Coco Co-operation, Crunchy Cookies, Chapatis, Curry, Cabbage, Creativity!

Opening coconuts is not generally the easiest task in the world! I learnt a good way to open the mature brown ones.....you hold the coconut loosely in the palm of one hand, and with the back of a strong knife, deliver sharp blows to it's central axis. Keep turning the coconut, and keep tapping (whacking!) until the shell cracks.
This coconut was extremely cooperative! The shell came off in two large pieces leaving the inner part of the coconut intact! Getting the flesh out of the shell can be tricky....prising the flesh from the shell using the point of a knife is a job that takes a lil bit of patience ;)....but not this time!

So i've been experimenting some more with cookies. The last batch were soft and chewy, this time i wanted a crunchy cookie. I made two recipes, both using coconut and almond as the base.
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crunchy cookie no. 1: 1C Coconut, 1C soaked almonds, 1 apple, juice of 1 orange, 1 vanilla pod.
crunchy cookie no. 2: 1C Coconut, 1C soaked almonds, 1/2C Squash, 1/2c Coconut water, 1T Xylitol, 1/2T Cinnamon.
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The method is the same for both. Process ingredients to give a chunky mixture, put onto dehyrator sheet in spoonfuls, flatten & make into any shape at all :)
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Dehydrate until crunchy! (12-20hrs?)


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On to the next experiment.....
Indian Flavours....
I had in mind that i wanted to create something based on the concept of the samosa; traditionally a deep fried triangle of pastry filled with curried vegetables. The recipe for the 'pastry' evolved from a dahl recipe by John Fielder that i found in The Complete Book of Raw Food. I didn't like the recipe as dahl, so added ground flax seeds and made into pastry dough.....the result was really delicious and the flavours very authentically Indian.
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Samosa Pastry:
Process 2C Squash, 1C chopped Coconut, 1.5C chopped Tomatoes, 1 stick Celery, 1 handful shredded Curry Leaves, Spices (1t curry powder, 3t cumin, 1/4t cumin) & 1t salt until free of lumps. Add 1.5C ground flax and stir into veggie mix to make a dough.

Spread the dough onto a dehydrator sheet, about 3mm thick. Make a large square, score lines into the dough to make 4 smaller squares. Dehydrate for a few hours, then flip the squares removing the teflex sheet. Do not overdehydrate the dough! It needs to be slightly soft so that it can be wrapped around the curried vegetables.

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Curried Vegetables

Blend until smooth:

1C Almond

1C Coconut

Lemon juice

Garlic

Ginger

Spices (curry powder, cumin, turmeric)

approx 1C Water

salt

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Stir into curry sauce:

1C Chopped Cauliflower

1C Peas
1C Diced Red Pepper

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Although i wrapped the curried veggies in the dough and then dehydrated them more, i wouldn't do this again, i would just wrap and serve. I would also like to try some smaller samosas....the ones i made were a meal in themselves, but they are traditionally 'biting' snacks.

I also used the pastry dough from the samosas to make chapatis....

All in all a successful (and fun!) experiment!

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After the last cabbage post, i was inspired to make coleslaw (with a twist):

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Creamy Thai Sea-Slaw

Shredded hispi cabbage (i just love hispis, they are so sweet, crispy & juicy)

Shredded red cabbage

Grated carrot

Soaked sea spaghetti & hijiki seaweed

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in a Creamy sauce:

1/2 mango

1 avocado

water

lime juice

chilli ginger

coriander

served in a cabbage leaf cup with strips of mango and coriander leaves on the top. Yum.

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And last but not least, a thousand Thank-yous! to Neeta for honoring me with the Creative Blogger Award. I am filled with gratitude and shall be passing the love on soon.

With much love,

Shell

x

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root

so inspiring!

Raw recipes kids love :) (big kids too!)

Milk + Cookies (& a clementine or 2)

'Milk'

(this was actually more of a smoothie)
almond+hemp milk

banana

lucuma

vanilla bean

> Blend 'til smooth

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Sweet Vanilla 'Cookies'

Keiko ti has been making cookies recently and i was inspired to do some experimenting of my own. I used coconut pulp which was left over from making coconut cream. These cookies are very more-ish and have a lovely texture. I did not write down the exact recipe but this is roughly what i threw into the mix (plus a whole lot of love!). As Keiko ti says: 'with raw recipes its easy to add and omit things, change it around according to what you have in stock, and still have it turn out and taste great. You will know by tasting the dough before you dehydrate..if its hard to stop eating it .. it'll turn out great. Dehydrating can intensify flavours, but doesn't change them a lot.' (hope you don't mind me posting that here x)

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1C Coconut pulp

Soaked almonds (handful)

dates (handful)

3 apples

juice of 1 orange

1 vanilla bean

coupla tablespoons honey or agave

2T flax meal

>blend 'til smooth like pnacake batter (maybe slightly thicker). Place in spoonfuls onto dehydrator sheet, flattening each cookie with the back of the spoon. I dehydrated these overnight.

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Ice Cream! Always a winner :)

Banana slushy:

frozen bananas

soaked almonds

vanilla pod

>Blend in the Vitamix and you're good to go! yummmm

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Blueberry soft-serve:

frozen banana

frozen mango

frozen blueberries

> Blend in Vitamix until all chunks have disappeared :)

p.s. If you don't have a Vitamix, you can make ice-cream by passing through chunks of frozen fruit through a masticating juicer with the blank plate on.

Recipe: Spicy Carrot & Parsley Mousse

I was making a dip to have with flax crackers...nothing fancy at all....just carrots, almonds, herbs, spices in the blender....

Raw Gourmet is all about presentation. You can turn a simple dip into a fancy starter just by presenting it in a different way:

Spicy Carrot Mousse with a Creamy Parsley Sauce (serves 4)

~Carrot mousse~

2C chopped carrot

1/4C olive oil

large handful soaked almonds

3-4 Sun-dried tomato halves

1/3C chopped parsley

0.5-1t kelp powder

0.5-1t cumin powder

small clove garlic

juice of half a small lemon and half a lime

small piece of red chilli

water (add a little at a time-not so much that mousse will not hold it's shape)

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Blend all ingredients except parsley in high speed blender. The quantities for spices are approxiamate. Start with a small amount, and add more if you need to, until seasoned to your taste. Stir in chopped parsley at the end. I used a cup measure as a mould to shape the mousse before putting it on a plate. If you add more water, this makes a lovely dip.

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~Parsley sauce~

1/2C chopped parsley

1/2C olive oil

water (add a little at a time until you get the right consistency- thick and creamy but pourable)

squeeze of lemon

small piece of apple (to counteract acidity of lemon: optional)

pinch of salt

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blend together until creamy. Drizzle around plate to decorate.

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Garnishes: Red chilli/Fresh parsley/Tomato & Onion Flax Crackers by The Raw Kitchen

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Raw Gourmet at it's simplest!

Enjoy :)

LoVe Veggies!

My inspiration this week: Farmers Market Bounty

Featuring the biggest Kohlrabi i've ever seen, darling onion squash, parsley, winter purslane a.k.a claytonia or miners lettuce, lamb's lettuce, red cabbage, hispi cabbage

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I'll come back to this post with recipes....now what am i going to do with that Kohlrabi....hmmm

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p.s. i have started posting on my other blog now x