would baking be without a little sweet treat thrown in there? Since I had the dehydrator going anyway, I whipped up some oatmeal cookies with ingredients that I had on hand and popped them in. A couple of these make a lovely, satisfying afternoon snack, jam-packed with energy.

All of these goodies, and not a drop of flour on my clothing! I think this is just the beginning of my adventures in unbaking.

Sweet & Savory Pumpkin, Onion and Coriander Bread
1 1/2 cups pumpkin, chopped
1/2 cup flaxseed, ground in coffee/spice grinder
1/2 cups sunflower seeds, ground in coffee/spice grinder
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh coriander
1 small red onion
juice of 1/2 large lemon
1 1/4 tsp salt

Whir pumpkin in food processor until it is very finely chopped (2-3 minutes). Add ground flaxseed, sunflower seeds, olive oil, water, lemon juice and salt, and blend until smooth and uniform. Add coriander and blend for another 20-30 seconds until well mixed. Remove to a large bowl.

Cut the onion in half. Leaving the stem-end in tact, cut it in half again (so quarters, but still connected at the stem end for easy chopping). Slice the onion as thinly as you possibly can. Mix the onion into the pumpkin mixture by hand. You will have a very wet dough.

Spread your aromatic dough thickly over one dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate at 41-45 degrees C for about 12 hours. Invert your bread onto another tray and, if possible, peel off the sheet (I found that I had to leave the sheet on for another few hours). Dehydrate on the other side another 12 hours. If still too soft, flip and dehydrate a few more hours. At 41 degrees, the whole process took about 25 hours for me, and the bread was still quite soft but held together fine.

Enjoy plain or topped with some ripe avocado, tomato, and sprouts.

Jess's Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup dates, soaked in water for 1/2 hour and drained
1/2 cup almonds, soaked overnight if you like*
1/2 cup walnuts, soaked overnight if you like*
1/4 cup flaxseed, ground in coffee/spice grinder to powder
2 Tbsp raw honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raw rolled oats
3/4 cup water

In food processor, combine dates, almonds, walnuts, flaxseed meal, honey, cinnamon and vanilla, adding water as necessary. Remove to a bowl and stir in oats.

With wet hands so the dough doesn't stick, form dough into cookie shape (I use a soup spoon to get a uniform size). Place on lined dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 41 degrees C for 8 hours, or until the cookies are relatively firm (but still yield slightly to the touch). Eat them warm from the dehydrator, or store in a sealed container at room temperature.

*I don't always soak my nuts becomes sometimes I forget to do it in advance, but if you have time it is best to do this because soaking deactivates the enzyme inhibitors in nuts and makes their nutrients more readily available. Soaked nuts = greater nutrition.

Who Needs Turkey?

2008-11-30T09:16:00.009+10:30

"F Turkey" (overheard by a guest remarking on his colorful Thanksgiving plate)

This post is a homage to one of my food blogging inspirations, the talented and creative Heidi over at 101 Cookbooks. I've been a long time follower of Heidi's innovative recipes, clever photography, and insightful musings. These are just a few of the qualities that have garnered her a devoted following of avid food blog readers. I am in awe of her ability to post regularly, and of the diversity of her posts, and above all of the recipes themselves. Her recipes are vegetarian and often vegan, generally nutritious, and they actually work - they taste amazing. Personally I'm impressed with her photography skills as well - who wants to try a recipe if it doesn't gaze tantalizingly at you from the screen?

So for Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, I wanted to give my Aussie friends a little taste of Americana. But no way was I going to deal with a turkey, which I would have no interest in eating anyway. On the other hand, I was a bit daunted by the idea of coming up with a raw Thanksgiving menu that I could handle without my dehydrator and that I could convince normal eaters to try. So I compromised. I made a cooked vegan feast, all inspired by Heidi's plethora of gorgeous, nutritious, Thanksgiving-appropriate recipes.

Roasted pumpkin before being mashed for the pie filling - much more appetizing than the stuff in the can, no?

So what was on the menu? A beautiful Roasted Pumpkin Sa lad, which teased the eye with it's colorful contrast of bright orange, deep purple, and pale green, and then the palate, playing delicate, sweet pumpkin flesh against the slight bite of roasted red onion. The creamy sunflower-coriander dressing tied up the dish, with nutty red quinoa providing a hearty background. I used quinoa because I happened to have some on hand, but it ended up serving the purpose of introducing my guests to a fantastic grain that none of them had tried before.

Nature rocks the palette - and the palate.

I thought Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes were a brilliant idea. Way to sneak some greens into the buttery classic! In fact, this recipe is a total revamp of the fat-laden version we piled on our plates as kids, and much improved in my opinion. Olive oil and potatoes are a lovely partnership, and a bit of garlic adds flavor, as does a generous seasoning of sea salt. I used silverbeet instead of kale, as I personally prefer it. I also substituted soymilk for regular milk to make this a totally vegan recipe.

Mashed potatoes join the eco-revolution and go green.

Vibrant Tasty Green Beans added a nice splash of my favorite color to the table. A simple pairing of caramelized leek and dill offered a Mediterranean-inspired take on the ubiquitous green bean. Firecracker Cornbread was a big hit, as none of the Aussies had ever tried cornbread. It wasn't vegan, but it was moist and sweet with a delicious hit of chilli at the bottom. It was actually more like what would be called "spoonbread" - think of a pillowy, savory pudding. I think using fresh corn cut off the cob made a difference to the overall integrity of the dish.

A big spoon, you, and me, baby. I'm here to spice up your life.

Green beans never looked this good.

I balanced off the table with a big green salad tossed with all the Thanksgiving essentials: juicy dried cranberries, pecans, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds and drizzled with fruity olive oil and a little balsamic. To Aus-i-fy the whole meal, people brought their own items to barbeque - everything from lamb chops to kangaroo sausages to haloumi to tofu.

Thankgiving-a-licious Green Salad

Dessert was a multi-faceted affair as well. Heidi's Spice-kissed Pumpkin Pie was quite possibly the best pumpkin pie I've ever tasted. The spices were vibrant, the filling creamy, the crust crumbly. I did make a few adaptations here. Instead of coconut milk, I actually cut open a young coconut and blended the flesh with about half of the water (and drank the rest - a perfect mid-afternoon pick-me-up while I was cooking away). For the crust, I used Arnott's gingernut biscuits, since graham crackers aren't available here. I did use a little butter (3 Tbsp) in the crust, and 3 eggs in the pie filling, so this one wasn't vegan. But it was still a much lighter and less sugary take on traditional pumpkin pie, though it tasted rich and satisfying nonetheless. Pumpkin is an incredibly popular vegetable here in Australia, but it always used in savory preparations. My guests really enjoyed the sweet American take on this versatile veggie.

A trio of pies

My amazing housemate Jackie made a beautiful spring fruit platter with honeydew melon, nectarines, cherries and mango. I snuck in a bit more raw goodness myself with two little raw pies - one apple, one banana-carob. I used my old American Apple Pie recipe, but used Iranian dates instead of Californian. The flavor was more caramel, a deeper, muskier flavor, compared to the honey-sweetness of Californian dates.

Banana-carob Pie was a bit of a surprise, because I made it up when I ran out of apples. A simple almond-date crust was filled with a mixture of coconut oil, carob powder, and a little agave, and then topped with sliced bananas. So simple! Bananas and carob are a lovely partnership. This easy little pie will definitely be added to my regular repertoire. All the better because it requires no dehydrating, though it would be beneficial to take the extra step of soaking the almonds overnight to activate the enzymes and release their nutrition.

