Today’s first order of business is to congratulate Yvonne, one of my commenters, on winning the Sweet & Easy Vegan cookbook! Yvonne, since you’re not one of my regular followers, please get in touch so I can get your information to get the cookbook sent to you.
The second order of business is, of course, a recipe. I keep trying new recipes from the excellent cookbook Eat Raw, Eat Well by Douglas McNish. Everything I’ve tried has been delicious, and I keep making myself try more recipes, as it’s so good for your body to get raw, fresh produce in your body.
Plus, I’m loving the Go Raw line of seeds (and their chocolate, which is to die for!), which were perfect to use in this dip. I think next time I’d use a combination of sunflower seeds and cashews, as I think the cashews would give it a little creaminess. These tasted excellent with sweet potato chips and celery sticks, and carrot sticks would probably also have been nice.
I brought this over to dinner at J+D’s house—I’m so happy my dear friend moved home from New Jersey! And not before time, either. Something in her brain must have realized that Hurricane Sandy was on its way, as they got out of there with just two months to spare. Her husband, a chef, cooked us a delicious dinner on his day off, and I tried to help a little bit by bringing this dip to share.
It was great to catch up while getting to know their gorgeous little two-year-old daughter—she was thoroughly entertaining before being whisked off to bed. I was a bit scared to bring this “raw” dip over to someone’s house when I hadn’t tried the recipe before, but they loved it. D, the chef, even asked for the recipe so he could serve the dip to the many vegetarians and vegans that come through the House of Blues at Disney. Score!
This would also be great in a salad as a raw, vegan substitute for curried chicken salad.
Curried Sunflower Seed Dip
First: Soak the sunflower seeds in 3 cups of water. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes. Drain, discard water and any shells or unwanted particles. Rinse under cold running water until water runs clear.
Second: I always, and I mean always, toast and grind fresh seeds. I never use ground cumin or coriander if I don’t grind it myself. It makes a huge difference in flavor.
Third: I wished I’d added a little chili, maybe half a jalapeno.
Ingredients:
2 cups raw sunflower seeds, soaked as above
3 Tbsp chopped white onion
2 Tbsp raisins
1 Tbsp chopped peeled ginger
1 Tbsp curry powder
2 tsp ground Cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
Pinch turmeric
1 tsp fine sea salt
4 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice, or a combination of both
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process the onion, raisins, ginger, curry powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, sea salt and lemon juice. Process until smooth. Add soaked sunflower seeds and process for 3 minutes, stopping the blades once or twice and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add cilantro and pulse until combined.
I had some today and it was MUCH nicer after sitting 24 hours!
