The Raw Gourmet Sample Platter

I think that is what I would call this plate in my own restaurant (shall I ever have one): Today's raw lunch at my home café:

• zucchini sunflower hommous with fresh thyme on marinated kohlrabi (top)
• marinated sunchokes (left)
• sprouted quinoa and lentil salad with spicy tomato-apricot chutney (right)
• Red Cabbage Pad Thai with Cashews (center)
  

Everybody knows the classic chickpea hummus, but who would have thought that zucchini actually makes a much lighter and easier digestible version of it. Sunflower seeds, zucchini, cashew nuts and fresh thyme are blended into a fluffy paste which I served on marinated kohlrabi carpaccio. Its crunchy bite makes it the perfect veggie hummus "cracker".


Red quinoa is a variety that is not much cultivated anymore. A shame, since its nutty flavour makes it a delicous, nutrient dense power grain. Sprouted, it makes a wonderful salad like in this one with avocados, tomatoes, red onion, sprouted lentils, alfalfa, waterkress and radish with a coconut, ginger, garlic, chilli dressing and some fresh coriander, topped with a spicy tomato-apricot-cashew chutney.

And you don't need rice pasta to make a pad thai. Thinly sliced red cabbage, once marinated in a sauce for a while, makes nice "noodles" that go really well with Asian flavours. I added some sunchoke julienne for an extra crunch, yellow bell pepper, fresh cilantro, dulse flakes and cashews for sweetness and wakame slices for even more noodle like teture and a salty sea taste. And of course a bunch of mixed sprouts for an extra enzyme and chlorophyl boost.

The sauce resembles a thai curry (without the additives and processed ingredients in the usual store bought pastes). I used coconut oil, coconut milk, ginger, garlic, chipotle, turmeric, agave, salt and chickpea miso. I could have also used stevia instead of agave to make it a more low glycemic dish.

This was a perfect lunch. All the flavours and textures complemented each other very well and even the colours were abundant: white, yellow, orange, red, green and purple. What a beautiful rainbow plate. I was satisfied :-)