Tom Kha or Tom Yum with Spiced Coconut Dumplings

I love Thai food. The flavours are always so fresh and vegetables are often the star. Tom Yum is one of the cooked dishes I will eat if I am going out to dinner with friends and there are no raw options. It’s still all vegetables in a light spicy broth. But making a raw version of Tom Yum or Tom Kha is so easy to do at home. The main difference between the two is just the coconut which is used in Tom Kha. So if you are looking for a fat-free version just leave it out and perhaps add extra tomato for a Tom Yum version.

 

Tom Kha

Ingredients

 

Stock

1 Stalk of Lemongrass

1 Lime Leaf

1cm Piece of Ginger

1cm Piece of Galangal

2 Stalks of Celery

1 Cup Dried Coconut

2 Cups of Spring Water

1 Tomato

2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 Tbsp Miso Paste

1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

 

Fillings

Choose from a variety of fresh raw shredded or spiralised vegetables like cucumber or zucchini noodles, carrot, mung bean sprouts, snow pea greens, cabbage, tomatoes, turnips or anything else that you have. In the picture above I used snow pea greens and cucumber sliced into wide noodles with a vegetable peeler and a few slivers of avocado.

 

Preparation

Place the lemongrass, lime leaf, ginger, galangal, celery, coconut and water into a blender and process until well mixed. Strain through a nutmilk bag or a fine sieve. 

Pour the liquid back into the blender and add the remaining ingredients. Blend well.

You may like to gently warm the stock to a low temperature before pouring over the vegetables, but it does just fine as a cold soup as well.

Place your vegetables of choice into a bowl and pour the stock over the top.

 

Dumplings

As a way of using up the pulp left over from creating the stock, I tried making these little dumplings. Simply form hand rolled balls from the pulp. They will crumble if you sit them in the soup for too long, but you could place them on top of the vegetable of your tom kha or eat them right away. They would probably do well in the dehydrator also.

40 Day Yoga Challenge

I’ve done yoga for a few years now, but over the last couple of months I have really been getting into my practice. I’ve been averaging around four classes a week lately. So when my Hot Yoga Studio announced that they would be hosting a 40 day challenge I thought it could be really good for me.

I’ve noticed such a difference already, not only in my physical practice, but also in my breath and my mind and my heart. It also extends beyond the mat. I’m much calmer and more tolerant at work or in day to day life. I’m excited to see where it takes me over the next couple of months as I immerse myself in the yoga world.

Kicking off on October 12th, the challenge consists of any five yoga classes a week, it could be Yin, Hot, Vinyasa or any of the other classes there,  1 green smoothie a day and five minutes meditation a day. Many of the others will be doing the full challenge which also includes a health assessment before and after, a colonic and a massage. I’ve been on the raw vegan lifestyle for a couple of years now, vegan for many years before that and have my own awesome colon hydrotherapist Malia, so I’m just sticking to the simpler version.

There will be a lot of other yogis in the challenge that I’m sure will be able to offer me guidance in areas that I need help. So for a little bit of karma yoga I’ll be offering up my raw vegan learnings and experience, posting recipes, tips and resources here as I go.

If you’re keen to join in for some green smoothies and a bit of yoga you can contact Hot Yoga New Zealand in Wellington. Or maybe you’d like to set yourself your own 40 day challenge. Green Smoothies every day? Meditation every day? Think of a new habit you’d like to form.

Namaste my fellow yogis, namaste.

Ginger Mushrooms & Wilted Asian Greens

This is so like a cooked stirfry you could easily fool your cooked foodie friends. The mushrooms you need to do in advance, but you could get away with not dehydrating the greens if you let the dish sit and marinade for a half hour or so, or just eat them crunchy.

Ginger Mushrooms & Asian Greens

The Ginger Mushrooms
About 20 Button Mushrooms
1 Tsp Minced Ginger
1 Tsp Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp Tamari
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1 Tbsp Cold Pressed Oil (flax, olive, sesame or similar)

Wash and slice the mushrooms about 5mm thick.
Throw all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix with your hands until the mushrooms are well coated.
Place onto mesh dehydrator trays and dehydrate for about 6 hours.

