Raw Summer BBQ!

Here is another great recipe from the pages of 'Living Raw Food' by Sarma Melngailis.
It is created by former 'Pure Food and Wine' chef Amanda Cohen.

Skewered veggies with a wonderful BBQ sauce, Coleslaw dressed with Dill "Mayonnaise", and Vegetable Chips.

Last night, I sliced the veggies needed for the chips. I used my electric food slicer, as it makes an entire dehydrator full of chips in about 15 minutes, including cleaning the machine :) I used carrot, red beet, sweet potato, and yucca. The recipe calls for taro root and golden beets which were not available, so I just used what I had. I did have the parsnips called for, but they would not fit in the dehydrator after slicing the other veggies. After dehydrating, they are sprinkled with oil and salt. I did try it this way, but usually prefer to add oil and salt before dehydrating. I like to use an oil mister to lightly coat the chips with oil before sprinkling with pink salt.

The Chips

In the morning, I soaked the mac nuts needed for the mayo.

I also soaked the sun-dried tomatoes for the BBQ Sauce.

It was also the time to "brew" the Lapsang Souchong tea needed to impart the smokey flavor in the sauce. I have used it before in other dishes, and found it very strong, so I reduced the amount I used.

The BBQ Sauce is made by simply blending the tea with soaked tomatoes, shallot, nama shoyu, vinegar, maple syrup, oil and salt. It is then used to marinate the veggies which consist of zucchini, peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and fennel. I also threw in some yellow summer squash:) After marinating a few hours, the veggies are skewered and dehydrated for 3 hours.

The Veggies

Next, I made the yummy Coleslaw. The dressing is made with the soaked mac nuts, water, lemon juice, oil, shallot, salt and dill. I used the larger shredding blade on the food processor to quickly shred the red and green cabbages, carrot, and daikon. The scallion was sliced thinly by hand. This was so good, I actually had some for breakfast since I hadn't eaten yet:)

The Coleslaw

I enjoyed everything very much. It was very festive and colorful. The flavor of the BBQ sauce concentrated while dehydrating and really tasted grilled! If you are going to a 'SAD' barbecue, this would be a wonderful raw option:).

Thanks again to the lovely Sarma Melngailis for sharing this recipe, and to Amanda Cohen for creating it.
I am looking forward to trying more recipes from this book!