When you have so much raw and vegan goodness to feast on, who needs turkey? Thanks Heidi for your inspiration!

Improvization leads to the yummiest creations!

Banana-carob Pie

2 cups raw almonds (soaked if you like)
8 large Cali dates, or 12 smaller Iranian dates
1 cup carob powder
1/4 cup coconut oil
3 Tbsp agave nectar
1 large or 2 small bananas

Rub a pie plate with a little coconut oil.

Combine almonds and dates in food processor and whir until the mixture begins to come together much like crumbly pie dough. Press the dough into the pie plate.

If your coconut oil is not liquid at room temperature, gently melt it using a double boiler. In a small bowl, mix the coconut oil with carob powder (setting aside 2 Tbsp for garnish) and agave nectar to achieve a smooth texture. Smooth the carob mixture over the pie crust.

Slice the banana(s) into discs on a slight diagonal. Arrange the banana discs over the carob layer. Sprinkle with remaining carob powder. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Salads for One: An Exercise in Simplicity

2008-10-31T17:15:00.008+10:30

Food prep for one is a delicate art. Since my lovely partner is still in Adelaide, I've been on my own at mealtimes lately. And while making food for little ole' me doesn't exactly inspire me to get elaborate in the kitchen, I also don't want to neglect my sense of gustatory pleasure. I deserve a nice meal alone just as much as with a companion - perhaps even more so since the dining experience is just me and the food, sans conversation. On the other hand, I honestly can't be bothered spending too much time making something when nobody else is there to oooh and ahhh over my creative genius with me. I suppose that's what the blog is for: the technological solution to the old conundrum of "If genius occurs in a forest, does it make a sound?"

The other problem with food prep for one is that I can only stock a limited amount of ingredients, since I am mentally allergic to throwing food away (I can still hear my mother's voice saying "wasting food is like throwing money in the garbage"). The answer to these two problems? The three S's of raw food: SEASONALITY, SIMPLICITY, AND SALADS!

My definition of salads is quite broad, and can generally encompass a wide range of whatever I happen to have in the refrigerator. For example, recently I thought I had nothing much to make a meal out of in the house. But I managed to make the following absolutely fantastically satisfying concoction out of a few fresh ingredients, and it was one of the best and most original meals I've had in ages. Absolute proof that necessity is the mother of invention.

YUM! Those are cos (romaine) lettuce wraps with fresh paw paw, avocado, ground linseed (flax), tahini, and dried shredded coconut. Fantastically balanced and nutritious (omega 3's, anyone?), not to mention a perfect contrast of textures and flavors. I ate these sitting outside in the sunshine in my garden. This photo is only 2/3 of my meal - I'll admit I ate one before I had the presence of mind to take a photo. I was hungry!

The next salad was inspired by the gorgeous Thai green mango I found at the Queen Victoria markets. If you've never had a green mango, you simply must try it. They are longer and thinner than normal mangoes, and eaten when they look green and unripe outside. The flavor is much more tangy-tart, similar to tamarind, and crunchier in texture. Lots of crisp asian greens, some creamy avocado, a gorgeous spicy almond dressing, and a generous topping of fresh coriander complimented this exotic fruit perfectly. Yes, I made lots of noise eating this salad - I just can't suppress my sighs of pleasure over a good meal.

Another tasty treat: quinoa tabbouleh! Based on a recipe from Matthew Kenney's Everyday Raw, this one takes a little more prep but is still pretty simple. It also makes enough for about three meals worth, so I've been taking it to work for my lunch. The only time-consuming task here is soaking quinoa overnight, but really all that this requires is thinking 24-hours ahead. The fresh flavors of tabbouleh - lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, mint, tomatoes - marry so beautifully with germinated quinoa, a wonder-grain from the Andean region of South America. Did you know that quinoa contains 12-18% protein, a balance of all essential amino acids, is high in fiber, and is gluten free? I am always amazed by how many people ask me, "but how do you get protein?" First of all, most people eat way too much protein, which interferes with absorption of other nutrients. But regardless, there are lots of plant foods that are full of protein if one is just a little bit creative. Quinoa also has a wonderful nutty flavor, and is a great and easy grain to sprout.

Here are the recipes, all designed to serve one. Use them as a starting point for creating your own free-form salads with whatever you have on hand.

TROPICAL COS WRAPS
3 large outer leaves of cos lettuce
1/4 red paw paw, cut into large dice
1/2 ripe but firm avocado, cut into large dice
1/8 cup flax/linseed, ground in coffee or spice grinder*
good drizzle of tahini
handful of dried shredded coconut

Rinse, dry, and arrange cos leaves on a plate. Divide paw paw and avocado cubes among the lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with linseed, drizzle with tahini, and top with a sprinkling of dried coconut. Dig in!

*Linseed (aka flax in America) must be ground rather than eaten whole, because the outer hull is too hard for the body to break down, so this nutritional powerhouse will simply pass through your system if it is not pre-ground. Grind it up to get all that omega fatty acid goodness!

TANGY THAI SALAD
1 bunch of bok choy, roughly chopped
1/2 small cucumber, julienned
1/2 small carrot, julienned
1/2 Thai green mango, julienned
1/2 ripe but firm avocado, sliced
1 big handful of bean sprouts
1 small handful of pea shoots
1 few sprigs of fresh coriander, chopped
Spicy almond dressing (recipe follows)

Place chopped bok choy in the center of a plate. Top with julienned cucumber and carrot, mango, avocado, bean sprouts and pea shoots. Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle fresh coriander over the top. I dare you to eat this without sighing with pleasure!

SPICY ALMOND DRESSING
1 handful germinated almonds
1 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp tamari
juice of 1/2 lime or lemon
2 tsp honey/agave
1 small Thai chili
small knob of grated ginger

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor. These are kind of approximate measurements - when I created this dressing, I kept adding and tasting until it seemed right to me. I follow a wonderful little piece of advice that I read in Victoria Boutenko's 12 Steps to Raw Food, which is this. Your dressings/soups/recipes should contains 5 elements: sweet, salty, spicy, sour and bitter. When making this dressing, keep tasting and asking yourself, is it sweet enough? Is it sour enough? Etc., until it tastes just right to you.

QUINOA TABBOULEH
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and soaked for 24 hours
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1/2 large lemon, or 1 small
1 tsp sea/himalayan salt
1 cup diced cucumber
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup minced fresh mint

Drain quinoa well and place in a large bowl. Add diced cucumber, tomato, parsley, mint, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. Toss well, and taste. Adjust seasoning if you wish. In the original recipe, Matthew adds minced red onion, but the taste of raw onion is too strong for me. I think spring onion would be lovely if you want some onion flavor but less strong. You can eat this immediately, but I think it's better if you leave it for a while to let the flavors mingle.

Raw Vegetable Stifado

2008-10-04T16:34:00.004+09:30

My first waitressing job was at a cozy little pizza joint. A big fat guy with attitude to match turned out really spectacular pies and other simple Italian home cooking, and me and a couple of other skinny young waitresses served this stodgy but delectable fare to a crowd of regulars. Though the pizzas were the stuff of legend, I would usually hold out for a bowl of spezzatino - Italian stew slow cooked with tender chunks of beef, carrots, potatoes, onions, red wine and herbs.