The Wilted Asian Greens
About 4 Cups of Chopped Bok Choy or Similar Asian Greens

Place on mesh dehydrator trays and dehydrate for 1 hour

The Sauce
1 Tbsp Tamari
2 Tbsp Cold Pressed Sesame or Olive Oil
1cm Piece of Ginger
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
2 Tbsp Water

Place in a blender and blend until well combined.
Strain to remove any large chunks of ginger.

Putting It All Together
The Ginger Mushrooms
The Wilted Asian Greens
The Sauce
3 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
1-2 Cups Mung Bean Sprouts

Combine all everything in a bowl and toss to combine.

Golden Kumara Chips

This is what happens when you get the Raw Vegan to do the snacks for friday drinks at the the office.

Kumara is an iconic New Zealand vegetable and a staple of traditional Maori cooking. It’s also known as sweet potato in the northern hemisphere and comes in a variety of colours and flavours.  It’s rich in anti-oxidants and one of the top potassium rich foods.  Kumara is also high in vitamin A and C and full of fibre. You could really use any colour, the orange ones are just much sweeter than the red, white fleshed kumara.

Golden Kumara Chips

Ingredients

1 large Golden Kumara (Sweet Potato)

1-2 Tbsp Cold Pressed Olive Oil

1 tsp Himalayan or Sea Salt

Optional:  1 tsp Smoked Paprika

Method

Peel the whole kumara into thin slices with a potato peeler. I have found this works better than my mandoline, it gets the slices much thinner.

Cut or break the slices into smaller chip sized pieces and place in a large bowl.

Add olive oil, salt and paprika and massage with your hands.

Layout evenly onto mesh dehydrator trays and dehydrate at around 43degrees celcius/110 degrees farenheight for 12 hours or until cripsy.

Raw Potluck Pizza

These are the mini pizzas my flatmate and I made for the raw potluck movie night we went to this weekend.It was so fun, we made all kinds of raw ‘junk’ food. Snacks for watching movies and playing board games. There were kale chips, chocolate sunflower milk, mini pizzas, zucchini linguini, chocolate coconut truffles and these little fruity larabar tasting bliss balls. Everyone went all out, we had such a feast!

I didn’t write the whole recipe down for the pizzas this time. But they were really delicious so I will have to do them again with the full recipe. The round bases were a sprouted buckwheat and flax bread and the square bases were juice pulp, flax and other seeds. Then we made a sundried tomato paste and basil pesto to spread on the base. For toppings we had semi-dried mushrooms, onions and red capsicum and fresh green zebra and red tomatoes. To top it off we made a a cashew cheese sauce. Quite a lot of nuts in one go for me these days, but once in a while it’s ok.

Cauliflower Curry

This is a really easy and versatile curry. You can have it on it’s own, with crackers and so many other ways and all the spices are really warming so it’s great if you’re feeling the cold.

Cauliflower Curry

Ingredients

2 Cups Chopped Cauliflower

1 Medium Carrot, Chopped

6 Soaked Sundried Tomatoes

1/2 Avocado

1/2 Onion, Chopped

1 cm Piece of Ginger

1 Tsp Tumeric

2 Tsp Ground Cumin

1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

1/2 Cup Dried Coconut

1 Tbsp Flaxseed

1 Cup Rejuvelac or Water

Serving options: Cucumber, alfalfa sprouts or rice paper (not raw)

Method

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until it is finely chopped and well combined.

Serve in a bowl topped with alfalfa sprouts, on cucumber rounds or if you are not 100% raw try it wrapped in rice paper with alfalfa. It would also work well rolled in a large leafy green with other vegetables or on flax crackers. It’s up to you.

On cucumber slices with parsley

Wrapped in rice paper with alfalfa

Zucchini Linguine with Basil Pesto

I made this dish for a raw potluck this weekend. There are plenty of cheap organic zucchini and tomatoes at the Victoria Street farmers market in Wellington now that it’s near the end of summer.  I also picked up the basil there for the pesto. All the classic italian flavours are there which makes this a favourite for friends and family who are not raw. You can make a big batch of pesto up to keep for the week and just do the zucchini on the night.

Basil Pesto

2 Cups Tightly Packed Basil

1/2 Cup Pine Nuts

1/4 Cup Pumpkin Seeds

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 Clove Garlic

1/2 Tsp Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt

1/4 Cup Cold Pressed Olive Oil

Spring or Filtered Water

Method

Soak the pinenuts and pumpkin seeds for at least 4 hours. Drain and rinse.

