My mom’s Jamaican Ginger Beer brewing in the sun 😀
The above scene and bottle feel as though they have always been with me, they occur with such comforting regularity. Ginger beer is something that is enjoyed by both Trinis and Jamaicans however in my experience many Trinis enjoy theirs much weaker than my mother makes hers. Many people can’t drink my mom’s ginger beer without looking for a fire hydrant at first. However they quickly return with an empty glass asking for a refill once their tastebuds recover from the initial shock! 😆 Of course I love my mom’s way and that’s what I am sharing with you, however if you are looking for something more along the mild side simply reduce the steeping period to one day 🙂 You may also want to add lime juice at Step 7. it makes for a refreshing alternate !
Carmen’s Jamaican Ginger Beer (recipe)
Recipe Type: Drinks
Cuisine: Caribbean
Author: Sarina
Ingredients
1 lb ginger
1.5 lbs granulated sugar
cloves
Instructions
Peel 1lb of ginger – peel and blend with as much water as needed to get a good pulp
Put in large glass bottle
Set in sun for 2 days
Bring inside and strain
Add more water (about 1liter) and squeeze the grated ginger in this water. Bang out the ging !! 😀
Discard the used and abused ginger.
Add more water. You want about a gallon.
Add 1.5lbs granulated sugar
Pour into clean bottles.
Add 4 to 5 cloves per bottle.
Allow to ‘rest’ on the counter for two days before refrigerating.
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HOTT!!!
This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated 🙂
Since 2009 I have actively incorporated more raw and vegan dishes into my regular diet and have found the benefits to be multifold. For one my body hasn’t succumbed to flus the way it regularly did in the past and I have found that many autoimmune responses that I had in the past to stress have become a lot more manageable. With many of my favourite fruits and vegetables currently back in season, and with the summer months kicking in in the Northern Hemisphere what better way to inspire myself (and hopefully some of you out there) to enjoy a refreshing and nutritious guilt-free drink, like this Banana-Papaya Smoothie? 🙂
1 papaya
1 cup fresh coconut water
1 ripe banana
1 tblsp coconut oil
1 small handful of ice
METHOD:
1. Toss all ingredients into a blender and blend. Doesn’t get more simple than that! 😉
This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated 🙂
No Trini condiment series would be complete without a recipe for garlic sauce. Garlic sauce is one of those local favourites that can be found everywhere from beachside stands , to popular ‘grill’ joints as well as streetside food vendors. Indeed many street vendors have distinguished themselves solely on having ‘ah bess garlic sauce’ – something Trinis have taken to sharing digitally now via Foursquare ? Honestly, I have never experienced our style of garlic sauce anywhere else, and the closest equivalents I can think of are aioli and tzatzki (but even they are more extremely distant cousins), so I think a recipe is long overdue!
Garlic sauce is a flavour that many Trinis crave on savoury sides (especially sandwiches). Indeed, local sandwich chain Boomer’s branded itself in its early days as a more desirable alternative to the ubiquitous Subway by proclaiming itself the only sub chain to offer Garlic Sauce.
Subway of course quickly corrected this ‘oversight’, and now sub lovers can enjoy the flavour enhancement Trini garlic sauce brings at either chain!
So what exactly is the flavour? You’d be correct in assuming garlic (it is after all right there in the name) however, to me, the real energy of garlic sauce comes from the balance of sweet and tart and the all-important chadon beni (culantro).
Enjoy Trinidad Garlic Sauce on grilled meats, with french fries, over boiled cassava (or other boiled/steamed vegetables) or as a salad dressing. Once you’ve tried it once, you’ll definitely be craving more!
Sarina’s Trinidad-Style Garlic Sauce (recipe)
Cuisine: Caribbean
Author: Sarina
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Sarina’s Trinidad-style Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
10 cloves garlic
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
3-4 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chadon beni
(culantro)
Instructions
Combine the first 4 ingredients in a blender until liquefied.
Taste and adjust seasonings to taste
Turn blender on and slowly drizzle the olive oil so that the mixture emulsifies (the end result should be like an extremely light pourable mayonnaise.
Taste again and readjust seasonings if needed.
