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3 Ingredient – Hazelnut/Cacao Bars

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HCB

 

For this recipe I’m keeping this very simple and basic, all you need are three ingredients and a food processor. And even more awesome is that this recipe will require only five minutes of your time, sometimes less is more! Ok you need to wait a little bit in between while you’re soaking the nuts and letting the bars set in the freezer, but its worth it, trust me.

Raw treats are the best, they are literally the easiest things to make, healthy and great as a snack. I always keep my freezer and fridge stacked.

 

Soaking Nuts

 

One thing that I’d advise for this recipe is to soak your nuts. The reason I soak raw nuts is because it makes them easier to digest, the nutrients become easier to absorb and you remove some enzymes that are good for the nuts and seeds but not so wonderful for us! In some cases it also makes nuts a bit softer making it easier for them to be blended into a smooth cream. You can soak the nuts in warm water with a little bit of salt and leave them overnight. After draining the nuts you can dry them with a clean towel, bake them or use a dehydrator to remove the moisture. I dried them with a towel and kept the bars in the freezer to prevent spoiling because baking wont keep them raw and I currently don’t own a dehydrator. 

Fun Fact: I’m slightly allergic to raw nuts, so even when I soak them I have to be careful not to eat to much. If I do my throat starts getting tighter. And if I eat just a few my lips start feeling itchy and I don’t even have to think about rubbing my eyes after handling raw nuts! But this will never stop me, obviously, I like to live on the edge.

 

HCB4

 

My raw food challenge is almost finished but if your a raw foodie don’t be worried! I’ll keep working on raw food recipes and still have some I’m working on at the moment so stay tuned for that. And starting next week you can also expect some cooked vegan foods again. Its gonna be the best of both worlds.

 

HCB

 

Stay awesome everyone

Bless.

3 Ingredient - Hazelnut/Cacao Bars

Easy and healthy raw food bars, that only require 3 ingredients!
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Prep Time 5 mins
Total Time 5 mins
Course Dessert/Snack, Rawfood
Cuisine Vegan
Servings 10 bars

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup raw hazelnuts
  • 3 tbsp cacao powder
  • 1/2 cup soft dates

Instructions
 

  • Soak the raw hazelnuts for about 7 hours or overnight and drain them. Dry the nuts and throw them in a food processor. Pulse the nuts a couple of times and then add the dates and cacao powder. Process until everything comes together. Place everything on a piece of parchment paper and press it into a rectangle shape. You can top them with some crushed hazelnuts (optional).
  • Now place the bar in the freezer until it sets and you can cut it into little bars. Enjoy!

Raw “Bounty” Bites

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Blissballs

 

 

Going raw vegan for a month comes with a lot of perks and raw desserts are high on that list. I mean who doesn’t love to indulge with delicious food without feeling guilty afterwards!? They are filled with nothing but whole foods and delicious ingredients. 

These raw treats are delicious, easy to make and pack zero guilt. Whenever you make a batch you can simply keep them in the fridge for at least a week and munch on them throughout the week. They are perfect for those afternoon dips or as a snack on the go! 

 

Hiding the hazelnut

 

 

You can also hide little nuts or berries in the middle of the balls, like pictured above (but this is completely optional). This time I went for hazelnut, but feel free to use any other filling, in the past i’ve used dried inca berries which worked out perfectly. Fun Fact: Im allergic to hazelnuts, I like living on the edge!

When you rolled the balls you can also roll them through different toppings such as, desiccated coconut, cacao powder, chia seeds, hemp seeds, or whatever topping you desire. For these balls i went with desiccated coconut dusted with some spirulina and beet powder.

 

Raw TreatsRaw Treats

 

Now its your turn to make these delicious, easy and nutritious treats! If you try them and have an instagram account I would love to see your creations, so feel free to tag me in your post.

Bless

Raw "Bounty" Bites

Easy, Delicious and Quick to make "bounty" bites
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Prep Time 10 mins
Total Time 10 mins
Course Dessert/Snack, Rawfood
Cuisine Vegan
Servings 13 Balls

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup pecans
  • 1/2 cup dates
  • 3/4 cup desiccated coconut
  • 2 tbsp cacao powder
  • 1 tbsp flax seed

Instructions
 

  • Add all the ingredients to a food processor and process until everything's well combined and you can roll them into little balls. When you rolled all of the balls you can store them in the freezer, or fridge. You can also roll a little hazelnut in the centre (optional) and roll them through some coconut, chia seeds, cacao or other toppings.

Cassava Coconut Cake – Surinamese Bojo

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Bojo

This cassava coconut cake also known as bojo is another surinamese dish that loves to make an appearance on birthdays and other festivities. Its not one of the healthiest dishes, but remember its for special occasions and sometimes you just need to indulge! 

