- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 27/Jul 06:25

A delicious raw-food dessert

I am not someone who typically uses recipes when cooking. I like to invent my own concoctions or challenge myself to make dishes or meals using only the ingredients I have at home. Especially when I have ingredients that are not customarily combined, this can lead to some delicious and innovative creations. Ironically, my foray into “cooking” was borne from my almost two years (from 2008) as a 100-per-cent raw vegan. Prior to that I never spent much time in the kitchen, but during that time as a raw foodist I had no choice but to prepare my own eats and drinks at home, since, at the time, “the outside world” barely catered to vegetarians, far less raw vegans. I would spend hours in the kitchen, experimenting, tasting and getting to understand the “culinary chemistry” of raw-food processes and production, making everything from drinks to snacks, meals, dehydrated breads and cakes and exotic raw desserts. I also enjoyed the art of plating (making the food look like gourmet artwork on the plate) and taking photos of those culinary creations. Recently a friend gave me a large avocado, ripe and ready to eat. The day after, another friend gave me three small avocados, also quite ripe. By the next day they were all starting to develop black spots. They needed to be eaten, but I could not eat all of them at once. Alternatives included: 1. Give some of them away 2. Cut them up and freeze them to make guacamole or use in smoothies/punches later on 3. Make a raw avocado lime pie/”cheesecake” I decided to go with option 3. The following recipe is from Food Heroes – a book of 77 raw food recipes by a friend of mine, Gabriela Lerner, who currently lives in Portugal. She calls this recipe Lime Pie, but I refer to it as raw avocado lime “cheesecake,” because it looks like cheesecake and has a similar texture, created by the effect of the coconut oil causing the avocado filling to become firm when refrigerated. In the book Gabriela describes it as “an excellent recipe for raw cake beginners.” [caption id="attachment_1168693" align="alignnone" width="541"] -[/caption] The equipment you will need: Food processor or blender, round pie tin (the book recommends 22cm) with removable base (eg springform pan) INGREDIENTS For the crust: ¼ cup desiccated coconut (I did not have any when making it, so I omitted this ingredient) 1 cup ground almonds or hazelnuts (I used almonds and pecans) ½ cup sunflower seeds ½ cup dates 1 pinch sea salt For the filling: 3 ripe avocados (this depends on the avocado sizes! Two medium ones may be sufficient) 3 limes (juice and zest) ½ cup coconut oil 1 tablespoon vanilla extract ¼ cup honey or agave To make the crust: 1. Sprinkle the coconut evenly onto the base of the pie tin. 2. Process all other ingredients in a blender/food processor to create an even dough which still has some structure to it. 3. Press dough into the base and up the side of the pie tin. 4. Place the tin in the refrigerator while preparing the filling. To make filling: 1. Combine all ingredients for the filling and blend until smooth. 2. Pour the mix onto the base and refrigerate for 2-3 hours 3. Remove the pie from the tin and decorate with lime zest or desiccated coconut Tip (from the book): “If you don’t use all of the pie right away, you can freeze the remainder whole or in portions, providing the pie has not been left out of the refrigerator for more than one hour.” I have frozen portions in the past. They will be fine for months – if they last that long. This healthy and interesting dessert is a great way to use avocados if you have a lot of them. They are usually quite costly, ranging from $20 (small) to $50 (large) in many places. Lucky are those who have avocado trees that bear profusely or who happen upon wild avocado trees that are laden and easily accessible. Nuts (almonds, pecans, cashews, etc.) are also quite costly, and are used in many raw-food dishes, making some of the recipes more of a luxury than a necessity for the average pocket. Learning to substitute and find alternatives for ingredients you may not have can lead to exciting culinary inventions. Start experimenting and, who knows…you might come up with your own recipe book someday.   The post A delicious raw-food dessert appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.