Add the 1/4 cup chadon beni and pulse gently until green flecks are evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
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This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com and linking back to this site
Tapenades are one of my entertaining ‘secret weapons’. Blend a few ingredients, add a drizzle of olive oil, some salt and pepper and people think you have been slaving for hours 😆 This one for Green Olive tapenade is one of my favourites. Because there are so few ingredients it becomes even more important that you make them of the highest quality that you can afford. I find that the flavour is piquant enough that additional salt is not necessary, however a drizzle of olive oil and a liberal application of black pepper, perk the final results up considerably 🙂
ETA: A reader just asked me “What is Tapenade?” so I thought it best to add a little definition to this post 🙂
Tapenade is a Provençal dish consisting of puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil. Its name comes from the Provençal word for capers, tapéno. It is a popular food in the south of France, where it is generally eaten as an hors d’œuvre, spread on gourmet breads such as baguette or ciabatta. Sometimes it is also used to stuff fillets for a main course.
This post was originally published on February 6, 2009. It has been updated twice since then.
Earlier this month I asked Trinigourmet readers on Facebook and Twitter what their favourite way to enjoy mango was. The runaway winner? Mango Chow!
Green mango chow is a wonderful accompaniment to most meals. Light and yet spicy, it adds a tart sweetness when used as a condiment. Chows like these are best used by slightly under-ripe fruits. In this case I have used a green mango, however pineapples are sometimes used, and even though I’ve never seen it done locally, my recent readings on Vietnamese cuisine cos me to believe it should also work brilliantly with green papaya.
Assembly is quite simple. The recipe below is really quite loose and forgiving. Feel free to adapt it to your own preferences 🙂
Green Mango Chow
1 half ripe mango
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon minced cilantro or chadon beni (culantro)
1 tablespoon lime juice
Salt
freshly ground pepper
Peel mango and cut into chunks.
Place in a bowl and sprinkle with remaining ingredients.
Pulse in a food processor until just combined.
Cover and chill overnight to allow flavors to penetrate the fruit (if you can wait that long 😉 )
ENJOY!!
This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated 🙂
This post was originally published on February 18, 2009. It has been updated once since then.
Prior to last year I had never heard of Yu Sheng (also known as Yee Sang), indeed I only became aware of its existence thanks to research done for a blogging event. As this year the Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day it seemed only fitting to repost this recipe, which is one I’ve fallen in love with 🙂
According to Wikipedia: Yusheng , yee sang or yuu sahng (simplified Chinese: ??; pinyin: yúsh?ng) is a Chaozhou-style raw fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yusheng literally means “raw fish” but since “fish (?)” is commonly conflated with its homophone “abundance (?)”, Yúsh?ng (??) is interpreted as a homophone for Yúsh?ng (??) meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yusheng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor.
Fishermen along the coast of Guangzhou traditionally celebrated Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, by feasting on their catches. This practice is believed to have started in Chaozhou and Shantou as far back as the Southern Song Dynasty.[citation needed] In Malaya’s colonial past, migrants imported this tradition; porridge stalls sold a raw fish dish which is believed to have originated in Jiangmen, Guangdong province that consisted of fish, turnip and carrot strips, which was served with condiments of oil, vinegar and sugar that were mixed in by customers. The modern yusheng dish originated in during Chinese New Year in 1964 in Lai Wah Restaurant and was invented by master chef Than Mui Kai (Tham Yu Kai, co-head chef of Lai Wah restaurant)as a symbol of prosperity and good health amongst the Chinese.
As I always do, when preparing a completely unknown dish for the first time, I decided to plow through as many blogs and articles as possible, featuring this dish. I wanted to get a sense of its personality, components, what elements people included time and time again and which components lended themselves to personalization and preference.
Many of the initial recipes that I discovered led me to believe that this dish leaned towards the sweet side, thanks to deep fried wonton skins and liberal amounts of plum sauce. Boy am I glad that I didn’t stop there though because it wasn’t until I reached an entry by EatingAsia that I felt that moment of recognition, where I finally felt I understood what this dish was supposed to be about.
Lamenting the fact that so many commercial Yu Sheng’s underwhelm the palate, EatingAsia praised the dish as prepared by a Kuala Lampur restaurant called Sek Yuen.
From EatingAsia: Sek Yuen’s yu sheng is a textural marvel – the combination of six fresh and pickled ingredients, cut to almost exactly the same shape and size, culminates in one big, satisfying crunch. It’s sweet from the plum sauce, but also boasts varying shades of tartness from pickles, lime juice, and fragrant lime leaves. The overwhelming flavors are of fish and vegetables, spiced up with ginger two ways (pickled and fresh) and white pepper. The cinnamon adds a subtle warm note. Won ton crisps (most other versions use colored crunchies of unidentifiable origin) – sturdy, grease-less, and wheaty – are delicious enough to eat on their own. Kudos to the restaurant for its light hand with the dressing and for its use of sesame oil; I’ve had more than my share of yu sheng drenched in plain old cooking oil – blech!
