Tag Archives: dates

deserts, raw, spreads/creams/patés

10 minutes Deserts

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When it comes to raw sweets, things can be either superfancy or superfast. It’s up to you. So unless you dream of a three layered cake that needs to stay in the freezer for a while, have a look at these deserts ideas:

– cashews are the best: they’re fat&creamy and need no more than 4hrs to soak. in the photo above they stand as the base for a cinnamon cacao desert (with star fruit on top)

– dates too! i love dates not only for their perfect sweetness, but also because of their texture – they give just about the right firmness to the composition

P1010426here i used cashews + dates + frozen berries + hibiscus & fruit tea + grated coconut + orange peel

– in case you don’t have any of these two, you can improvise with oats or other grains (it won’t be raw though). just soak them for a bit, then add honey/dried fruits, tahina, grated coconut and of course, your favorite flavors. drop any high expectations about the looks – it’s basically porridge style

IMG_8656list of ingredients

  • cashews/ any nuts
  • dates / any dried fruits
  • grated coconut (also coconut cream)
  • flavors: cinnamon, cacao, orange, etc

plan B

  • oats/ bulgur/ quinoa/ etc
  • tahina
  • honey
  • flavors

optional

  • bananas
  • dried fruits
  • sesame/ sunflower seeds
deserts, drinks, raw

Energy Drink

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There’s one drink that can make your mornings resemble the kind of treat you’d get in a fancy cafe. Except it doesn’t have any caffeine or milk. Yet everybody flips out as if they were drinking cappuccino or milkshake. I think that’s why I’ve ended up calling it energy drink.

To begin with, you have to prepare the nut milk – it can be made from almonds, walnuts, cashews and so on. Use sesame seeds as one third of the whole nut quantity, so you can add up to the calcium intake for the day. After soaking the nuts, rinse them well and drop them into the blender with fresh water. When they start turning into a watery cream, strain it by pouring the entire composition through a nut milk bag. If necessary, fold in more water.  You’ll be left with the milk and the leftover pulp, suitable to use in further deserts. Why not prepare 1-1,5l of nut milk, store it in the fridge and have it at your disposal over the next few days?

Once you get the milk done, start adding into the blender one or more of the following ingredients:

  • bananas
  • dates/ raisins/ figs or honey
  • coconut cream
  • rose water / orange blossom water
  • fruits tea or masala chai
  • carob / cacao
  • ground cinnamon / vanilla/ cloves, etc
  • any kind of berries (fresh or frozen) – in this case better not mix it with banana or dried fruits
  • ground flax or hemp seeds

You’ll get a pretty thick consistency, but you can always dilute it to your taste.

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With this kind of quantity you’ll enjoy full energy until lunchtime or even later!

dressings, raw, salads

Pasta Delight

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Zucchini is something you either love or hate. Some people may feel extremely queasy while others simply relish its rather flabby texture. When I say this, I refer to squash or zucchini tagliatelle because this is how you can make it resemble the traditional pasta. All you need is a peeler to peel off fine layers of squash until you get to the seeds.

The result should look like this

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Now think of a nice sauce to accompany the so-called pasta.

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You can play around with tahina, mustard and olive oil or simply try out one of the vegan mayonnaises. Another equally healthy alternative is a ketchup made out of tomatoes, olive oil, dates and salt.

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Season it as you wish – garlic, basil, thyme, pepper, etc – and add some protein if needed – crushed walnuts, almonds or sunflower seeds, previously soaked and strained.

Gather a few more vegetables that keep a firm texture (pepper, red cabbage, carrots, peas, spring onions or garlic) and there you have your pasta delight!

Adding the greens (dill, rucola, parsley, etc)  or some sliced tomatoes at the very end will save them from getting completely mushed into the sauce.

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All you have left to do now is slurp, slurp!

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I prepared this dish so many times and each time it turns out a little bit different. Hope the pictures serve you well, but above all trust your imagination!