My boss also happened to be fluent in Greek, I suppose the result of growing up around so many Greek immigrants in the Adelaide CBD. He taught me that the Greek word for stew was stifado, which immediately made sense to me because for years I'd been making and loving a vegetarian stifado from one of my beloved Moosewood cookbooks.

In this raw version, I've reworked both concepts into a celebration both of vegetables and of slow food. The key is to let the ingredients marinate overnight so they soften, then soak them in the sauce the next day to concentrate the flavors. I love the dill in this recipe and I think that's what makes it taste really "Greek" to me. Share it for dinner with friends or family, and think of many generations of peasants past gathering over a steaming pot of stew. Okay, so yours won't be steaming, but it will be bursting with life and flavor. Opa!

Raw Stifado

1 small eggplant, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 small zucchini, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 small red capsicum/bell pepper, cut into ½ inch pieces
5 swiss brown mushrooms, cut in half and thinly sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
handful of kalamata olives, pitted and quartered
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ red onion, cut into fine dice
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 tsp Himalayan salt

1 cup sundried tomatoes
¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped
½ tsp dried oregano
Freshly ground black pepper

Two handfuls of baby spinach

In a large container with a lid, combine eggplant, zucchini, red capsicum, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, olives, garlic, and red onion.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. Pour over vegetables and toss to coat. Let the vegetables marinate at room temperature overnight (or for at least 6 hours).

Combine sundried tomatoes, half of the soaking liquid, olive oil, oregano and dill in a food processor. Process until you achieve a thick sauce, adding more soaking liquid if necessary.

Toss the sauce with the marinated vegetables. Add the spinach and mix through. Add a good grind of black pepper and mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Let the stew marinate at room temperature for several more hours for the flavors to marry.

This stew is really lovely topped with some raw milk feta cheese, if you can get it. If you don’t eat dairy but like the taste of feta, try out this spectacular and nutritious recipe for sunflower feta. Or, eat the stew on its own; also delicious!

Spiced Rare Tuna and Lotsa Veggies Salad

2008-09-20T19:23:00.003+09:30

When trying to create new raw recipes, I often look for inspiration in conventional cookbooks that celebrate freshness, seasonality, and simplicity. I'll draw upon the flavor profiles, ingredient combinations, and variety of textures that other chefs have thought up, and then I'll tweak the techniques until I have a raw version of the dish. Favorite non-raw publications of mine include Gourmet, Australian Gourmet Traveler, Jamie Oliver's cookbooks, Tessa Kiro's cookbooks, and good old Moosewood (which was a staple in my cooked vego days). I find that many of these publications favor fresh, seasonal ingredients, and elegant preparations that really highlight the integrity of the ingredients. I'll stay away from anything that relies on lots of canned or processed ingredients - it's really not even worth looking at these for ideas, honestly, because those kind of shortcuts have totally different (and rather unpleasant, in my opinion) flavor profiles.

The idea for this dish came from an Australian Gourmet Traveler cookbook that a friend of mine had lying around. With just a few tweaks, I turned it into a totally raw dish. Only when I tasted the raw tuna, I just wasn't that into it. Maybe it's the quality of the fish I bought - it was labeled as sashimi grade, but you never know until you taste it - but it was just too fishy for me raw. So I gave it a quick sear, which does, unfortunately, destroy a bit of the nutrition, but it made it much more palatable to me. Yes, sometimes I do opt for flavor over rawness. In general, when using fantastic quality produce this kind of compromise isn't necessary, but never be hard on yourself if you prefer to add a cooked ingredient. Stressing over the decision will harm you far more than the sear job.

I thought the original recipe was a little veggie light, so I added slivers of fat asparagus (the first of spring, and was it ever sweet and crisp!) and lovely little cherry tomatoes. There is endless room for variation, so go ahead, use your imagination.

This is a light but satisfying dish. I enjoyed it immensely, and still had room for a dessert of chopped banana and black sapote mixed with shredded coconut and drizzled with honey.

Spiced Rare Tuna and Lotsa Veggies Salad
Large handful of mixed greens
2 stalks of fat asparagus, sliced thinly on the diagonal
3 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 beetroot, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp raw honey
1/2 ripe but firm avocado
100g piece of sashimi grade tuna
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp sea or himalayan salt
good grind of black pepper
olive oil

First pickle the beetroot. Mix the apple cider vinegar with the honey in a small bowl, then add sliced beetroot and toss to coat. Let sit for at least 10 minutes.

Combine cumin, coriander, salt and pepper on a small plate. Rub tuna with a small amount of olive oil, then roll in spice blend to coat. Sear quickly over high heat, using a little bit of olive oil (30 seconds - 1 minute per side). Slice thinly.

Place greens on a plate. Top with slivered asparagus, quartered cherry tomatoes, pickled beetroot slices, avocado slices, and tuna slices. Drizzle with more olive oil, or another oil of your choice (macadamia, pistachio, or walnut would be lovely). Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper, and drizzle a bit of the leftover beetroot pickling juice. Yum! Serves 1.

Welcome to Melbourne, Part 1

2008-09-18T17:16:00.008+09:30

I had always heard that Melbourne was a cool city. Known for its unusual public art, its hidden laneways, its fantastic cafes, and its changeable weather, Melbourne is a dream for tourists and locals alike. During my visit last year, I explored some of the trendy and bohemian areas, checked out plenty of art, and discovered plenty of good eats.

But what I didn't know until I moved here three weeks ago was what a sustainable city Melbourne is. People here are incredibly tuned in to environmental issues, particularly surrounding climate, transportation, and food. One of my favorite places so far are CERES (Center for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies), a fully functional community farm center right on the edge of the city. Not only do they engage much of the community in growing food, they also run a nursery, many educational programs, a cafe, music events, and so much more. I also like Friends of the Earth, which is both an activist organization and a co-op/cafe/bookshop oasis in the midst of the urban environment. It's also nice to see so many bike riders, so many organic food shops, and such obvious consciousness of treating the earth and each other with dignity and respect.

There's so much more to explore, but my relationship with my new city home is off to a passionate start. Here's a little photo montage of my initial Melbourne story:

An old narrow laneway, recalling days of milkmen

I do love living local!

These guys are the greatest sustainable food activists. Love the co-op and cafe as well.

Mosaic art decorates the entrance to CERES

Where Winnie the Pooh would do his gardening! CERES love.

Seedlings galore at CERES

A really free-range chook

I wish I lived here, though I do have a lemon tree and wild rocket growing in my backyard

How the eco set get around in Melbourne

Farmers Marketing

Winter veggies

Can you imagine a lovelier setting for marketing? Okay, okay, aside from Hanalei.

Need I say more? There's a lot to love in this city.

Loving the Lotus

2008-09-03T20:54:00.009+09:30

Welcome to the Lotus!

Like a good raw foodie, I enjoy my fresh fruit, my salads and my smoothies on a regular basis. Their freshness and simplicity make me feel good, and I can appreciate the intense natural flavors of good, organic produce. But while I may be raw, I still put a lot of emphasis on the second part of my self-defined title - foodie. I have a weakness for the gourmet, for unexpected combinations, for well considered flavors, for skillfully designed dishes that go beyond what even an adventurous domestic cook can come up with in a modest home kitchen. It may often be at odds with the raw foods lifestyle, but I simply love restaurant food.