The words were evocative, the photos breathtaking. This would be the formula that I would use as the base for where my own whimsy would take me!
Only one more obstacle stood in my way, but this time it was a self-imposed one. I was determined to make this recipe as raw as possible. This meant no commercially bought plum sauce, and definitely no deep-fried wonton skins. PIckled ginger can be prepared in a raw fashion, but again time was working against me, chopped raw ginger would have to do. I made a raw plum sauce from scratch, and in lieu of wonton skins I prepared dehydrated almond crackers using some leftover almond pulp that I had frozen after making a nut ‘milk’.
Although I was nervous putting this together, as I started to see it coming together my anxiety started to be overcome with excitement. I always get this way when trying something new!
After all was done, J and I tossed the salad together until everything was well-blended! This technique makes sure that all the essential components of the yu sheng, get to take center stage with each bite. The hot and spicy, the crunchy, the slightly sour, the sweet. The warmth of the oily marinated salmon, and the cool crisp vegetable shreds. It ends up being something so much above and beyond the sum of its parts. I know that this recipe is only supposed to be served once a year, but it’s going to be very very hard for me not to make it a semi-regular habit 🙂
Yu Sheng/Yee Sang “Rainbow Raw Fish Salad” Serves 2
8 oz smoked salmon 1 tablespoon nama shoyu 2 carrots, shredded 1 sweet potato, peeled and shredded 1/2 avocado, cubed 4 tbsp chopped chive 3 pimiento peppers, sliced thinly 2 inches ginger, peeled and julienned into thin matchsticks 2 leaves pak choi (bok choy) sesame oil 1 tablespoon sesame seeds 1/4 peanuts, chopped 3 or 4 chadon beni leaves or cilantro rice wine vinegar 1 lime
1. Tear the smoked salmon into large irregular pieces 2. Marinate in sesame oil (enough to almost cover), 1 tsp nama shoyu, and 1/2 of the julienned ginger. Turn occasionally while assembling the rest of the recipe. 3. Sort shredded carrot and sweet potato into separate mounds. I used 2 mounds of each and arranged around the perimeter of a circular plate or dish, alternating with chopped avocado, and a mound of combined chive, pimientos and the remainder of ginger. Be sure to leave a hole in the center for the fish! 4. Once assembled drizzle the assorted vegetables with one tablespoon rice vinegar, one tablespoon of sesame oil 5. Next, sprinkle the sesame seeds, chadon beni and cilantro 6. Around the perimeter sprinkle the chopped peanuts and cracked dehydrated almond crackers (feel free to use fried wonton skins if non-raw) 7. Place half of the shredded bok choy in the center of the plate 8. Add the fish and marinade to the center of the plate 9. Top fish with the remainder of the bok choy 10. Squeeze half a lime over the fish and bok choy 11. Drizzle plum sauce (1/2-3/4 cup) over the shredded vegetables. (here is a recipe for raw plum sauce if not using commercial 🙂 ) 12. Toss to combine at the table! 🙂
This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated 🙂
Salads in Trinidad are traditionally a disheartening affair that leaves you wondering why the cook/establishment even bothered. Two wilted lettuce leaves, a force-ripe watery slice of tomato, and some slivers of cucumber served either unadorned, or swimming in some vague mystery oil with specks of pepper flecked throughout. All that’s missing is a headstone for your plate. Most people down it ASAP so that they can focus on the ‘real’ part of their plate, or they simple leave it behind. For this reason, I don’t take it personally when guests express a sound/look of disappointment, when I announce that the ‘salad course’ is about to begin. It makes the moment even sweeter when I see their eyes open wide as they see (and taste) whatever my latest combination is.