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dressings, raw, salads

Marinated Mushrooms

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Either way you take it, mushrooms are great. Some of them taste light enough to have them raw – like champignons – while others require cooking as they’re a bit heavy. Have you ever thought of saving their  natural enzymes while having the best taste? *

There’s one easy procedure to do that – it’s called marinating and it refers to the changes of taste and texture undergone by food during long hours spent in a seasoned acidic liquid. I usually use olive oil, lemon juice and soya sauce and then add dry thyme, garlic or even dates – for a sweet twist. You can think of spices such as ground turmeric, nutmeg or cumin, but just be sure you don’t get all exotic; unless you really master tastes & flavors! My new favorite seasoning for the mushroom marinade is sweet smoked paprika – it just builds up so much taste! (most probably reminiscent of bacon aroma :))

Once you start adding the composition to the mushrooms (if there’s not enough liquid, just add water) you’ll see how they turn tender and shrink.  Leave the marinade overnight in cool place or in the fridge and then add it to your favorite salad.

list of ingredients

  • olive oil
  • lemon juice
  • soya sauce
  • optional: dry thyme, crushed garlic, turmeric, nutmeg, cumin, dates

Here are a few ideas for some truly gourmet raw mushroom dishes:

Like any other respectable protein, the mushrooms get along very well with carrots 🙂 Feel free to experiment any dish with these two, along with your favorite greens. Lots of greens.

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And this is how the pretty forest mushrooms in the above picture turned out: a dish with shredded cauliflower & carrot, red peppers, turmeric and salvia leaves.

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A sample of the smoked paprika marinade, mixed with whole grain brown rice and served with green onions.

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And another sample of a different marinade, made out of soya sauce, dates (crushed or paste) and only a bit of lemon. This is how red onions look like after spending some time in this thick liquid.

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* special warning

if your mushrooms are picked up from the forest, be sure to check if they require to be cooked over heat. some of them might be poisonous when raw!

deserts, raw

Energy Balls

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There’s one great thing about this desert: you can make it from whatever comes handy. All you need to have is some presoaked nuts and dried fruits, the rest is just improvisation!

I gathered some of my favorite ingredients along with a few tips of how to mix it:

– if you are in a bit of a rush and you don’t have any  presoaked nuts, go for those that require less hydrating time (cashews – 4h; sunflower seeds – 2-3h) instead of the ‘time consuming’ ones (almonds or walnuts – roughly 8h)

– if you’ve just made nut milk, you can use the leftover pulp

– extra fat is not necessary, but welcomed; especially when you’re using just the pulp (which is already fat depleted) instead of the whole nuts. go for a bit of coconut oil, cream or butter or, if you fancy chocolate, cacao butter. even tahini works out pretty well.

– dates or figs are the best to go with, but you can also use raisins, dried cranberries or plums. don’t forget to take out the pits 🙂 soak them for half an hour and strain;  if you have a high power food processor, you might not need to do this, but consider rinsing simply to have them safe and hygienic

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– mix these two base ingredients in the food processor – you should have more nuts than dried fruits or else the composition will turn out too sweet

– grated coconut is necessary as you’ll need something to eat up all the water from the soaked ingredients. otherwise the composition will be too sloppy and you won’t be able to mold it into balls. alternatively, you can use psyllium husks, a good source of dietary fiber which helps in providing a good transit, or plain oats

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– now you have to decide on the flavor: you can have choco mint balls or lemony balls, rose water balls or cardamom cinnamon balls, black or white, pink or orange, and so on. just use your imagination!

– always take into consideration that whatever ingredient you might add, the final texture should be doughy enough for you to shape the balls.

– you can make it crunchy by rolling the energy balls over a combination of grated coconut and sesame or poppy seeds. moreover, you can save some roasted nuts and add them either into the mixture or on the surface

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list of ingredients

1. base

  • presoaked walnuts/ cashews/ almonds/ sunflower seeds, etc
  • slightly soaked dates/ figs/ raisins/ plums/ cranberries, etc
  • coconut oil, butter or cream/ cacao butter/ tahini, etc

2. texture

  • grated coconut, psyllium husks, oats
  • poppy/ sesame seeds or roasted nuts

3. flavor

  • cacao powder/ carob
  • grated lemon/ orange peel
  • rose/ orange blossom water
  • ground cardamom/ cinnamon/ nutmeg, etc