Place all ingredients apart from the water into a food processor and process until almost smooth. You still want a little texture to it. Add a little water at a time if it seems too dry.

Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to a week.

Zucchini Linguini

3 Large Zucchini

2 Medium Tomatoes

8-10 Dried Olives

1/2 Red Capsicum

2 Tbsp Pine Nuts

1/2 Cup Basil Pesto

Method

Use a julienne peeler to slice the zucchini lengthways into long noodles and place in a large bowl. You could also use a spiralizer.

Chop the tomatoes and capsicum, destone and chop the olives and add these with the pine nuts to the zucchini.

Add the pesto and mix thoroughly to combine.

Leave to sit for 1hour before serving if you would like the noodles to soften a bit.

Tomato Basil Soup

This is something like an Energy Soup. Or you might call it a savoury green smoothie. I just call it it delicious and eat it all the time.  Don’t worry too much about the amounts, I never measure, I just chop it up and blend. The capsicum and basil really make it, so make sure you don’t skip those. Serve with some herby flax crackers for extra crunch.

Ingredients

1 Cup Cubed Cucumber

1/2 Zucchini

1/2 Red, Orange or Yellow Capsicum

1/2 Avocado

2 Tomatoes

1 Cup Tightly Packed Spinach

1/2 Cup Fresh Basil

2 Tsp Unpasteurised Miso

1 Tsp Tamari

Juice of 1 Lemon

1-2 Cups Water

Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt and Freshly Cracked Pepper to Taste

Method

Place everything in the blender starting with the cucumber and peppers and blend until smooth.

Serve cold with extra chunks of tomato, cucumber and avocado.

Cauliflower Rice

We’ve been getting a lot of Cauliflower in our organic vege box recently. It’s the poor cousin to broccoli who always gets picked first. So we have to come up with creative ways to let that cauli-wall-flower shine through. This cauliflower salad is reminiscent of stir fried rice. You basically just need a base of cauliflower and the sesame oil and tamari dressing, then you’re free to change up the other vegetables in this dish to make your own variations. Here’s the combination I whipped up the other night.

Ingredients

1 small head cauliflower

2 carrots

1 large stalk celery

1 stalk spring onion

1 red bell pepper

1/2 cup sprouted sunflower seeds

1 tbsp tamari

2 tbsp cold-pressed sesame oil

juice of 1 lemon

Method:

Chop the cauliflower into florets and place a few at a time into the food processor or blender. Pulse until it looks about the size of grains of rice and place in a large bowl.

Chop the carrots and do the same as with the cauliflower.

Dice the bell pepper, celery and spring onion and combine with the remaining ingredients in the bowl.

This should keep for a few days in the fridge.

Cauliflower is a member of club cruciferous, just like Kale, Broccoli and Cabbage. These types of vegetables promote liver detoxification and help to prevent cancer. The phytonutrients contained in Cauliflower tell your genes to make more of the enzymes that are involved in detoxification which is why cruciferous vegetables are shown to be more effective in fighting cancer. If that wasn’t enough, Cauliflower is also very high in Vitamin C, it has more than oranges. These facts, figures and more are available over at World’s Healthiest Foods.

Blueberry & Banana Pudding

I made this for my flatmates last night to eat while we watched a movie. It’s really easy if you keep chopped frozen bananas in the freezer and have a jar of buckwheaties on hand. It probably took 10 minutes to whip up.

Ingredients

2 frozen bananas (chopped)
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 small avocado
1 tbsp honey, agave or a couple of dates (whichever you prefer)
1/2 cup dried coconut
1/2 cup buckwheaties

Method

Pudding:

Place the chopped frozen banana, avocado, blueberries and your sweetener of choice into a food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth.
Spoon into bowls and sprinkle with coconut and buckwheaties for a bit of crunch!

Buckwheaties:

Soak whole buckwheat groats in water for about 8hrs.
Use a sieve to drain and thoroughly rinse the buckwheat.
Spread the buckwheat over mesh dehydrator tray and dehydrate 8-12hrs or until fully dry and crunchy.
Another optional extra is to add cinnamon and honey, maple syrup or agave nectar before dehydrating.