This cake is so good that its always the first thing to disappear, growing up …

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Vegan Surinamese Pom

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Pom and Rice

 

My birthday is coming up soon and since a surinamese birthday just isn’t complete without a delicious pom i decided to veganise one of my favorite dishes ever. Pom is a traditional surinamese dish that is a staple on most surinamese birthdays. Traditionally pom isn’t vegan because they put chicken in the dish and use the sauce to top the pom. I tried to make it using tofu and was scared i’d ruin the dish, but it turned out amazing! So if you’re looking for a new exotic dish to try don’t look any further, i’ve got you covered.

 

Pomtayer

 

The main ingredient in pom is pomtayer also known as yautia or malanga, which is a tuber found in south america. Pictured above is the pomtayer i used for this recipe, which you can find in most freezer sections at a surinamese toko or asian grocery store when you’re in the Netherlands and Suriname. Outside of the Netherlands and Suriname it might be challenging to find this frozen grated pomtayer or pomtayer in general, don’t worry as you could use grated taro as a substitute.

When this dish was first introduced by the Portuguese/Jewish plantation owners it was made with potato, but potato wasn’t commonly available in Suriname so they started making it using pomtayer instead. 

 

PomPom

 

Pom is great served with rice and vegetables or you can make a “broodje pom” by putting the pom on a bread roll with some sambal and pickled cucumber. I simply love this dish and ate a lot while testing the recipe (win) even my nephew couldn’t resist! This dish is definitely birthday approved.

If you’re gonna make this dish or ever ate it before i’d love to know how you liked it. I’m working on more surinamese dishes which i’ll be sharing in the near future, so stay tuned cause more tropical dishes are coming your way! 

 

Pom

Surinamese Pom

A traditional surinamese oven dish.
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Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 1 hr
Total Time 2 hrs
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Surinamese, Vegan
Servings 10 slices

Ingredients
  

Pom

  • 1 bag pomtayer or 1 kilo grated taro
  • 1 big handful celery leaves chopped
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 lemon juice
  • 1 orange juice
  • 3 tbsp piccalilli
  • 3/4 tsp 5 spice
  • salt + pepper to taste
  • 3 tbsp vegan butter/margerine

Tofu

  • 1 brick tofu drained and cut in cubes
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 3 tomatoes pureed or finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp all spice
  • 1 1/2 tsp vegetable bouillon or vegan chicken bouillon
  • 1/2 tsp 5 spice
  • 1 hot pepper i used adjuma
  • 1 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tbsp sugar (optional)

Instructions
 

Tofu

  • Start by sautéing the chopped onion and garlic, after about 3/4 minutes add the tomato, chopped pepper and the spices and cook for another minute over medium heat. Now add the tofu and soy sauce and add 1 cup of water, let it simmer on low. Now add salt and pepper to taste
  • While you let the tofu simmer you can start to make the pom. keep stirring the tofu every couple of minutes to prevent sticking on the bottom. Once most of the moisture has evaporated add 1/2 cup of water and let it simmer for another 10 minutes before turning of the heat. You want to have a little bit of sauce to top the pom with.

Pom

  • Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celcius or 347 Fahrenheit. Once your pomtayer has thawed out place it in a bowl and add all the chopped celery leaves, sugar, lemon + orange juice, 5 spice and piccalilli and salt to taste. Give everything a big stir and make sure everything is mixed together. If you cant get pomtayer you can use 1 kilo of grated taro root.
  • In a greased oven dish add half of the pom mixture, top this with the tofu, but safe the sauce.
  • Top the tofu with the remaining pom. Top it all of with the sauce and a few bits of vegan butter or margarine (maybe you could use coconut oil) Place them pom in the preheated oven and cook for 90/100 minutes, you can rotate the pom halfway through so front and back get equal heat.
  • When u poke it with a fork or skewer and its a little bit firm you are done! sever this with some rice and vegetables or put it on a bread roll with sambal and pickled cucumber.

Pulled Jackfruit Fresh Spring rolls

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Spring Rolls

 

Spring rolls are one of those foods that really lets you be creative and play around with fillings and dips. They are a vietnamese delicacy that are basically rice papers filled with ingredients like carrots, tofu and other delicious goodness! Apart from being delicious and nutritious, they are also pretty easy and quick to make. I’ll be sharing some ideas for fillings and add a recipe for pulled 5 spice jackfruit to this post. 

 

Fillings

 

There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to fill spring rolls, this is one of the things that make them even more awesome in my opinion! Some of my favourite fillings for spring rolls are:

  • Herbs: cilantro and basil.
  • Vegetable: carrots, bean sprouts, lettuce, beets, pepper, spring onions and purple cabbage.
  • Fruits: mango, avocado, jackfruit and strawberries.
  • Other: tofu, tempeh, rice noodles and seitan 

these are just a few of the many ingredients you can use to fill your spring rolls, you can really use your imagination and fill it with whatever you like! I like to eat my spring rolls with satay sauce or sriracha, but feel free to use other dips and sauces. 