This passion for gourmet dishes, expertly prepared by someone else in a decked-out kitchen and presented to me while I sip a special beverage and lap up the luxury, is generally a bit of a problem. It doesn't stop me going to restaurants, but no matter how I order it's a bit of a compromise. Either I order whatever I can get raw on the menu, skipping the more exotic sounding dishes, or I go for cooked and end up with a troubled tummy. If only I could go to a restaurant that serves raw foods!

Tranquility greets you outside the Blossoming Lotus (photo from BL website).

Enter Blossoming Lotus. Okay, it's on the island of Kauai, not exactly a hop skip and a jump from Australia. But seeing as I happened to be vacationing there, I made a point of having as many meals as possible at this oasis of raw and vegan cuisine. I started with brunch on the very first day I arrived, and it was beautifully satisfying after 30 hours of nibbling on plain vegetables and fruit whilst in transit. There was only one raw option, but it was so much more fancy than anything I'd make myself at home: a parfait of fresh tropical fruit, live granola (oh buckwheat, how I love thee), and lusciously decadent macadamia cream. I suspect the secret to a good macadamia cream is in the quality of the food processor, but it might also have something to do with the rich macs that grow in Hawaii. Later that day I bought a bag of the crunchy-creamy nuggets to nibble on, and they disappeared into the mouths of my family pretty quickly. I washed the parfait down with coconut water, a fantastic remedy for the dehydration of air travel.

Blossoming Lotus is not an entirely raw restaurant. It's self-described as "vegan world fusion," and the dinner menu is true to this moniker with dishes such as Pesto Lasagna, Thai green curry, Moroccan seared tofu, and Indian pumpkin curry - all entirely vegan, entirely delicious, and entirely enormous. Jayson's dinner choice, "Senorita Bombla's Enchilada Casserole," was a particularly amazing cooked vegan dish, presented with style and tasting better than any non-vegan enchilada I've ever come across.

Vegan enchilada goodness swimming in carob mole. Exquisite.

For me, the highlight was the excitement of having gourmet raw entree and main dishes, and this excitement was actually matched by the exquisite preparations and flavors. Live Moo Shu featured lovely, soft, pliable little tortillas that seemed to be made of coconut and flax, overflowing with marinated Asian vegetables and served with sweet-tangy dipping sauce. This is something I will have to try to recreate at home if I can only figure out how to make such delicate wrappers in my modest home dehydrator. The main course of Live Pad Thai was fantastic as well - a generous mound of coconut meat and assorted vegetables cut into noodle-like strips and fantastically dressed with a well balanced almond-chili-citrus sauce. Spicy cashews added a bit of crunch and kept me going back in for bite after delicious bite. I was the only one of our foodie group who finished my entire plate, and I was also the only one who didn't walk away terribly stuffed. It may be gourmet, but it's still raw food - it satisfies in such a more comfortable way than cooked food.

Mind blowing moo shoo with super dip (photo courtesy of BL website).

Raw meets gourmet on my dinner plate.

The Blossoming Lotus is not open for lunch, but they have this market cornered with a tidy little cafe and juice bar just down the road in Kapaa town. I came back twice for their perfect individual raw pizza. A thick, crumbly base was hidden under a mountain of marinated veggies spiralized to the texture of angel hair pasta and topped with really intensely flavored pesto, garnished with a pretty little edible flower (which I just had to shock my grandfather by popping into my mouth whole). They also make really gorgeous and refreshing drinks - my favorite on a hot day was the living limeade, with fresh lime juice, coconut water and agave. Heaven. Or so I thought, until I encountered my true love...

What you should be looking at here is one big, lovely chunk of fudge. Not just any fudge, but raw fudge, and also the richest, most delicious fudge in the world. So amazingly decadent, in fact, that I had it twice and both times failed to take a photo because I was so deeply and appreciately present in the moment while experiencing it that all thoughts of photography were banished from my mind. Every non-raw member of my family was treated to a taste and they were all bowled over, even my mother who avowedly dislikes fudge. So there you have it. Raw chocolate, rocking my world once again.

Though this blog entry has mostly focused on the food, Blossoming Lotus is really so much more than a restaurant. With nightly live music entertaining diners, walls decked out with local art, and a menu that reflects consciousness of the planet and our bodies, this place is a mecca of inspiration and gratitude.

Blossoming Lotus, I want to take you home with me to Australia. If the Lotus can blossom on the tiny island of Kauai, there's no reason we can't create a similar place of joyous, blissful eating here in Oz. I put the challenge out there: let's bring the spirit of the Lotus down under and create a vegan/raw restaurant, serving quality cuisine in an invigorating space, here in Australia. I'm on board, but I can't do it alone. Who's with me?

For the Love of Chocolate, and Permaculture

2008-08-12T16:32:00.011+09:30

Our amazing tour guide under a coconut tree.

Perfect weather, sparkling beaches, chilled-out residents, daily rainbows, copious tropical fruits: these things and more make Kauai heaven, as I gushed in my previous post. But the reasons that I found this island to be my personal paradise run much deeper. Perfection can be found in the details. The best example can be found atop a hill, a short drive from Kapaa town.

Breadfruit

This is the home of the Steelgrass Chocolate Farm, which I was lucky enough to tour while on holiday in Kauai. It is also the home of Tony Lydgate and his family, the inspiration behind the vision and realization of Steelgrass. They moved from the mainland to Kauai in order to develop a sustainable farm, and there they met the first of many challenges. They found that their plot of land was covered in jungle, and not the good kind. This jungle was a tangle of invasive species, the same plants that have destroyed the majority of Kauai's native species. The family set to work removing many of these plants and carefully considering what to plant instead. They wanted plants that would grow successfully, provide food, and not be invasive.

Pineapple

Mango

Soursop - tastes like cotton candy!

They found many answers to these problems by planting a variety of trees, many of them fruiting. Among those found in their orchards today are mango, tahitian lime, coconut, starfruit, orange, pineapple, and of course cacao, to name a few. Tropical flowers, including the spectacular vanilla orchid, make up a great deal of the land as well. They also planted several varieties of bamboo, a plant whose slender strength earned it the nickname "steelgrass," after which the farm is named.

Local orange variety

All of these plants and more were revealed to a curious group of food-lovers on the chocolate farm tour. Our tour guide not only explained the significance of each plant and organized various tastings along the way, she also filled us in on the nature of many invasive plants and what the Steelgrass crew and others are trying to do to counter this barrage. After a gorgeous and informative stroll through the lush property, we got down to business and tackled the reason we were all really there: chocolate.

Tahitian Lime, which we tasted with raw sugarcane

Though the cacao beans had recently been harvested, a few had been left hanging off the trees for our curious eyes. Tony explained that cacao beans grow close to the ground so small animals can eat them. The cacao bean itself is quite bitter, but it is surrounded by a thin layer of sweet pulp. The inner kernel needs to be dried and fermented before it can be turned into chocolate. Sitting in the shade, we tasted plain cacao nibs - and as a raw foodist, I was quite possibly the only person there for whom this wasn't a new experience. Then, while Tony delivered a captivating lecture on the history of chocolate, we blind taste tested ten of the world's best commercially produced dark chocolates.

