SUNSET SOUP (Raw)

This soup I invented because I didn't want to serve even the very delicious Raw Tomato Soup twice in a row. I had seen in Brigitte Mars' book Rawsome! a recipe for Carrot-Ginger Soup which needed carrots, some left chopped, not pureed, white miso, grated ginger, garlic and water. I figured I could branch off from that and brought out a few more ingredients (and skipped the garlic for this one), fiddled with proportions, kept tasting and came up with:

SUNSET SOUP (Raw)

1 orange
1 cup chopped raw carrots
1 cup chopped raw butternut squash
3/4 cup raw cranberries (ok, I'd frozen mine from a while ago, but they were still raw)
1 Tbsp grated ginger root
1-1/2 to 2 cups water (This is approximate. Fiddle around until it's the right consistency for you.)
1 Tbsp white miso
1 Tbsp Braggs amino/all-purpose seasoning
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt (if needed) to taste

Zest the orange, remove the white pith with a sharp knife and discard, slice and chop the orange flesh, removing seeds as you go.
Put all ingredients (including the orange zest, unless you want to reserve a few strands for garnish) into your blender and puree, adding more water if needed to get to the right consistency for you.

Garnish if you like with some of the orange zest - and a few dried cranberries would be pretty, I think.

Enjoy!

RAW TOMATO SOUP

Okay, here we go, guys! It's letting me upload one photo (only one, it seems, although I tried for another for a 'soup show' item, as it were). So this keeps me happy for now - Yesssssssss!!!!!

RAW TOMATO SOUP

NOTE: not all my condiments are strictly raw - eg. the soy sauce and nutritional yeast, but I see them used in raw cookbooks.
I adapted this from recipe from a Tomato Soup in Kate Wood's _Eat Smart Eat Raw_ book.

6 tomatoes
1-1/2 sticks of celery
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp dried basil
2-1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp low sodium soy
a handful of parsley
juice and zest of half a lemon (or more to taste)
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
4 rehydrated sundried tomatoes
and as much water as I needed to make it work
fresh black pepper to taste
more salt, if you like, to taste

GARNISH: Well, maybe a little parsley and a twist of lemon? I also rehydrated a little wakame for garnish (that's the funny dark green circle of love around the lemon and lemon zest) - love any excuse for using sea vegetables! - but you can skip these if you like.

Chop what needs to be chopped and dump everything except the garnish in the blender, puree and chill. Garnish and serve. Delish!

The Raw Truth

Anyone looking around this blog would think either that I have become incredibly lazy or that I have stopped cooking and eating. The first is probably true: I have been slacking off something fierce! And the first half of the second possibility is, well, half true: I have been cooking about half, or even less, as much as usual. BUT that does not mean I haven't been eating. I've just been eating different things, salads and other raw things. Call it a culinary experiment, call it a whim, call it trial at dietary change, call it a swoop into madness or a sudden breath of sanity!

Anyway, armed with a couple of books, advice from some cyberpals who like to eat raw or mostly raw (and encourage it for the health benefits too), and a refrigerator full of vegetables and fruit, I've been using the stove top because of its cool flat surface lately more than for the heat elements hidden somewhere there under that black glass (how do they DO that?!). I've yet to find a secondary use for the oven that would also allow me easily and quickly to change my mind and turn a salad into a casserole. You see? Here I am, covering all bets (or my derriere, depending upon your preference).

I have to confess, however, that I haven't really experimented much. I don't have a dehydrator for a start, I make do with NOT the horrendously expensive kitchen gadget that would put my blender to shame, and I have no juicer. My nod towards a food processor is a gadget that holds at most a couple of cups of veg or whatever and comes as an attachment to a wand blender I find useful. My attempts at sprouting were dismal, although I remember doing it way back when and finding it no problem. (Note to Self: Keep Trying!)

Soooooooo what I've been doing happily is varying salads and salad dressings, still trying to keep away from added oils (maybe a tsp of sesame oil for flavour here or there, but it is rare). My condiments are not as yet entirely raw, and probably never will be, but I'm not letting that bother me :)

I photographed several of these salads, and in the spirit of waste-not-want-not I tried to stick them in here along with a rough description of what went in each. Sad to say, Blogger will not let me upload anything right now :( So I shall have to wait until a more auspicious day. Miserable luck, dammit!!!! (Now how often - lately, that is - have I sat down with a clear morning free to spend on the blog! Not ----ing often, I tell you.)