To make a simple satay sauce you just take some peanut butter, add a splash of soy sauce and season with some garlic (powder), onion powder, sambal (optional) and thin it out with a little bit of boiling water and maybe add pinch of sugar and a splash of lime juice. Voila you just created your own delicious satay dipping sauce.

This time i decided to try and add some 5 spice pulled jackfruit to the rolls and i really liked how they turned out! Jackfruit is an extremely big fruit that when ripe is delicious and sweet and almost tastes like bubble gum, but thats not what i used in this recipe, in this recipe i used unripe jackfruit. Green (unripe) jackfruit has a fibrous meat like texture and can take on almost any flavour, which makes it a great substitute for pulled pork. You could also just eat it on a tortilla or with some rice.

The rice noodles you can keep as is or toss with a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce.

 

Tempeh Spring RollsTofu Spring RollsSpring rolls

 

When i’m making spring rolls i’m always trying to get as many colours in as i possibly can, i always like to eat the rainbow! But honestly there are so many ways to make spring rolls, there are no rules! the one pictured above has falafel and edamame, the only thing that matters for me is that its gonna be tasty, so pack it with whatever you like!

These are delicious while eaten fresh, but don’t be scared to store them for a later munching session. You can wrap them to keep from drying out and store them in the fridge, keep in mind that you don’t want them to really touch each other otherwise they’ll likely rip when you pull them apart. And when they are to dry when u want to eat them just rub them with a little warm water to rehydrate the rice paper.

 

Spring Rolls

 

Show me your spring rolls on instagram, i’m curious to know what you put in them!

Bless

Pulled Jackfruit Spring rolls

Vibrant spring rolls filled with delicious pulled jackfruit.
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Course Main Dish, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian, Vegan
Servings 9 rolls

Ingredients
  

  • 1 can young jackfruit
  • 1 onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 pepper
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1/2 tsp 5 spice
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • salt to taste
  • 1 pinch unrefined cane sugar (or other sweetener of choice)
  • 1 cup water

Instructions
 

Pulled Jackfruit

  • Drain the jackfruit and squeeze out most of the moisture. chop and sauté the onions, and garlic until the onions turn translucent. Now blend the tomatoes or chop them really fine and add them to the onion and garlic. Cook this for a couple of minutes and then add the spices, pepper, water and jackfruit. Turn the heat to medium/low and cover the pan. Let it simmer for at least 30 minutes. Keep stirring every once and a while to prevent sticking on the bottom of the pan. If you need you can always add more water. Once the water has mostly evaporated you can turn of the heat and let the jackfruit cool off before using in spring rolls.

Spring rolls

  • Take a piece of rice paper and hydrate it with some lukewarm water. place it on a plate and place your fillings on the rice paper
  • Start by rolling away from you and tuck in the filling, then fold in the sides en tightly roll up the rice paper. You can also add some other thin sliced fillings at the end of the roll so they show on the outside of the finished roll. Try doing this with beets, edible flower petals or avocado.

Mushroom Spread

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Mushroom Spread

 

Happy New Year! Its the time of the year we start our new years resolutions and try to eat a little bit healthier than during the holidays. For me this means i’ll be having tons of smoothies and lots of salads, but still have some snacks on the side. And even snacks can be healthy! This mushroom spread or dip can be a healthier way to have a midday snack, it is low fat and has many uses. You can spread it on some toast or use it as a pasta sauce, you could even have it over rice (i tried an highly recommend!) You can store leftovers in the fridge and it’ll keep for a couple of days….

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Coconut Pasta Sauce

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Sometimes i’ll get home and really don’t feel like spending a lot of time making dinner, no i want to relax and do something else (although most of the time i still end up in the kitchen because, honestly i really love food!). This recipe is also perfect for if you are short on time but still want to take a delicious meal to work. 

This sauce takes me less then 10 minutes…

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Savoury Chickpea Pancakes

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Gluten free pancakes, but make them savoury! There’s nothing I love more than a good savoury dish. I can’t lie, I love my food filled with umami and spice. These gluten free pancakes are incredibly easy to make and open to interpretation. Feel free to play around with the spices and toppings to create your own unique dish, catering to your very desires. …

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Buckwheat pancakes – gluten free

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Is there anything more comforting then a delicious stack of fluffy pancakes on a Sunday morning? I don’t think so! Show all your non vegan friends that you don’t need eggs, milk or gluten to create delicious pancakes. These pancakes will be a hit amongst all of your omnivorous friends.

This recipe calls for buckwheat flour only, and will leave you with a delicious stack of pancakes in less then 30 minutes. This stack will feed about two people, or if you’re as much as a monster as i am only one, just kidding (or am i?)….

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