Tony Lydgate with torch ginger and other tropical flowers

Now, I consider myself a bit of a chocolate snob, but this was an eye-opening experience even for me. Having experience in sensory evaluation, I approached the task much as I would a wine tasting. Next to each numbered sample, I wrote down the characteristics of the chocolate's aroma, taste and texture. I was actually amazed at the variety, considering that each sample contained the same three ingredients in relatively similar proportions: cacao, cacao butter, and sugar. In some chocolates I noted brighter berry flavors, while others had sophisticated earthy notes. Some suggested sunshine and lightness, others conjured up images of a worn leather chair and a glass of port, while still others were downright naughty in their dark richness.

Cacao tree with one one pod

Despite his obvious passion for chocolate (revealed by the admonition that we all eat several ounces of dark chocolate daily), Tony does not aspire to produce chocolate commercially. Rather, his ambition is to sell his seedlings to farmers all over Kauai in order to cultivate a local cacao industry. The main industry on Kauai is tourism, so the Lydgates see a need to develop sustainable industries that keep wealth on the island, and cacao farming is just that. Healthy for the body, the planet, and the local economy - who can argue with that?

Cacao bean and the nibs it crumbles into when peeled

There is a lot of passion among the staff at Steelgrass, and, even more importantly, a lot of action being applied to realizing and expanding their visions for a healthy future for the land and people of Kauai. I cannot help but draw a connection between the efforts of Steelgrass and the burgeoning farmer's market movement throughout the island, which I discussed in my previous post. The fact that on any given day there are multiple farmer's markets around Kauai means that people are starting to pay attention to the importance of protecting their local environment and economy - and their own bodies, incidentally. I am really pleased to see such a phenomenon take hold, and it gives a lot of encouragement that the lovely environment that can be found throughout much of the island is here to stay.

Vanilla orchid

To finish on a RAW note, and to tease you into checking back here again soon, I'll mention that just down the road from Steelgrass some raw cacao is being put to excellent use. That's a drool-worthy post for another day, but for now, drool over this gorgeous starfruit:

Kauai = Raw Heaven

2008-08-02T18:07:00.009+09:30

If there is a heaven, it looks an awful lot like Hanalei. This tiny surf town on the northern side of Kauai, the northernmost and smallest of the Hawaiian islands, is as close to paradise as one can get. Obstensibly, the draw is a semi-circular bay whose water is placid in summer but produces killer waves in winter. Towering over the bay is an ominous mountain, home to the wettest place on earth and therefore covered by clouds most of the time. But the sun shines in full glory on Hanalei, only slipping away for brief showers that are always followed by brilliant rainbows.

Abundant natural beauty, check. But even if Hanalei didn't have the perfect beach (as well as a dozen other perfect beaches within driving distance), it would still be an amazing place to live. The little town has everything I could want: an organic food shop, fish market, fantastic yoga studio, crystal and gem shop, a couple of really good restaurants and a few clothing shops (and they only sell summer wear, of course, as it's always summer weather in Kauai). Everything is within walking distance, so no need for a vehicle unless it's the 2-wheeled variety.

And with the lush tropical folliage that the rain showers provide comes my number one reason for loving Hanalei: tropical fruit. The fantastic selection, along with lots of lovely vegetables and other goodies, can be purchased at the farmers markets held twice weekly. Papayas, mangoes, mountain apples, apple bananas, the sweetest pineapples you've ever tasted, young coconuts with their hydrating water, lychees, black and white sapotes, soupsop, jackfruit, starfruit...on and on. I also picked up many different varieties of greens, skinny Japanese eggplant, okra, organic sprouts, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis, carrots, avocadoes, and some lovely local goats cheese. All of this bounty is spread on folding tables in a green field, overshadowed by mountains and trees.

We arrived on Tuesday at 2:45 for a 3pm market start. Because the markets are small and popular, people crowd around a roped-off entrance as if awaiting admittance to a nightclub. But in a much more egalitarian fashion, everyone rushed through at 3pm on the dot. In a frenzy, I paid $12 for a sugarloaf pineapple - sounds steep, but believe me, it was a mindblowing pineapple, all sweetness and no acidity. With my grandmother, sister, boyfriend's sister and dad, and friend, we managed to collect quite a haul. Here we are contemplating it back home on our lanai:

Any doubt yet that this is heaven?

Just for Fun - Orange Gogi Cacao Bliss and Mini Carrot Cakes

2008-07-07T14:20:00.005+09:30

Most people are used to having what you call "weekends" - two consecutive days off from work, usually Saturday and Sunday. But in the hospitality biz, other people's weekends are our busiest work days. So we take our days off when we can get them. Last week an amazing thing occurred: I actually had two days off in a row! So what did I do with all this luscious free time?

I played in the kitchen, of course.

And when I say "played," that is exactly what I mean. I was like a child, making only cakes and candies and licking every bowl spotlessly clean.

I've been wanting to experiment with raw cacao butter for ages, and I finally gave it a try. This is the cold-pressed oil of the cacao bean, the same little miracle that gives us chocolate (and is also the basis of white chocolate). It is solid at room temperature, so the challenge is to melt it without heating it above 45 Celsius, and then work with it quickly enough to prevent it from hardening up again before you finish. This was a bit tricky for me in the cold Adelaide winter, but I managed. I probably won't try my hand at cacao again until it warms up here though.

I decided that while one can never have enough chocolate, I wanted to try some less traditional flavors with the cacao butter. So I used Sheryl Duruz's recipe for Orange Gogi Berry White Chocolate, which I found among the culinary delights of The Sunny Raw Kitchen. This dessert is a raw foodist's dream! Not only is it bursting with sweet gogi and orange flavors, creamy mouth-pleasing cacao and cashews, and a bit of cacao nib crunch, but most of the ingredients are energizing antioxidant superfoods.

Chocolate making is a fine art, and I've only just discovered the tip of the iceberg. My first attempt wasn't pretty, but it tasted out-of-this-world. I know I have a long way to go with my chocolate making. But hey, I'm happy to eat my way there.

Orange Gogi Berry White Chocolate
1 cup gogi berries, divided in half
1/2 cup cacao butter
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup cacao nibs
zest of 1 orange

Grind 1/2 cup of the gogi berries in a spice mill or coffee grinder to achieve a kind of sticky powder. Set aside.

Melt the cacao butter, either in a dehydrator or over a double boiler (place a metal bowl over pot 1/3 filled with water, bring water to rolling boil, and let cacao butter melt, stirring constantly to avoid it getting too hot).

In a food processor, process cacao butter, raw cashews, reserved gogi powder and agave nectar until you achieve a really smooth texture. It will probably have to run for several minutes. Remove mixture to a bowl, scraping out food processor thoroughly (don't forget to lick the bowl!).

Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup whole gogi berries, cacao nibs, and orange zest. Lightly rub a glass pie plate or dish with coconut oil, then spread the chocolate mixture evenly. Place in freezer until firm. When ready, cut into squares.

*Note: This doesn't completely harden, but rather has a slightly sticky, fudgy texture. I needed to use a metal spatula to remove it from the pie plate, and I stored it in the fridge in a container lined with parchment paper.

My other big cooking adventure of my "weekend" (it was a Thursday and a Friday, but it was a weekend to me) was the carob carrot tamarillo cake which I posted recently. While making it, I had some extra carrots, and decided to try the original carrot cake recipe posted by hannah.hunnicutt on goneraw.com. But instead of making a cake, I thought it would be fun to make little cupcakes. Well, wouldn't you know, I couldn't find my cupcake/muffin tray anywhere (where on earth could a tray disappear to?). But I did find an old friand tray, and I used that to mould little individual carrot cakes. So cute! And just the right size for a snack. The orange icing is a perfect complement, too.

