Day 8: Caesar Salad + Raw Chocolate Workshop
The hardest part about following a vegan diet has been giving up caeser salad (besides banana lattes). I tried making it without mayo but it wasn’t the same. I did use miso paste a few times (but just a tablespoon or so to thicken) and it was just okay. Then I discovered Vegenaise!
Veganaise is, obviously, vegan mayo. It tastes exactly like mayo but better! I picked it up at City Super in Hong Kong and will certainly be making orders for more since my stock is quickly diminishing. So the Vegenaise makes this salad vegan but not 100% raw since I’m positive the Vegenaise is heated somewhere along it’s production process. Super small cheat but I was never going for 100% raw….
I am going to experiment further with making a 100% vegan and raw caesar salad, I was thinking something with cashews? I will update as that happens..
Vegan Caesar Salad
- 3/4 cup of Vegenaise (substitute for approx. 1 tbsp of miso paste if you don’t have Veganaise)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp flaxseed oil
- t tsp capers
- 1 tsp caper brine
- splash of white vinegar
- pinch of dill, fresh is best but dried will do
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Note: If you are not concerned about the ‘vegan-ness’ of Worcestershire sauce, ADD A SPLASH. I have yet to find a vegan Worcestershire sauce but I heard it’s out there.
1. Combine all in ingredients in a blender or Magic Bullet like I use.
2. Pour over romaine and garnish with green onions or capers.
Raw Workshop #2
Here are some photos from Sunday’s (7/1/12) raw workshop, all taken on my iPhone. We made raw chocolate truffles! Let me tell you how nice raw chocolate is compared to what you buy at the store. It’s not sweet and doesn’t hurt your teeth for one.
The workshop was held at the beautiful Water Moon Teashop in Taipei City. We were treated to Pu’er tea, which is a raw tea from China that runs for NT$6000 (USD$200) – NT$20,000 (USD$700) per 300 grams. What a treat! Needless to say, it was delicious. The tea and the envronment just made the workshop that much more wonderful. Just wait until you see what we made!
Neil, from the Water Moon Teashop, and Adela introducing the workshop.
First, Neil prepares raw Pu’er Tea for tasting.
Everything was set up so beautifully. It was something I pictured myself doing before I even moved to Taiwan but have never done!
First, we shaved the raw cacao butter before melting it over a small flame. Did you know raw cacao is white? Me neither..
Next, we added raw cacao powder and raw honey to the melted cacao butter.
Orange zest went into one of the batches, and raspberries into the other.
We got our hands dirty making the ganache for the truffles.
Finally, we had to decorate the truffles before putting them in the freezer to set. We used rose petals, vanilla bean, goji berries, nuts and seeds.
The truffles are finished!
But we’re not finished yet!
More!
We also made raw chocolate bars but my hands were too dirty to take a photo. This is what went inside of them!
Don’t waste any chocolate!