I have a rather loose approach to salads, I’m more concerned with the balance of my favourite elements. I like to combine colours, include sweet and sour elements, throw in some crunch, and I try to keep my dressings sparing and simple. When the salad is shimmering and bursting with all these dimensions, it would a travesty to drown it in glop 🙂 Some good olive oil, freshly cracked pepper (try those multicolored assortments for more punch), sea salt, and a splash of lime juice (or cider vinegar) are my favourite accompaniments. It’s meant a lot to me that even my own mother is playing around with this simple formula now and branching out of her own ‘box’. I’m a firm believer that vegetables don’t have to be dull, and that it really doesn’t take much more than some imagination to incorporate them into our daily lives. This salad is one of my faves and one that I get repeat requests for.
If you are a lettuce and tomato ‘salad’ maker (or know someone who is), now is the time to hit ‘Print’ and Share 😉 Sometimes it -is- OK to throw out the old time ways 😉
Cranberry Almond Slaw
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 of a green cabbage, shredded
1 cup cilantro (or chadon beni), roughly chopped
1 large carrot, shredded or grated
1/4 cup almonds
1/3 cup dried cranberries (easily replaced with raisins or sweet corn kernels – this is flexible!)
2 T. red onion, minced
1 large avocado, cut into bite-sized pieces
DRESSING:
Juice of 1 lime
2 T. olive oil
2 T. agave nectar (or honey)
Sea salt
Freshly cracked pepper
METHOD:
1. Prepare vegetables
2. Combine and toss.
3. You can now combine the dressing ingredients and pour them over everything. I myself prefer to drizzle the ingredients separately as it creates an exciting variety of flavours with each bite
How easy was that?!! 🙂
This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated 🙂
This quick and simple salad is perked up by the addition of slivered stem ginger. Stem ginger is an ingredient that doesn’t get as much love as I think it should. It’s usually found in the baking aisle, but at times I have seen it hiding rather uncomfortably in the aisles that house ‘international ingredients’ and/or random salad dressings.
Preserved or stem ginger is made from tender young ginger root – which is technically not a root at all but a rhizome or underground stem of a tropical plant.
Finely chop or slice the ginger pieces to sprinkle over cream, ice cream, mascarpone, pancakes and fruit salads, adding a little syrup from the jar too if a sauce is desired.
Preserved ginger goes especially well with chocolate, caramel and honey.
Watercress Salad W/ Ginger
INGREDIENTS:
spinach
slivered stem ginger (stored in syrup)
1 bag shredded carrot
(play around with the proportions, do what’s right for you!)
DRESSING:
8 ounces sesame tahini
juice of 1/2 medium sized lemon
2 medium sized garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt or Himalayan crystal salt
1 cup filtered or spring water
METHOD:
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy. Pour over salad and toss.
Season with freshly cracked pepper and salt to taste.
This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated 🙂
The past two weeks have been a blur, and I’ve fallen behind on food events and posts. Not that I haven’t been cooking, but finding time to sort and edit has been sorely lacking. In due in no small part to my having a heavier workload combined with 2 consecutive ‘truncated’ work weeks. One because of the local Easter Holidays, and the other because of the recently Summit of the Americas. Somewhere in there I hosted a seder and here’s a little writeup of how that went! 🙂
Passover this year ran from April 8-16 and wow was it a busy one! In the midst of a huge recruitment drive, training new representatives and sorting/bagging and delivering orders, I suddenly decided to host a seder! My annual reggae-jazz seder is something I love to hold, but have been remiss in doing in the last 2 years due to various health issues. Now that I’m back on my feet again, it was time to dust off my ritual gear and celebrate! 🙂
Since I decided to throw my dinner with less than 48 hour notice, and many marts were going to have limited hours (and inventory) because of the Easter Weekend, I really had my work cut out for me 🙂 Because one of my invitees was a 100% raw foodist I initially constructed a Raw Seder menu (it was definitely challenging but much easier than I expected). When she was unable to attend however I shifted to pulling together a vegetarian menu as one of my RSVPs was vegetarian, and I love serving dairy desserts (mixing meat and dairy is a kosher no no).
The night was a wonderful success. Great guests, great conversation, laughter, food and wine. It was everything I hoped it would be, and it helped me to recharge and reinvigorate myself emotionally and spiritually (though it was quite taxing physically) 🙂
In the interest of posterity I now present you with both menus (recipes will be linked shortly) 🙂 Enjoy!