Make sure you use good, juicy raisins. I used organic muscatels and walnuts (instead of pecans, in the original recipe) and they were so lovely. I also had to double the quantities originally given in order to fill a tray.

Honestly, these taste just like cooked carrot cake, but they're totally raw. And they don't have any sugar, flour, oil, butter or cream cheese. Once again, I have discovered a small raw miracle.

Mini Carrot Cakes
1 1/2 cups grated carrots, as much moisture squeezed out as possible
1/2 cup dates, pitted
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
8 Tbsp dried shredded coconut
2 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp agave nectar
4 Tbsp ground cashews or sunflower seeds
1/2 cups raisins
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt

In a food processor, puree the dates to a smooth paste (this works best with soft California dates, if you're using drier dates you might want to soak them for an hour first). Add all of the remaining ingredients except for the raisins and nuts. Process until combined.

Stir in the raisins and nuts by hand. Rub a muffin or friand tray with a little coconut oil. Evenly distribute the cake batter to make 12 muffins or little cakes. Alternatively, you can mould the cakes by hand on parchment paper. Dehydrate for 4 hours. Remove from tray, flip over, and dehydrate 2 more hours with the other side facing up. Delicious plain or topped with:

Orange Icing
1 cup cashews, soaked 2-3 hours and drained
2 Tbsp agave nectar
2 Tbsp orange juice (from about 1/2 orange)
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp orange zest
pinch of salt

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and let it run until you achieve a smooth texture. Spread over carrot cake using a rubber spatula.

The Giving Tree

2008-07-04T12:19:00.014+09:30

One day, while strolling in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, I happened upon a large tree heavy with golden fruit. No, this is not the beginning of a fable, but rather my introduction to the tangy tree tomato, or tamarillo. Being a curious and fearless raw foodist, I went ahead and plucked a ripe fruit for tasting. Beneath a slightly bitter skin lay a sweet, juicy interior with a pleasant hint of tartness - a flavor and texture like a cross between a passionfruit and a tomato. I simply couldn't let this bounty go ungathered, so I returned the next day with a sack and a lookout and picked myself enough tree tomatoes for hours of culinary experimentation. This was urban foraging at its finest.

While it has many traits in common with its vine-grown namesake, such as an abundance of seeds and classification as a fruit, the tree tomato is actually much sweeter and better suited to desserts and chutneys. Hence its 1967 rechristening with the much sexier name "tamarillo" by the New Zealand Tree Tomato Promotions Council. Though the fruit is native to the South American continent, it is cultivated commercially for export in New Zealand, and also widely grown in a dozen other countries scattered through the globe. The fruit's new name is actually more than a cosmetic image boost; it is an expression of the globalization of one humble foodstuff. It reflects its South American origins by incorporating the word "amarillo," meaning yellow, its significance in New Zealand with the word "tama," meaning leadership, and its similarity to the word "tomato."

A lot of my fruit gets eaten whole, as a snack, or mixed into smoothies. But I found the outer flesh of the tamarillo a bit too bitter to enjoy it by itself, and the occasional hard seeds unsuited to smoothies. So it was time for me to get creative.

First off, I took its South American origins as inspiration and created a salsa. Not a traditional vegetable salsa, but a tangy-sweet fruit salsa, that could be eaten as a condiment or a side salad. Pear was my choice as a subtly sweet counterpoint to the tamarillo's tartness, and I dressed the combination up simply with fresh flavors of coriander, red onion, and apple cider vinegar. This recipe is simple, versatile, and delicious. What more can you want?

Tamarillo and Pear Salsa
2 large red sensation pears, cut into 1/4 inch dice
8 tamarillos, cut into 1/4 inch dice, hard seeds carefully removed
1/2 bunch fresh coriander, minced
1/4 red onion, minced
1/2 tsp dried coriander
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
dash of Himalayan salt

Chop pears and tamarillos into 1/4 inch dice, being careful to remove the hard seeds from the tamarillo (located in the flesh along the sides). Mince coriander and red onion and toss with fruits. Add dried coriander, vinegar, and salt, and toss to coat. Serves 6-8 as condiment, 4 as a side dish (shown here with Mexican corn salad - a post for another day).

My next idea was to make a chutney, inspired by tomato-ginger chutneys I've enjoyed in the past alongside Indian food. This was made to accompany my caulibroc curry, and it served as a sweet flavor counterpoint to the spicy curry.

Tamarillo Chutney
1 cup tamarillos, finely chopped and hard seeds removed (approx. 6-8 tamarillos)
2 Tbsp minced or grated fresh ginger
1/2 bunch fresh coriander, minced
1 tsp fresh chili, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp dried coriander
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp oil (olive, safflower, sunflower, or other mild oil)

Finely chop tamarillos. Add minced ginger, coriander, chili and spices. Mix thoroughly. Whisk together honey, vinegar and oil. Toss with tamarillo mixture coat. Stir chutney until it becomes paste-like, and allow to rest for at least 1/2 hour before serving for flavors to develop. Serve with vegetable curry. *Variations: if your curry is very spicy you may wish to omit the chili in the chutney. The chutney can be made sweeter, to taste, by adding more honey. Or add one minced clove of garlic if you dare!

Happy with my salad and condiment experiments, I wanted to try using the tamarillo in a dessert to really highlight its sweet, gooey interior. This time I looked closer to home for my inspiration. Since the fruit grows so well in Australia and New Zealand, why not draw upon the world of Kiwi and Down Under desserts? And why not use the tamarillo seeds like passionfruit? My first thought was of the ubiquitous passionfruit-topped pavlova, but creating a raw version of the meringue-like cake baffled me. Scrapping the pavlova idea, I decided that carob would be a good flavor match for the tamarillos, if I could find the right platform. My next thought was to create something reminiscent of a self-saucing carob pudding, topped with tamarillos. Again, I just didn't know how to create a raw cake with a hard exterior and soft interior.

Finally, I saw this carrot cake recipe posted at goneraw.com. Eureka! The moistness and natural sweetness of a carrot cake was exactly what I was looking for. With a few changes and the addition of carob powder, I had my cake base. In between cake layers and for a beautifully tempting top, I added a simple cashew cream icing and lots of tamarillo seeds. This is a pretty special cake: very raw, very Australian, and very serendipitous.

Carob Carrot Tamarillo Cake

Cake
3 cups grated carrot
1 cup pitted dates, preferably California (if not the soft Cali kind, soak them in water for an hour to soften)
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1 cup shredded dried coconut
4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup ground cashews
6 Tbsp carob powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt

Topping
1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked in water to cover at least 2 hours and drained
2 Tbsp agave nectar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
water as needed
15 tamarillos

Grate or shred carrots (I use the grater attachment on my food processor for this - saves time and your knuckles compared to the old-fashioned hand grater). Place grated carrots in a fine mesh seive and press out as much liquid as possible. Pour the carrot juice into a glass and drink up (you need your energy while unbaking!). Alternatively, if you're a juicer, save the pulp from juicing carrots and use that instead.

Place dates in food processor and process into a paste. Add all of the remaining cake ingredients and process until well mixed. You will probably need to do this in 2 batches unless you have a really huge food processor.

