Yam Yum and Jicamashed Potatoes

I didn’t quite know what to expect when I varied the Yam Yum recipe from Raw Sacramento’s web page to suit the Thermomix. But my taste test revealed a very pleasant mix and I plated and ate it all very happily for my lunch.

Yam Yum Recipe Ingredients:

200g red sweet potato, peeled

1 small clove garlic, peeled

1 shallot, peeled

1/2 small onion, peeled

A few sprigs of mint and parsley

1 tbsp Tahini

1 tbsp lemon juice

Dash of Shoyu sauce

Optional: 1 tbsp sultanas

Plus:

Lettuce leaves to put on the plate under the Yam Yum.

Basil for garnish

Instructions:

Process garlic on speed 6 for 5 seconds

Add the sweet potato, shallots and onions and process on speed 8 for up to 30 seconds

Add the remaining ingredients and mix on speed 4 for a few seconds

Place mounds of Yam Yum onto a bed of lettuce

Sprinkle cut basil leaves as a garnish

I subsequently threw a few sultanas on top and they merged in very nicely with the overall taste sensation. I must remember to include them in the future.

Raw Sacramento says this makes a nice appetizer or side dish. Well for me, this made a very nice lunch.

And then for dinner I decided to try a second recipe – Jicamashed Potatoes - again from Raw Sacramento’s site. I had some more sweet potatoes that I wanted to use up before I pick up my next Food Connect box tomorrow. Naturally I varied the recipe to suit by adding in half a carrot sitting in my fridge and included some ingredients from Rawlicious’s Carrot Ginger Soup recipe.

Jicamashed Potatoes Recipe Ingredients:
Garlic clove
3cm ginger
2 cups sweet potatoes
Half a carrot
Avocado chopped
Green apple peeled and cut into chunks
½ tsp salt
Pinch allspice

Instructions:
Process garlic and ginger on speed 6 for 5 seconds
Add sweet potato and carrot and process at speed 8 for 15 seconds.
Add chopped avocado, green apple chunks, salt and allspice and process on speed 4 for a few seconds.

I then did an amazingly un-raw thing by placing some homemade baked beans on top and proceeded to demolish it. My apologies for forgetting to keep a photo of this one! However you haven’t really missed much as the Jicamashed Potatoes looked pretty much the same as my lunch did – minus the lettuce bed and basil garnish…

Nori

I found this wonderful website called Raw Sacramento Recipes with loads of recipes just for raw food. I jumped straight to the recipes and started looking through them thinking I’d be happy to make these. This surprised me because I generally flick through recipes in a book or web site and only find a few I’d like to try. But this web site was different.

I think this site resonated with me because the collection of recipes is for day to day use rather than gourmet special occasion use. And they’re absolutely perfect. The introduction suggests applying the 5-5-5 rule to get the most benefit: "... it doesn't have more than 5 ingredients, doesn't take more than 5 minutes to make, and doesn't cost more than $5 for ingredients...", while some braver souls move towards 3-3-3... This all sounds very similar to what I read in the book “12 Steps to Raw Foods” by Victoria Boutenko, so it is no surprise to find recipes attributed to the Boutenko family.

So I’ve started on a new trip of trolling through this web site just to see what I might find.

The first recipe I have attempted is Salsa and Avocado in Nori (copy the recipe name as you will need to paste and search for it on the web page). Now I have bought and eaten nori in the past but haven’t really worked out the best way to use it so this has been my first project.

For lunch I made the salsa along with some hulled sunflower seeds sprouted overnight and wrapped it in a nori sheet and I really enjoyed the taste of the salsa. I think it was the novelty of the lemon/salt combination as I haven’t yet acquired the habit of adding lemon to most meals I prepare. I found the nori wrap didn’t work out as well as I would have liked as it can be quite chewy if the moisture hasn’t sunk into it. I suspect that’s why buying and trying nori in the past hasn’t translated into a permanent habit.

The second time I cut the nori up into little pieces and included it in the salsa rather than as a wrap which was better because the nori became softer when mixed in with the other ingredients. Some cooked chick peas finished off the meal perfectly.

I haven’t given up on finding other options for nori. I have found suggestions to wet the nori so that it becomes more palatable. Sushi beckons but I realise that there is an art to making sushi so will tread carefully. What I know so far about sushi is that I need a special mat, plus I have seen sushi rice in various health food stores so will buy some so I can try it out. In the meantime, I have found a sushi recipe using quinoa which might work for me.

It feels pretty good to be checking out these options. I like the idea of reducing the number of foods in a meal as I could consider this – dare I say – as simplifying my diet, not that I’m on one!