Raw and vegan – Dehydrating in our new kitchen

Maca-roons – raw and vegan

At long last our new kitchen is in operation! Much more worktop space, place for all our gadgets, and a good spot for the dehydrator.

I was missing all the tasty raw sweet things, so to get back into the swing of things I made Maca-roons.

Very easy, plus a few hours dehydrating.

The original recipe came from Peter and Beryn Daniel’s book The Magic of Superfoods

I didn’t have brazil nuts handy, so used almonds instead.
I also used a mixture of agave nectar and stevia instead of maple syrup, which is very expensive in this country (S. Africa)
The result was still wonderful.

Their recipe –

2 C dessicated coconut
1/2 C brazil nuts
1/2 C maple syrup
1/4 C maca powder
1/4 C cacao powder
1/4 C cacao butter, melted
1 t vanilla extract
pinch salt

Put all ingredients in a food processor and process till dough-like.
Shape into round balls and dehydrate for 6 to 10 hours, depending on how you want them.
The longer you leave them the more crispy they go on the outside.

Dehydrating veggies

As you might remember, we have recently done Deborah Durrant’s two raw food courses – Feast and Taste.

You can find out more about these courses at Deliciously Raw

We are now ready to get going on all these recipes.

The thing about raw is that one needs to build up a supply of staples that sometimes need dehydrating.

So while the dehydrator is running, I am dehydrating beetroot, spinach and carrots.

Once these are dry I will grind them into powders which can be used in recipes, or for ‘dusting’ plates when decorating for fine dining.

I am keen to see what the yield is – I am dehydrating 1 bag of spinach, 3 beetroot and about 5 or 6 carrots which I happened to have.

I will keep you posted on this.

In the meantime – bon apetit!