Rub 2 springform cake pans with a little oil (I like coconut). Divide batter evenly between pans and spread smoothly using a rubber spatula. Dehydrate at 45 celsius/115 farenheit for 4 hours (this can be done in large tray dehydrator or oven, if your oven can be set at low temps). Remove sides of springform pans and invert cakes onto plates. One at a time, slide a large blunt knife or pie serving utensil along edges and under cakes to remove them from the bottom of springform pans. Place cakes, plate and all, back into dehydrator for another 2 hours.

Meanwhile, make your icing. Place soaked and drained cashews, agave, lemon juice and vanilla in food processor. Process until smooth and creamy, adding water as need to achieve a rich yet light consistency.

Cut the tamarillos in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds, making sure to avoid the hard seeds in the fleshy lining. Place the seeds into a bowl and set aside.

Remove both cakes from the dehydrator. Spread 1/3 of the icing over one cake with a knife or spatula. Top with 1/2 of the tamarillo seeds. Carefully place the second cake over the first. Top with another 1/3 of the icing. Spread the remaining 1/3 of the icing around the sides of the cake. Top with cake with the other 1/2 of the tamarillo seeds. Cut as desired and serve!

Have a square, or three! I brought this cake to a raw potluck so we cut it into squares for easy sharing. Good thing I took a photo of it before I left home (in dismal nighttime lighting), because it was consumed quickly! Thank you, tamarillo tree.

Brrr...Chili!

2008-07-02T17:06:00.004+09:30

Nothing says winter like a big, hearty bowl of chili. And since winter has wrapped it icy tenticles firmly about me, it's time to take the chili challenge. Now I know what you're thinking: a gurgling pot of beef, beans, and spices, perhaps topped with a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese. Delicious, yes. Warming, yes. Stodgy, yes. Raw? Most emphatically no.

But as my friend and fellow gastronome Leena of Leena Eats has proven with her chili cookoff, there is more than one way to cook a chili. According to Leena, a chili must contain chili peppers, liquid, veggies or meat, and may or may not contain beans. Her cookoff featured traditional three bean chili, Asian style super-hot chili, Aussie-fied chili (kangaroo, golden syrup and vegemite, anyone?), chocolate chili and white chicken chili, to name a few. The one thing all of these diverse chilis have in common, aside from the presence of spice? They are all cooked.

Leena's many chilis inspired me to take the chili challenge myself: a personal chili un-cookoff. I wanted to create a base that had the substantial texture of meat, and would also absorb the spices and flavors of the sauce. So I went with a one-two punch of eggplant and mushrooms - the "meats" of the veggie world. The key is to soften the base vegetables by marinating for several hours. A hit of fresh corn adds color and texture contrast, and sundried tomatoes provide a rich flavor for the spicy sauce.

All raw, all veggies, all satisfying. Truly a chili to warm my raw soul.

Winter Chili
1 eggplant, cut into 1cm (1/4 inch) dice
5 swiss brown mushrooms, cut into 1cm (1/4 inch) dice
1 ear sweetcorn, cut off of cob
5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 red onion, minced
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 tsp Himalayan salt
1 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked in water to cover
6 cherry tomatoes, or one regular tomato, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp fresh oregano, or 1/2 tsp dried

In a large container with a lid, mix the diced eggplant, mushrooms, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes, garlic and onion.

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Pour over diced vegetables and toss to coat.

Let the vegetables marinate at room temperature for at least 6 hours (longer is okay).

Just before serving, combine the sundried tomatoes, half of the soaking liquid, the cherry tomatoes or chopped tomato, olive oil, garlic and spices in a food processor. Process until you achieve a thick sauce, adding more soaking liquid if necessary.

Toss the sauce with the marinated vegetables and serve.

*For really deep, dazzling flavor, make the chili the day before and let all the flavors mingle. You could then gently warm it in a pot, being careful not to let the temperature exceed 45/115.

Oreo Milkshake

2008-06-24T14:41:00.008+09:30

Just in case my oreo pie recipe didn't clue you in, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret. I love oreos. In my pre-raw days, I used to indulge in a box of these seemingly innocent little biscuits more often than I'd like to admit. I say seemingly innocent because in advertisements, they are always being eaten by sweet little children, joyfully dunking their sandwich cookies in tall glasses of creamy milk.

Now I know that the biscuits are made of white flour and a dozen other nasty ingredients that I'm not keen to ingest, and I don't even want to contemplate how they make that cream. But the flavor and texture combination is just so good! Hence, my desire to recreate the oreo experience in a healthy, natural form. Or shall I say forms. Because an oreo pie is great for a special occasion, but it's not something I'm going to whip up for my inner child for an after school (or work) snack.

And so, the oreo milkshake was born. It can be made in under 15 minutes - perfect for an indulgent afternoon snack. The hardest part is opening the young coconut, but once you've done it a few times it will only take you a few minutes. If you want to try this recipe and it's your first coconut, I suggest reading up on how to open a young coconut.

Furthermore, this delicious milkshake is full of nutritional goodness and will leave you positively bursting with energy. Coconut water is among the most hydrating substances on earth, so it will really give your body a boost that you will feel instantly. Raw cacao is full of antioxidants, magnesium, and natural mood elevators (think dopamine, seratonin, anandamine, phenylethylamine, and MAO inhibitors). Yes, there's a reason human beings love eating chocolate: it makes us feel bliss and well-being. I eat it at least once a day, but in its natural, more potent and less adulterated form. The milkshake also contains vanilla bean, which is also associated with feelings of well-being, gogi berries which are high in antioxidants, agave nectar which contains many trace minerals and is a low-GI sweetener, and coconut oil, a great healing oil that is good for the skin and associated with weight loss. Talk about a super snack!

Oreo cookies and a glass of milk have nothing on this milkshake.

Oreo Milkshake
(serves 2)
1 young coconut
1/2 vanilla bean
2 Tbsp raw cacao powder
2 Tbsp gogi berries
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 Tbsp agave nectar, or to taste

Open the coconut and pour the liquid into a powerful blender. Scrape the soft coconut flesh out with a spoon and add to the blender. Add the 1/2 vanilla bean, cacao powder, gogi berries, coconut oil and agave nectar. Blend on high until all the ingredients are fully combined.

Garnish with dried shredded coconut and cacao nibs, if desired. Drink, enjoy, and feel the energy!

Caulibroc: Nature's Love Child

2008-06-13T23:11:00.010+09:30

Boys and girls, it's time for a little lesson about the birds and the bees. When a nice broccoli falls in love with a beautiful young cauliflower, they express their love in a special way, and we get...

Caulibroc!

Thanks to a brave Adelaide grower who took a chance (or an illicit love affair in the vegetable patch), my local organic was stocked up with these gorgeous babies. With big purple blooms atop pale green stalks, I think they look like a raw foodie's bridal bouquet - although this would be pretty hefty to carry down the aisle.

With a normal cauliflower, I'd give it a simple treatment: chopped up into small bits, drizzled with olive or flaxseed oil, and sprinkled with salt. I like to think of this crunchy concoction as my raw substitute for popcorn. But with the caulibroc, I wanted to make something a little bit special - to dress it up with colors and flavors. Aloo gobi, the spicy Indian curry featuring cauliflower and potatoes, came to mind, so I looked to the subcontinent for inspiration. To my humble yet exotic caulibroc I added some green peas for a color contrast, mushrooms for texture, and lots of spice to please the palate.

Here's my raw curry fix, a recipe almost as spicy as the vegetable romance that inspired it.

