Raw take-away #7: veggie fajitas and mango-coconut pie

This week’s take-away featured Mexican flavours. These are also, in my mind, flavours of summer. That was fine this morning when the sun was shining, but then in the afternoon the clouds rolled in and the sky dumped down buckets of water. Sigh. So much for summer. Here are the recipes for the raw veggie fajitas and the mango-coconut pie.

Raw veggie fajitas with a side of Mexican "rice"

Raw veggie fajitas

red and yellow bell peppers, sliced thin

baby portabella mushrooms, sliced thin

carrot, grated thin

baby corn, sliced thin

marrows (courgette, zucchini), sliced thin and drained in colander for at least 1 hour (so they release some of their water)

red onion, sliced thin

lemon juice (from a few lemons)

extra virgin olive oil

himalayan salt

cumin powder

dried coriander

chicory leaves (or another kind of lettuce, but these have a great shape for filling up with veggies)

toppings: fresh tomato salsa, guacamole and cashew sour cream (recipes below)

Instructions: Mix together lemon juice and olive oil (almost equal parts). Add a little himalayan salt, a fair amount of cumin powder and a dash of dried coriander. This is your marinade.

Place veggie strips in the marinade, toss to coat, and let sit for at least a few hours (I left mine in the fridge overnight). You can put them all together or do them separately. I did mine separately- it keeps the onions from turning things pink, or the mushrooms from turning them black.

To assemble fajitas, fill a chicory leaf with some of each kind of marinated vegetable. Then top with salsa, guacamole and cashew sour cream.

Assembly of the raw fajitas

Raw salsa- this week I used a variation of the salsa I posted previously (here). This time I used spring onions instead of red onions and lime juice instead of lemon juice.

Guacamole

2 avocados, peeled and chopped (keep the stones/ pits)

juice of 1/2 lime (or whole lime if yours is not very juice. Lemon works too)

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 spring onion, chopped

fresh coriander

himalayan salt

dash of cumin

Instructions: Place all ingredients in a bowl. Fork mash the avocado until it is soft and mixed well with the other ingredients. I like my guacamole a bit chunky, so I stop before I’ve made avo pudding. If you keep the avo stones/pits in the guacamole until you’re ready to eat/serve, it helps keep it from turning brown.

Cashew sour cream

1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 – 1/2 cup water, as needed

himalayan salt

Instructions: Place all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth, adding water as needed.

Mexican cabbage salad

Mexican “rice” or Mexican cabbage salad- this was the side dish this week, though in fact it warrants a post of its own. I adapted this from a recipe on the Renegade Health Show, a raw vegan cooking show on YouTube. This week’s side salad was a simplified version, but here’s the complete recipe that I made for lunch a few days ago.

Green cabbage, chopped

lime juice

garlic, chopped

jalapeño, chopped

cumin powder

chili powder

himalayan salt

spring onions, chopped

fresh tomato, chopped

fresh coriander, chopped

red bell pepper, chopped

avocado, sliced

Instructions: Place cabbage in food processor with lime juice, garlic, jalapeño and spices. Pulse until cabbage is chopped to size of rice.

Place cabbage “rice” in a bowl, add chopped veggies and stir to combine. Add a little olive oil and himalayan salt as needed.

Raw mango coconut pie

Mango-coconut pie - Perhaps this should be called pudding, not pie, as it’s very soft and smooth. But since it has a nice raw coconut almond crust underneath, I’m calling it pie. The amounts are just rough estimates as I have always made larger quantities of this, and tend not to measure.

2 mangos, peeled

1/4 cup coconut oil, warmed slightly to soften (coconut oil is solid at room temperature. You can warn it by putting the container into a bowl of warm water)

raw almond crust (recipe below)

Instructions: First make the crust and press it into the bottom of a pie dish, or small tart pans. Then place mango in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add coconut oil and blend until mixed. For a firmer pie, add more coconut oil.

Pour mango mixture over crusts and let set in refrigerator for at least one hour.

Raw almond crust

1 scant cup raw almonds, soaked overnight

1/3 – 1/2 cup shredded coconut

4-6 pitted dates

Instructions: Place almonds in food processor and process until ground. Add coconut and dates and process until the mixture holds together a little. If you want, you can add additional flavours into this basic crust recipe– try cacao or cinnamon for something different (but not with this mango-coconut filling!).

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