Curried Salad in Homage to "Choosing Raw"

I hope you enjoyed the Pure2Raw tribute yesterday, which provided such deliciousness for so many people right here. I made another batch of the hazelnut cheese for a party last night, with a lot more lemon juice than the previous batch, and with lemon zest, chiffonaded basil, and extra black pepper, and it was a hit!

Time for some more blogger love: in that same meal for which I offered the appetizer pictured above, I also created a curried salad similar to one I used to make regularly back when I lived in CA, but hadn't made for a while, and was inspired to put a new spin on it by the wonderful Gena.

Just in honor of Gena, I harvested our very last little cauliflower to make this dish--isn't it beautiful?

 As a literary-minded person, I appreciate well-crafted writing, and Gena's posts are always a joy to read. Then, there's the content: her purpose, her passion, her wisdom shine through. Even though my own passions do not lie in exactly the same places, the same issues are very dear to my heart. She regularly discusses topics about which I think a lot but which are not interesting to people in my immediate circles here. Once again, hurray for the asynchronous!

Then, there are her recipes. She is so humble and unassuming about her culinary skills, almost to the point of being self-effacing sometimes, but the truth is, she often shares procedural tips for how to treat an ingredient to make it shine in a recipe. Those tips have been both helpful and thought-provoking to me, and I tend to have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, so it's unusual for me to feel so indebted.

This curried salad of mine always used to be a raw dish, featuring broccoli and/or cauliflower, vegetables, apples, dried fruit...

 ...and a delicious sauce.

Then, from this post of Gena's, I learned the tip of steaming veggies such as broccoli and then blanching them in an ice bath, so that they maintain their vivid color and crunch. Since I've been preferring to eat brassicas cooked lately because of the goitrogen issue (and also because they digest better for me that way), I used this tip to make a new version of the salad without compromising on texture, with deep gratitude.

Curried Salad a la Gena
Solid Components:
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 cups chopped cauliflower
1 large carrot, diced
1 large apple, chopped into half-inch pieces
1/2 cup fenugreek sprouts
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup goji berries

You can use other veggies in here too. Celery is wonderful, and if you can eat bell pepper, it gives a beautiful color note. Peas or green beans are good, too.
Lightly steam the broccoli and cauliflower, and immediately remove them from the hot water and put them in an ice bath (or in the freezer for 3-5 minutes). You can skip this "steaming" step if you want the dish completely raw.
Combine the broccoli, cauliflower, apples, carrots, sprouts and dried fruit in an ample bowl.

Dressing:
1/2 cup cashews, soaked
2 tablespoons tahini
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, soaked in 1 cup water (save the soak water)
1 orange, peeled and seeded (if it had seeds)
2-3 dates
1 teaspoon miso
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger
(optional: 1 clove garlic)
(optional: salt to taste)

Blend all ingredients. If you don't have a high-powered blender, you may get a better texture if you juice the orange rather than putting it in whole.

Spread the dressing liberally over the "solid components" and fold in until well incorporated. It's ideal if this can sit for a while and the flavors meld.

This is just as yummy as I remember it from California days, and it was easier on my stomach into the bargain!

Pure2 Tribute and Raw Hazelnut Cheese

Thank the spinning earth it's Friday? Well, it's a gorgeous, sunny day, but if you're self-employed and a student, the work doesn't stop with Friday. I've been slammed this week! It's also been an intensely social week, with Phil back home. We've had people for dinner, or been to dinner at people's houses, every night this week, and that's set to continue through next Thursday if not beyond, and we're supposed to be house-and dog-sitting for our neighbors starting next week too. Ayayay! At least it gives me reason to make goodies...

In fact, I managed to create tributes to two blogs I particularly enjoy as part of a single meal this week.

Part of the week's shakedown has been to finish the kitchen!

 Yes, there are some miscellaneous construction items that need to be moved or organized, and yes, there's isn't a sink yet. But I can now fix all the food in one place, rather than constantly running back and forth between the two tiny rooms.

On to my first "blogger tribute"--I'm going to share one today, one tomorrow. I created this elegant appetizer of Raw Hazelnut Cheese (recipe to follow), carrot sticks (because I love them so), and pumpkin socca!

This is my tribute to Lori and Michelle of Pure 2 Raw--I so admire their allergy-friendly baking talents, their sincerity, humor, thoughtfulness and imagination, and their adventures in fitness are always an inspiration.

"Socca" is a Mediterranean flatbread made with chickpea flour (and thus gluten free and high protein) that Lori and Michelle have popularized in myriad forms on their blog. The pumpkin version was perfect for the season, was deliciously ambiguous between sweet and savory (especially with some cinnamon in there) and between crunchiness around the edges and moist/doughy inside.

 And I didn't even need to advertise that it was gluten free, but was able to enjoy it along with everyone else. Usually, if I make something gluten free, it's not the preferred item--but there weren't many leftovers from this.
 It was also a perfect vehicle for the Raw Hazelnut Cheese I made.

Phil, my "Philbert," came home with lots of fresh filberts (aka hazelnuts) from Oregon, so I decided to make a nut cheese rather than a hummus. I know that Lori and Michelle love their cultured foods, so this is for you, with fondness:

Raw Hazelnut Cheese
2 cups hazelnuts, soaked
1/2-1 cup water
2 probiotics capsules
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar, or a mixture of the two)

Blend the soaked hazelnuts and the powder from the probiotic capsules on high with a small amount of water until completely pureed (if you don't have a Vitamix or high-speed blender, you will need more water).
Scrape everything out onto a sieve lined with a nut milk bag or some cheesecloth, and leave in a dark place for 24 hours.
After it's sat and cultured, stir in the remaining ingredients.
Garnish with paprika.

This is a very basic cheese: I think it would be lovely with some minced basil, or go spicy with jalapeno pieces, or mince in some chives... Hazelnuts are high in fiber, so this isn't as smooth as a cashew-based cheese, but the texture is really good nonetheless--all the dairy cheese aficionados really enjoyed it!

Thanks for the inspiration, Lori and Michelle!
Stay tuned for the second 'blogger tribute'--I'll try to get it up over the weekend.
Much love.