Caulibroc Curry
1 head caulibroc, cut into florets
½ cup fresh shelled peas
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 bunch fresh coriander/cilantro, leaves and stems separated
¼ cup cold pressed oil (olive, flaxseed, safflower, etc.)
Himalayan salt
1 fresh chili
½ cup sundried tomatoes, soaked, liquid reserved
1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
½ small onion, chopped
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp honey/agave

Combine caulibroc florets, shelled peas, and sliced mushrooms in a large bowl. Drizzle with half of the oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Let the vegetables soften while preparing the sauce.

In a powerful blender, combine the remaining oil, coriander stems, chili, sundried tomatoes, ginger, onion, cumin, tumeric, curry powder and honey or agave. Add half of the tomato soaking liquid and blend, adding more liquid as necessary to create a sauce of medium thickness.

Toss the curry sauce with the vegetables. Spread the vegetables over lined dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 115 F/45 C for 2-3 hours to warm and soften the curry. Remove from dehydrator, top with chopped coriander leaves.

Shown here with tamarillo chutney, made from tamarillos that I sneakily picked from the Botanic Gardens. But that's a story for another day.

What is Raw Gastronomy?

2008-06-11T17:01:00.003+09:30

Let's play a little game. What did you have for breakfast this morning? I'll go first. I had my favorite (at the moment) green smoothie: 2 bananas, a large handful of mint, 3 big spinach leaves, a teaspoon of maca, a teaspoon of chia seeds, and water, blended. Then I went to work, where I served lots of people their breakfasts. Some of them had scrambled eggs with asparagus and pancetta. Others had sourdough toast with raspberry jam and cream. Some just had coffee.

Why did you choose to eat what you did? I chose my breakfast because I think it tastes good, it gives me lots of energy, and I know, intellectually, that it's full of nutrition. Similarly, each customer in the restaurant read through the menu and made their breakfast choice based upon a set of ideas in their head - though their choices were shaped somewhat by what the chef decided to include on the menu (no green smoothies, unfortunately).

Basically, gastronomy is a discipline concerned with what you ate for breakfast. It also covers why you made that choice, the setting in which you consumed it, who you ate with, what you talked about, what sorts of dishes and utensils you used, who cooked it, who grew and processed the ingredients, the cookbook your recipe came from, the development of the dish, what nutrients your meal contained, and just about every other aspect of food and dining that you can think of. Etymologically, the word means "rules relating to the stomach, to eating and drinking," but the term as we use it today refers to something much more specific. Perhaps Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the father of French gastronomy and original food writer, defined it best: "the reasoned understanding of everything that concerns us insofar as we sustain ourselves." Gastronomy is not the study of cookery, cuisine, or nutrition; it is the discourse on these topics.

So what does gastronomy have to do with raw foodism? The raw foods concept is one based upon a basic nutritional precept: the retention of life-giving enzymes. In their natural state, fresh foods contain enzymes that assist in the digestion and absorption of nutrients. Once heated above 116 F (45 C), the enzymes start to break down, hindering the body's ability to absorb the food's nutrients. Not only is the body forced to produce its own enzymes to digest the food, which is a strain on the system, but it also treats the cooked foods as toxins, releasing white blood cells to attack the invaders. In a nutshell, eating raw foods gives the body more nutrients in a much more efficient manner, leaving lots of energy for other tasks aside from digesting. The result: eating raw makes a person feel more energetic, alive, and happy, as well as promoting general health and even reversing chronic illnesses.

Being a raw foodist can be the simplest thing in the world. What's more simple than reaching for a bowl of fruit when you're hungry, or cracking some raw nuts, or making a big salad? In fact, most of my day-to-day meals are simply salads, smoothies, or fruit. But if you've read the rest of my blog, you've noticed that I include many ingredients beyond fresh fruits and vegetables. That's where gastronomy comes into play.

Long before I discovered raw, I loved to create in the kitchen. I love the interplay of flavor, texture, color. I love the sensuality of eating. I love the energy of putting a meal together and the joy in sharing my creations with others. For me, becoming a raw foodist does not mean the end of this passion; rather, I have redefined it. In raw food preparation, we do the same things as cooked-food cooks, we just use a different set of ingredients, techniques and equipment. Ultimately, a raw chef has the same imperative as a cooked chef: to create flavorful dishes with respect to the integrity of the ingredients.

From the perspective of gastronomy, I hold raw food preparation to be a cuisine of its own. Any cuisine has rules attached to it: rules of what is considered food and non-food, rules as to how particular ingredients are treated, rules as to how foods are combined, rules as to techniques and equipment used. A cuisine necessarily requires a group of people with a common understanding of these rules. Raw cuisine takes as the boundaries of food anything either in a natural state, or that has been processed without heating to a temperature leading the denaturing of enzymes. There are also a whole new set of ingredients found in raw cuisine, many of which provide flavors and nutrition not found in simple fruits and vegetables. Some of these are the superfoods, which will have to be a post of its own in the future! As for preparation, nothing is off limits as long as it keeps the enzymes in tact. Common preparations can be as simple as chopping and mixing, and as complex as dehydrating, blending, processing and freezing. The stove and oven are no longer necessary, with new equipment such as a dehydrator, spiralizer and blender taking their places. Unlike many traditional cuisines, the boundaries of the community of raw food cooks is not geographical but ideological, largely thanks to the ease of communication today using digital media.

Raw gastronomy, then, is simply the act of writing about raw foods from all angles. To me, this can't just be approached from a scientific/nutritional angle, or an intellectual angle, or a hedonistic angle, or an emotional angle. My love of food is many faceted. Therefore my writing about raw food should express all of the ways in which food nourishes me. Raw gastronomy is what my mind chews on long after my breakfast is over.

Red Cabbage Salad with Sweet Sesame Dressing

2008-06-06T18:27:00.005+09:30

I have the winter blues. I miss hot sunshine on my shoulders, heating my body and warming my moods. I miss late lazy afternoons lingering into evenings. Most of all, I miss the sunny fruits of summer - mangoes, peaches, cherries, and my favorites, figs.

The good news is, Adelaide is still a very fertile place in winter. I may not be able to get my juicy summer yummies for a while, but I can get some other delicious fruits and vegetables. I have been going hard on the vanilla persimmons lately - sometimes I'll eat five or six of them for my lunch! My local organic has some great varieties of apples and pears that can't be found on any conventional market shelves. But best of all are the hearty greens and cabbages.

I bought my first head of red cabbage the other day, and I am in love. Crispy, juicy, sweet and spicy - an explosion of flavor and texture in my mouth. And the color - wow! Something so beautifully purple just has to be full of antioxidants and other goodies. I decided to dress this up simply, mixing in some other crunchy, colorful veggies and topping it with a sweet, tangy Asian dressing. The result was a crowd-pleaser among both the raw and non-raw folks at my house.

This salad will help keep the winter blues at bay.

Red Cabbage Salad with Sweet Sesame Dressing
1/2 head red cabbage
1 large or 2 small red capsicum/bell pepper
1/2 carrot
2 heads of bok choy
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 bunch coriander/cilantro
2 Tbsp tamari
2 Tbsp black sesame seeds
a few drops of sesame oil

Finely chop the cabbage and bok choy. Cut the capsicum into thin slices and julienne the carrot. Mix the vegetables in a large bowl and set aside.

In a blender or food processor, mix the honey, apple cider vinegar, coriander and tamari. Pour into a bowl and mix in the black sesame seeds and sesame oil. Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.

Serves 4 as a main dish, more as a side.