This first dish is Persian halva. Now halva has many different names and regional variations. Arabic halva is different from Indian, which is different from Mediterranean halva. I would say that these variations are quite unique and really can taste completely unrecognizable. Also, some people cook the same regional variations differently to change the flavor profiles as well. I've tried an Iranian halva that contained no flour, whereas mine did; however, I did not darken mine as much as other do. My point is here that there are so many variations that mine might not look like one you've had before, but nevertheless, mine is vegan and beyond delicious. I had to censor myself from eating the entire plate at once.I actually got a really bad picture and only had this plate clean, which the color drains the color from the halva. But here is the basic recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup organic raw sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup rosewater
3-4 threads of saffron
1 cup of melted coconut oil
1 1/2 cup of unbleached purpose flour
pinch of cardamom
crushed pistatios
unsweetened shredded coconut
Directions
- Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan.. Stir until all sugar is dissolved, and then add the rosewater and saffron. Cover, remove from heat and set aside.
- Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan over low flame. Add the flour and stir to form a smooth paste. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the paste is golden brown, between 5-10 minutes.
- Using a whisk, slowly beat the sugar syrup into the flour paste.
- Cook in the cardamom.
- Remove from heat and spread the halva paste evenly onto a plate or platter. Top with pistachios and coconut.
It was great! I ate it with cinnamon pita chips. That was the best idea ever! It just set it off and married all of the flavors!! It was better than I was expecting because I've never cooked it before and also I've never had this kind of halva. It's not the healthiest dish ever, but I realize that and I ate it sparingly over a week and doled some out to my bestie.
This next dish is a raw vegan dish. I've been wanting to make a raw pasta dish forever. But I have been putting off ordering a vegetable spiralizer. But, I got this great deal and so I ordered it. Basically, this turned vegetables into spiraly shreds. Zucchini is the main vegetable used for raw vegan pasta. There's a picture of it to the right.
So the pasta part was simple and took two minutes to create. Much, MUCH shorter than waiting for a pot of water to boil and then pasta cooking for 11-13 minutes. So, there was a plus to it already! More importantly, however, it is not processed and made from unrefined flours. It's probably ninety thousand times less carbohydrates. Zucchini pasta is much better than regular pasta noodles. It will not stop me eating "real" pasta dishes made from quinoa flour, but it's a great alternative.
But, of course, I did not just eat plain zucchini. In a food processor, I threw in a red bell pepper, a tomato, sun dried tomatoes, garlic and herbs with some salt and pepper. Blended it up and there was the marinara sauce. I tossed the sauce with the zucchini pasta. I needed to use of some cashews that were on the verge of spoiling as well as some spinach that I had yet to open. So, I decided to make a Spinach cheez sauce. Again, in the food processor, I just added the cashews, garlic, spinach, oil, water, salt, nutritional yeast flake (yes, I know that some consider it raw, others don't). Pulse, pulse, blend blend---Cheez sauce that is rich in protein, food fats, beta carotene, vits A, B, C, E and K. Very nutricious. That combined with the pasta sauce and noodles, it was a low-fat, high-vitamin rich meal. It was, more importantly, quick and effortless. Really, that is my biggest draw towards raw veganism. It is so simple and quick. Cooking is the tedious part sometime.
I hope you all enjoyed. This is the little I've cooked, but it still has satisfied la lengua de un vegan.
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