Sarina’s Raw Passover Menu
• Golden Pumpkin Soup
• Cranberry Almond Slaw
• Raw Lasagne Recipe
• Date & Pistachio icecream with fresh fruit and raw brownies
Sarina’s Vegetarian Passover Menu
• Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger
• Cranberry Almond Slaw
• Eggplant Mina
• 15 Minute Chocolate Amaretti Torte
• Moroccan Tea
Look forward to a spate of ‘catchup’ posts (some backdated) in the coming days! 🙂
As my ‘raw’ adventures continue I find myself viewing the fruits and vegetables in supermarkets and roadside stalls with an almost reborn eye. This ice cream came about as a glut of soursops came into my line of sight and instantaneously caught my imagination. Soursop ice cream was a vague but pleasant memory from my childhood. For an extremely short time period in the early/mid-80’s my parents owned an ice cream maker. After a few months they got bored with it, and it was placed on a shelf only to gather cobwebs, dust and ‘mysteriously disappear’. But for a few short glorious months I would sit on the kitchen floor staring at my mom as she fed salt and ice onto the sides of the machine while it churned. Coconut, Vanilla, Rum and Raisin and Soursop were her favourite flavours and almost effortlessly became mine as well.
Making this ice cream was thus both exciting and sentimental. This was my first time cutting open a raw soursop for myself, and J’s first time tasting a raw one. He couldn’t believe how much like icecream it already was straight out of the flesh!
I quickly realized that soursop is a tricky thing, soft pulpy areas intermingle with tough fibre, and all throughout shiny black seeds are dispersed, hidden by a thin cloudy membrane. After savagely procuring all the pulp that I could, it was a cinch to blend it with the remainder of the ingredients and put it to freeze.
This version is reminiscent of my mothers, yet healthier and lighter. I think it will help me to create many new memories of my own 🙂
The soursop is a broadleaf flowering evergreen tree native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. Today, it is also grown in some areas of Southeast Asia. It is in the same genus as the cherimoya and the same family as the pawpaw. In most Spanish speaking countries it is commonly known as Guanábana. In the Philippines, it is known as guyabano.
Comparisons of its flavour range from strawberry and pineapple mixed together to sour citrus flavour notes contrasting with an underlying creamy roundness of flavour reminiscent of coconut or banana. The fruit is somewhat difficult to eat, as the white interior pulp is studded with many large seeds, and pockets of soft flesh are bounded by fibrous membranes. The soursop is therefore usually juiced rather than eaten directly.
2 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight
2 cups soursop pulp
1 cup filtered water, as needed
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut butter or expeller pressed coconut oil
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
METHOD:
1. Blend all ingredients until creamy and smooth.
2. Add water as needed to keep the mixture circulating through the blender.
3. Freeze, stirring occasionally until set, or follow your icecream maker instructions 🙂
This raw icecream recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated 🙂
As promised, here is the Basil Lemonade recipe that I made for Stephanie’s 43rd edition of Blog Party! One of the things that I love about adding basil to beverages is the muted herbal flavour that it imparts. This lemonade is no exception. It softens the acidity of the lemon/lime juice, and also mellows out the overt sweetness. Be sure to blend the basil leaves and lime juice completely before adding the water. That way there are no bits of leaves floating around 🙂
Basil Lemonade Source: Adapted from a recipe on GoneRaw.com
INGREDIENTS:
2 lemons, juiced
2 pints ice cold water
2 basil leaves, washed
raw agave juice, to taste
6 ice cubes
METHOD:
1. Blend the lemon juice and basil leaves together until completely pulverised
2. Add ice cold water and ice cubes.
3. Blend until ice is completely crushed.
4. Add agave nectar (or sweetener of your choice) to taste.
Look at that cake! So perfect for this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge! Chocolatey, gooey, with a thin, crackly brownie-like crust… so light but rich, it melts on your tongue… and.. not a drop of flour in sight! *record scratch* …
Yup, you heard me! A chocolate cake, luscious, decadent and gluten free! I loved dropping this piece of information on people, especially my mother as I offered her up a slice! Flourless cakes are not something new to me. I am used to making them at Passover time, but this one really ‘takes the cake’! 😆 I have filed the recipe away to resurrect this Passover season, as it is relatively labour-free, and only requires 3 ingredients!!!
After past disasters with flourless cake recipes I have learnt the hard way that it’s really important to fold the egg whites until not a speck of white can be seen. Be aware that any white left in the batter will only harden, and you will have tough lumps of egg white in your cake slices. *SHUDDER*
Once your batter is well blended you can pretty much rest assured that the scariest part of the recipe is behind you. The cake bakes at a fairly high temperature for a relatively short time. After leaving it to cool for a while you are ready to slice and serve! The texture is very similar to a brownie. Light crackly exterior, gooey, luscious center. As the cake continues to cool it gets increasingly dense. Knowing which result you prefer can be a determining factor in when you want to serve it. I myself prefer it still warm and moist. This is when it is lightest and seems to melt your tongue! All you need is a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar on top and your guests will be going WOW!
