Edamame Beet Hummus

What started as an effort to clean out my fridge/freezer, resulted in a brilliant red spread that cuts it as a veggie dip, sandwich spread, or a hell of a good April Fool's Day cupcake frosting.  Comes together relatively quickly if you have some extra roasted beets lying around.  While it is def't a different beast than chickpea based hummus, it is good for the carb conscious trying to get more vegetables into their diet.

Edamame Beet Hummus

1 cup frozen shelled edamame
2 medium (1/2 lb) medium beets, roasted and peeled
1/4 cup stirred tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2-3 cloves garlic
3/4 teaspooon kosher salt
1 teaspoon toasted cumin, ground
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Suggested serving: Sliced cucumbers, pita chips, celery, and olives

Directions

Boil the beans in salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, or microwave, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes.

Quarter the roast beets. In a food processor, puree the edamame, beets, tahini, juice, garlic, salt, cumin, and coriander until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and mix until absorbed.

To serve: Transfer to a small bowl and drizzle with remaining oil and a few grinds of pepper, surrounding with the suggested vegetables, or refrigerate for later consumption.

Full Bodied Zucchini Hummus (Low carb! Gluten free! Infused with sass!)

It seems like carbs make me tired, like, really tired if I'm not careful.  I once had an internship at an Special Ed facility, and if it was french fries for lunch before the meetings I was a goner. I'd have to leave the group meeting at least a couple of times and go to the rest room and pump out some jumping jacks just to make sure I wasn't passed out, drooling on my clipboard as I sat on the sidelines.

Needless to say, I took pretty well to the low carb lifestyle one finds in raw food diets (and the generally better levels of energy).  However, there are some heavenly flavors one just can't find in the raw food world, flavors like Tohum roasted tahini.  Mind you, Tohum tahini is a specialty that I don't find my self able to (afford) to use all the time, but if you haven't tried it I do strongly recommend it.  Thankfully, there are other slightly more cost effect brands that are delicious enough.

Anyway, I do digress... Since I got back from Asia, I've been trying to eat better/more healthy, and felt like turning to a diet heavy in fresh fruits and raw vegetables was a good start, while minimizing my intake of processed foods.  So, you can expect to see updates (often green in color), of some of my staples during the past week.

One of the delights I whipped up was thus hummus.  I used some components of the raw base (zucchini in lieu of chickpeas),, and matched it with the flavoring components of my historical favorite hummus (the one on the side of this bag), and tackled the problem of raw hummus traditionally having the consistency of a thick salad dressing (moar flaxseeds!).

The end product was the full bodied, flavorful hummus I fondly remembered, that I could eat freely with carrots and celery without Mr. Sandman dragging me off to Nod.

Speaking of Nod... I'm still a bit jet lagged, and should get this recipe down before I PTFO...

Hummus!

• 2 Large Green Zucchinis, cut into chunks
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, peeled*
• 2 t Vegetable Better than Boullion
• 2 t Franks Hot Sauce
• 6 T Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
• 3/4 c Roasted Tahini
• 1/2 T Cumin Seeds, Toasted
• 1/4 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 T Nutritional Yeast
• 1 t black pepper
• 3 T Flax**

Throw everything but the flax into the high power blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.  If mix is watery, toss in the flax seeds and again blend until smooth. If you are using a food processor instead of a blender, I'd recommend using pre-ground flax meal for optimum smooth temperature. 

Transfer hummus to a container and place in the fridge until the flax seed has set.  When set, enjoy with carrots, celery, or whatever else you like to dip into hummus.  I've been eating it on raw onion bread with fresh sliced of tomato and a few grinds of pepper. 

*Garlickyness is a matter of personal preference, I go for 4 but that can be a bit much for most folks.

**Every zucchini will have different levels of water content, so you may need more or less hummus. You do not want to add too much, or else you will give the hummus a gummy texture, otherwise, it should be great! 

Calamari, sorta kinda not really...

So I recently got my hands on Living Raw Food, the second book of recipes from the Pure Food and Wine proprietor. It did pretty much the same thing the last book did, which was reignite my interest in working with raw foods.

The appeal of raw foods wasn't so much about health (O.K. wasn't only about health) but a cross between the sort of primitive molecular gastronomy practiced by many raw foodists and the meaningful exploration of high quality ingredients. I was also taken in by the use of whole foods, given processed foods lost much of their appeal to me during that brief Atkins-diet phase I had when I was 20 or so. While I ditched the diet of waterbath cheesecake made with splenda, I never quite picked pasta and other refined starches back up.

It is recipes like the above, calamari with tartar sauce, that are reigniting my passion for exploring this cuisine. However it is also reminding me of the frustrations when dealing with the not-so-vegan-inclined..

Tess (my vegan buildingmate): "Ike, you want to come upstairs with us to get some raw vegan calamari?"
Ike (Tess's not so vegan but very blue partner): "I don't like calamari."
Tess: "Well it isn't calamari."
Ike: "I don't really like things fried."
Tess: "It is raw! How can it be fried?"
Ike: "Well, you said it was calamari."
Tess: "It is raw vegan, how can it be squid or fried?"

Ai. Ike did come upstairs. Ike ate raw vegan calamari. Raw vegan calamari was deemed good, or at least acceptable for those who don't like fried calamari.

Honestly it isn't all that much like calamari, though if you like calamari you'll probably like these. It is definitely a snackable concoction that makes for a good traveling companion, it is cute, and novel, all told pretty easy to make. Cutting them into rings is a vanity that you can surpass if you feel like it. Regardless of the differences, the inspirations you find raw foodists make from the original food is a delight.

While I'm not going to post the recipe here (see the book below, it is worth it), I'll mention that a mix of spices, ground up golden flax seeds, some lemon, and king oyster mushrooms are friends of yours... And of course, do not forget the salt.