Valentine’s Day Recipes: Menu 2

Menu 2: Note: the dried fruits for the brownie have to be soaked a day ahead and the brownies are best when made a day ahead.

Appetizer: Cajun Cakes with Yogurt Sauce
Main Event: Sweet and Sour Tempeh with Nuts over Stir fry vegetables
Dessert: Raw Brownies with Coconut Sorbet

Shopping List:

For the Cajun Cakes:
1 can black eyed peas
½ green pepper
¼ onion
1 tablespoon cajun spice
3 sprigs fresh parsley
2 tablespoons yogurt plain

Staples:
black pepper
2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

How to:
1. Pureé black-eyed peas in a blender. Chop parsley, pepper, onion finely and add to the pea puree add ground pepper and cajun spice. Mix until well combined.
2. Heat a large pan and melt the coconut oil. Form the pea mixture into four balls, each the size of a well-rounded tablespoon. Flatten the balls between your hands and set them in the skillet. When brown flip gently and brown other side. Repeat with remaining cakes.
3. Combine yogurt and ketchup and serve with the warm cakes.


Sweet and Sour Tempeh with Nuts

This is a fun and easy way to enjoy tempeh. It is traditionally made with peanuts - but if you are allergic any other nut will do splendidly.

For the Sweet & Sour Tempeh:
1 package tempeh - cut into 1 inch wide sticks
½ onion
scallions - small bunch
1 finger-sized piece of fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
Stirfry veggies: small amount
such as 1 carrot
the leftover green pepper, onion from the cajun cakes
½ cup of green leafy vegetable

Staples you should have on hand:
⅛ cup barbecue sauce or a mix of ketchup and soysauce
2 tablespoon oil of choice
1 generous tablespoon nut-butter
1 tablespoon sweetener (agave nectar etc)
1 tablespoon vinegar
⅓ small dried chili

1. Blend barbecue sauce with freshly grated ginger and garlic, chili pepper and 1 tablespoon oil. Remove from blender and work in the nut butter by hand. 
2. In a pan heat the remaining oil and add chopped onions and chopped stir fry veggies of choice. When the veggies are softened remove from pan and set aside. Add tempeh sticks and brown on both sides add more oil if necessary. When they have some color, add the barbecue sauce and nut mix and smother them. Turn down the heat - add the sweetener and vinegar and gently move things around. Add the veggies and half the scallions and a touch of water if necessary. Again move things around and make sure everything heats through thoroughly. Serve topped with the rest of the scallions. 



RAW Brownies:

This is a recipe borrowed from the RAW cooking style - which is often referred to as “uncooking”. Rawfooders have different reasons for choosing this lifestyle - I suspect quite a few of them were initially won over by the desserts which are truly outstanding. Try these and then imagine that they are also very healthy - very caloric, but as an occasional treat they do get two thumbs way up.

You’ll need:

½ cup dried black mission figs soaked in water for at least 4 hours
( or prunes as a substitute)
⅓ cup pitted dates soaked in water for at least four hours
½ cup nuts - walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts your choice chopped coarsely
1 tub coconut ice-cream or sorbet

Staples:
1 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

In your smallest loaf pan baking dish spread half of the broken nut pieces. Drain the soaked fruit - save the water and in a blender or food processor blend until smooth and creamy adding a bit of the soaking water if necessary. Add the cocoa and cinnamon and blend in.
Pour mixture into pan over nuts and spread, pressing down a bit. Top with the remaining nuts and pat down again. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or better overnight. Cut into squares and serve. Keep the remaining soaking water to use as liquid sweetener for smoothies and such.
3. Serve cut into squares with ice-cream.