This month’s challenge included creating an icecream ‘side’ to our cake. Well nothing could be quicker or easier than a Raw Banana Softserve! It’s even pretty dang nutritious! Just the thing to assauge the guilt of a chocolate hangover 🙂
Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated
METHOD:
1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.
4 large bananas, frozen
1/4 cup raisins, soaked
2 tablespoon ground chia seeds (I use ground flaxseed)
2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or the equivalent amount of vanilla bean)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
10 drops stevia (I use agave or honey)
METHOD:
1. First, process the soaked raisins until they are relatively smooth.
2. Then add in the bananas, vanilla, ground chia, spices and stevia, and continue to process until the mixture is completly smooth and creamy.
3. Try the ice cream, and add more stevia or vanilla to taste.
4. At this point, it will seem like a cold pudding, so freeze the ice cream for 1-2 hours.
5. Stir before serving. Dig in!
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.
This recipe (well one of its variants) was my first introduction to raw ‘cuisine’. In my rather shallow, self-indulgent mind, if I could enjoy desserts as these, without fuss or guilt, I owed it to myself to learn more! Since then you’ll be happy to know that most of my raw consumption has expanded to include vegetables and proper meals, but raw brownies remain a guilt-free pleasure.
There seem to be a million and one recipes for raw brownies but they share similar building blocks. A succulent dried fruit (usually dates or raisins), ground nuts (usually almonds, walnuts, or cashews), a dash of honey, and a helping of cocoa. Sometimes coconut oil is drizzled in to bind the mixture further, however I find that if you pulverize it in the food processor long enough this step isn’t necessary as the nuts will release their own oils. Chilling (or even better freezing) the brownies is essential to them holding their shape. They will soften considerably if left at room temperature. However, because of the nature of the ingredients, they remain quite moist and chewable even when frozen, so don’t think you’ll be biting into a cube of ice! 🙂
Having a food processor has made putting together many raw recipes (this one included) a cinch and I now can’t imagine life without one. This recipe was actually the catalyst for me receiving one! You see, I tried to make it initially in our blender, and that was a hot mess. It was not more than a day or two later that J arrived on my doorstep with a huge box, and said ‘now you can try those brownies again’ 😆
What can I say? The man was committed to having these brownies! 😆
Some recipes continue the decadence by creating raw chocolate ‘frostings’. Although I opted out of making the icing for this particular recipe (avocadoes are not in season at the mo 🙁 ) I have included the instructions for that component as well 🙂 Enjoy!
Brownie:
1 cup walnuts
1 cup dates
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Icing:
2 avocados
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
dash salt
dash cinnamon
METHOD:
1. Food process the brownie ingredients until blended and dry chunky
2. Press into a small pan.
3. Put all icing ingredients into vitamix blender, and blend on hi till smooth.
4. Spread icing over brownies and pop in freezer to set for 1 hr. then cut and put in snack sized baggies.
Beets. You either love them or hate them. This vibrant, juicy root vegetable seems to polarize people whenever I bring them up for discussion. As a kid I grew up drinking (and loving beet juice), but as an adult I find myself less and less able to enjoy it in cooked form. And, Jason? Well he just can’t stand them. Not even in juice form 🙁 This recent concoction really hit the spot for me, and because of its status as a nutritional powerhouse I think it probably helped to prevent the sniffles I was having from turning into an all-out cold. Poor J however could only manage a few sips before handing it back though 😆
I am now hellbent on finding a recipe for beets that we can -both- enjoy. There’s got to be at least one out there right? If you have a recipe for beets that you think I have got to try feel free to let me know! I’m game for anything at this point 🙂 And, if you are a beet fan, give this vibrant health-packed beverage a try. I swear you’ll love it 🙂
This quick and simple salad is perked up by the addition of slivered stem ginger. Stem ginger is an ingredient that doesn’t get as much love as I think it should. It’s usually found in the baking aisle, but at times I have seen it hiding rather uncomfortably in the aisles that house ‘international ingredients’ and/or random salad dressings. 