Meanwhile, we had a lovely raw beet salad for lunch which will have to wait for another day. Your loss!!!! Heh heh heh!

Cheers, all!!!!

Stuffed Avocado

This recipe has been adapted from one in Kate Wood's Eat Smart Eat Raw and it's definitely a keeper for our house, although I'll probably continue to tweak it a bit :)

STUFFED AVOCADO

For each avocado:
1/2 oz sunflower seeds
1/2 oz pumpkin seeds
1/2 medium carrot, chopped
4 sundried tomatoes, rehydrated
1 tsp white miso
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 slice onion
1/4 thai chili (you might want to adjust this down a bit - we like it hot!)
a shake or two of dried basil (or use fresh - I didn't have any)
juice of half a lime
Garnish: handful of alfalfa sprouts, slice or quarter of lime, few strands of lime zest

Puree all ingredients except for the avocado and the alfalfa sprouts. halve the avocado, remove seed. Fill the hollow in each half with the mixture and then spread it across the avocado. Garnish with the alfalfa sprouts, top with the lime zest and add the lime to the plate for squeezing.

NOTE: You may have some of the stuffing left over - just refrigerate and use it for dip or sandwich spread or whatever in the next day. Delish.

Bok Choy With Tofu

BOK CHOY AND TOFU



I'm putting this in as representative of all the quick and easy dishes to be made with bok choy - apart from just steaming it up, which is also delicious - and a package of medium or firm tofu. If we can find the very tiny baby bok choy, that's our favourite. They're so delicate and are just brimful of good things! Also, they don't take much time :)

For best results, I like to cut the tofu into manageable strips and gently press out any excess liquid between my palms before cutting into bite-sized pieces. Then I mix a quick marinade: a little Bragg's Amino or some low-sodium soy sauce, a little finely minced ginger and garlic (the jarred stuff works fine if in a hurry), a TINY shake of crushed chilies OR half a tsp or so of sambal oelek (a fiery Indonesian condiment which is mostly chilies but has other flavourings in it - excellent to keep in the fridge!). I stir this altogether in a bowl large enough to hold the tofu pieces (we use about a third of a package for two of us) and leave it to soak up the flavours while I do the rest.

Here I have taken a couple of big slices of onion, some sliced mushrooms and some finely chopped garlic and cooked them in a pan (large enough for the whole dish) with a little more soy sauce and some water. When the onions are soft, I am ready to add the rest of the ingredients.

While the above veg are cooking, I prepare the bok choy. I like to cut the tiny bunches in half lengthways and add them to the pan over medium heat again, turning them gently to coat them in the flavours of the mushrooms and onions.

Next comes the tofu with its marinade, turned gently so that all is mixed together and left just long enough to warm through. The bokchoy leaves will wilt, but the stems should remain nice a crisp.

Easy-peasy, as someone I know likes to say :) I usually serve with brown rice or noodles.

NOTE: If you like a thicker sauce, you can add a tsp of cornstarch to a little water and stir into the tofu marinade before you add it to the pan.

Somewhere I have other similar recipes photographed - perhaps using snowpeas instead of bok choy - or using a mix of vegetables that were in the fridge - anything other than those bags of frozen 'oriental' or 'stir-fry' vegetable mixes that one sees in supermarket freezers. They are limp before they even get started.

Curried Vegan 'Chicken' in Tomato and Coconut Sauce

First, dear friends, a warning: This recipe has no added fat - UNTIL you add the coconut milk! You can indeed make it without the coconut milk, you could fake up the coconut milk with a little coconut extract and a soy product which has less fat in it, or you can indulge. In lieu of vegan chikken I often use tempeh or pressed and marinated tofu, but this looks more authentic and the texture is pleasant.

