Raw Vegan Dinner Party!!!
Hello my darlings! Tonight was my first raw food dinner party! Wish you were there... :) My friend Hannah and I hosted it at my house. On the menu was Borscht Russian soup, followed by a delicious everything salad, followed by chocolate tart.
Here is the Raw Food Chocolate Tart! It was delicious by all accounts! I experimented with the crust and it was a great success! Instead of the usual 1:1 nut / coconut ratio, I decided it would be cheaper, and lighter, to use soaked, sprouting buckwheat groat in addition to these ingredients... and it was divine!
If you are interested in making it I would suggest locating some buckwheat groat, soaking it for a couple of hours, or overnight, and then using it. Buckwheat requires a really good wash after soaking as the starch seeps out of it turning it to glug. Get that sieve out! I just used a goodly amount of soaked buckwheat as the base, about half that amount of almonds, two-thirds the amount of both combined in coconut and a few dates, and then blended it up in my food processor. I pressed this into the tin. Really the proportions are just by eye, and should be relished with idiosyncrasy.
The mousse... ah, the mousse....
I soaked a cup of dates in just enough water for a few hours. I then blended them up, using this soak-syrup and a little extra water, to make blending easier, and a touch of vanilla essence. Once this is as smooth as you can get it, add two avocados. I mashed them a little in their shells first. Blend until pistachio green. Following this, add cocoa to taste. I am usually quite heavy handed with this, but I guess I put a little over 1/4 cup?? Yum!!!!
Smooth the mousse on top of the shell. I used a spatula, and put it in one of those cake tins that you can loosen and remove the side of. MMMMM. Add heaps of fruit on top. Heaps. More than I did.
The incredible everything salad. It included soaked buckwheat, really getting into this gluten free treat. It kind of reminded me of the Moosewood Cookbook Indonesian Rice Salad....
Finally, Borscht, beetroot soup.
The recipe that I used, that I more or less followed, substituting apple for orange and omitting what I did not have is...
2 cups of water
3 beets
1 small ginger root, sliced
3-4 large garlic cloves
6-7 bay leaves
2 cups of water
2 carrots
2 stalk celery
1 T apple cider vinegar
3 oranges, peeled with seeds removed
1 T honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 head cabbage, grated
1-2 carrots grated
1/2 bunch parsley
Blend the first 5 ingredients well in a blender, pour the mixture into a big bowl. Blend the next 9 ingredients at a low speed for about 30 seconds to break ingredients into small pieces but not pulverise them completely. Combine with beet mixture and stir. Add parsley and grated ingredients to the mixture and stir it up.
Except I didn't stir at the final stages, I used the grated vibrant purple cabbage, and orange carrot as a garnish on top, and then finished with a few spots of coconut cream.
All done!
Oh and it were in the reverse order. When all was said and done we had chamomile tea.
Thank you for reading. I am thoroughly exhausted by this epic recipe writing.
Goodnight
xxxxxxx
Here is the Raw Food Chocolate Tart! It was delicious by all accounts! I experimented with the crust and it was a great success! Instead of the usual 1:1 nut / coconut ratio, I decided it would be cheaper, and lighter, to use soaked, sprouting buckwheat groat in addition to these ingredients... and it was divine!
If you are interested in making it I would suggest locating some buckwheat groat, soaking it for a couple of hours, or overnight, and then using it. Buckwheat requires a really good wash after soaking as the starch seeps out of it turning it to glug. Get that sieve out! I just used a goodly amount of soaked buckwheat as the base, about half that amount of almonds, two-thirds the amount of both combined in coconut and a few dates, and then blended it up in my food processor. I pressed this into the tin. Really the proportions are just by eye, and should be relished with idiosyncrasy.
The mousse... ah, the mousse....
I soaked a cup of dates in just enough water for a few hours. I then blended them up, using this soak-syrup and a little extra water, to make blending easier, and a touch of vanilla essence. Once this is as smooth as you can get it, add two avocados. I mashed them a little in their shells first. Blend until pistachio green. Following this, add cocoa to taste. I am usually quite heavy handed with this, but I guess I put a little over 1/4 cup?? Yum!!!!
Smooth the mousse on top of the shell. I used a spatula, and put it in one of those cake tins that you can loosen and remove the side of. MMMMM. Add heaps of fruit on top. Heaps. More than I did.
The incredible everything salad. It included soaked buckwheat, really getting into this gluten free treat. It kind of reminded me of the Moosewood Cookbook Indonesian Rice Salad....
Finally, Borscht, beetroot soup.
The recipe that I used, that I more or less followed, substituting apple for orange and omitting what I did not have is...
2 cups of water
3 beets
1 small ginger root, sliced
3-4 large garlic cloves
6-7 bay leaves
2 cups of water
2 carrots
2 stalk celery
1 T apple cider vinegar
3 oranges, peeled with seeds removed
1 T honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 head cabbage, grated
1-2 carrots grated
1/2 bunch parsley
Blend the first 5 ingredients well in a blender, pour the mixture into a big bowl. Blend the next 9 ingredients at a low speed for about 30 seconds to break ingredients into small pieces but not pulverise them completely. Combine with beet mixture and stir. Add parsley and grated ingredients to the mixture and stir it up.
Except I didn't stir at the final stages, I used the grated vibrant purple cabbage, and orange carrot as a garnish on top, and then finished with a few spots of coconut cream.
All done!
Oh and it were in the reverse order. When all was said and done we had chamomile tea.
Thank you for reading. I am thoroughly exhausted by this epic recipe writing.
Goodnight
xxxxxxx
DIY food! LOVE! I am trying that soup! It sounds a wee bit like a more complex version of the raw beetroot and apple salad I have been chomping on a regular basis lately. I also like your idea of the buckwheat in the base, as I found that one quite hard to digest. I have been thinking about buckwheat too, but never know what to do with it. I now feel prompted to do a food post - I took a bunch of photos of my various sprouts and experiments the other day but haven't got around to posting yet. Soon soon! p.s. let's go cycling in Paris X
ReplyDeleteHey! That is so exciting! So cool to hear that you're experimenting on the dark side, in the witchy arts of sprouting and such like. Tell me about this salad...? it sounds a keeper. I'm trying out some raw bread recipes.... and yes, Paris!
ReplyDeleteRaw bread?! That, I would like to see. The salad is made up - it's basically a beetroot, an apple and a carrot, all grated up with some lemon juice, s+p maybe a bit of parsley, toasted sesames if the mood strikes you. Just whatever you think would be nice. It's such a pretty colour and so tasty, I could eat it until beetroots go out of season and I think I will :)
ReplyDelete