CURRIED VEGAN 'CHICKEN' IN TOMATO & COCONUT SAUCE (SRI LANKA)

This dish was inspired by one from, I believe, Charmaine Solomon many years ago now. Her original recipe was of course not vegan in any way. I have tweaked it to suit our tastes as well as veganizing it :) Note: the dish is from Sri Lanka, and although it doesn't have the couple of dozen red chillies that I am told would have been in the original, it is still HOT and SPICY.

For two persons:

1/2 pkg fake chikken strips (or more if you're hungry), cut into bite-sized pieces

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
10 curry leaves (these are an aromatic leaf, used in some curries; I get mine dried)
1 onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne or ground chillies (ADJUST to taste and expectation)
1 tsp ground coriander seed (or a little more if you really love this taste)
1/2 tsp ground cummin
1/4 tsp ground fennel
2 tsp paprika
salt to taste (1/2 tsp to 1 tsp, but remember the chikken strips are salty and so might the tomatoes be)
1 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 a 14 ounce can of chopped tomatoes, with juice (sodium-reduced if possible)
5 cardamon pods, gently hit to slightly split them
1/2 stick cinnamon
2 big strips lemon zest or 1 stalk fresh lemon grass if you have it
1/2 can thick coconut milk
GARNISH: Lemon or Lime wedges, cilantro (coriander leaves), etc.

Over medium high heat, in a pan to hold the whole recipe: Cut the fake chikken into bit-size pieces and set aside.

Put the ingredients up to (but not including) the tomatoes in a little stock and let them soften and mix their flavours. Stir well.

Now is the time for the rest -

Add the tomatoes, whole spices and lemon zest (or lemon grass), lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pan for around 10 or fifteen minutes or so.

Add the pieces of fake chikken and make sure the pieces are well coated. Warm them through. Then, shortly before serving add the coconut milk and stir BUT do NOT cover the pan while you warm the dish (the dish will otherwise curdle).

Serve with rice and appropriate accompaniments and enjoy!

Vegan 'Chicken' with Yellow Peppers, Vegan 'Beef' in Chinese Black Beans

After telling the world (or at least all who couldn't escape me) of my dislike for the various fake vegan 'meats' on the market, I finally succumbed to trying them once again. Either they have improved amazingly or my taste buds have changed! Not that I'm suggesting for a moment that they are necessarily a gourmet delight or that they even vaguely approximate the 'real thing' (what a relief!), I found the PC (President's Choice) brand, which is all I could find in my local supermarket, very tasty indeed - tasty enough to try them more than once.

VEGAN 'CHICKEN' WITH YELLOW PEPPERS

This dish looked prettier on the platter than is apparent from my photography, and had a pleasing texture. It was a simple stir-fry (well, stir-steam) of all the usual things you'd expect to find in such a dish at your local Chinese restaurant, allowing for regional differences: onions, garlic, yellow bell peppers, probably some celery or bok choy stems, etc., the 'chicken' pieces (cut into thirds by me) added towards the very last, and all married in a light soy sauce and cornstarch sauce - enough to glaze the ingredients. I served with wild rice mixed with brown rice. There were no leftovers.

Next I tried the so-called 'beef' strips.

VEGAN 'BEEF' IN CHINESE BLACK BEANS

This 'stir-fried' dish had much the same composition as the 'chicken' dish above, except, as you see, for the substitution of green bell peppers for yellow and the addition of mushrooms. The sauce, however, was somewhat different in that Chinese preserved (salted) 'black' soybeans were used (not to be confused with the black turtle beans that are used in some southwestern USA and/or Mexican-style dishes!). After soaking a Tbsp or a little more of the beans in hot water and mashing them in with a few cloves (heh heh we LOVE lots of garlic here, although a couple of cloves is what this recipe usually gets) of garlic, the mixture was stirred into the pan with the vegetables, the 'beef' pieces (cut into bite-size bits) added towards the end.

This also had no leftovers, although imho the fake beef has a texture that is not as appealing as the chicken - but that might be a matter of mood.

[TECHNICAL SIDENOTE: I am still having trouble with adding photos to this blog, so I am doing it through Photobucket. If you encounter any problem whatsoever, please leave a comment to let me know. Many thanks!]