Mexican Raw Vegan Dinner Party

Last night I hosted my first 100% raw vegan dinner party. It was a lot of fun! My husband decorated the table with the colours of the Mexican flag and got some Mexican music from the library. He also made some margaritas to welcome the guests.

Not everyone in attendance was too familiar with raw, so I was definitely setting myself up for a challenge. I’m also continuing an anti-parasite detox after seeing an Ayervedic guy when I was in California at the beginning of January. As a result, I’m not allowed anything sweet, and the only fruit I can have is pineapple and papaya since they have digestive enzymes. All that came in to play in the menu.

I made tortilla chips which I started on Friday and dehydrated for over 24 hours to make sure they were really nice and crispy.

I made lots of guacamole, and a pineapple papaya salsa. I’m not really supposed to eat tomato right now either so I had a friend at the local farmers’ market make the traditional tomato salsa. I still had some tomato though since there was a bit in the guacamole and some in the burrito. I served the salsas in a pineapple.

For the guacamole, I like to use this highly rated recipe from All Recipes. I just skipped the cayenne since my salsas were already a bit spicy.

For the pineapple papaya salsa, it went something like this…

PINEAPPLE PAPAYA SALSA:

• 2 cups chopped pineapple
• 2 cups chopped papaya
• .75 cup chopped red pepperc
• .5 cup cilantro leaves, ripped off the stems
• 6 green onions chopped
• .5 cup fresh lime juice
• salt to taste
• pinch of cayenne optional

The burritos were made with a filling based on Sarma’s, the famous chef from Pure Food & Wine in New York. I decided to wrap mine in collard greens though since I like the wraps that are served that way at Rawlicious.

The “rice” was something that I sort of invented after some research. I would say that it was an acquired taste. Surprisingly, when I asked my husband what his favourite part of the meal was, he said the rice! But I know that my friend, Steph, wasn’t crazy about it. I made it with plantain, and it was a little bit sweet with that slight banana flavour, and a tiny bit slimy. I think that it would have suited her better if it were dehydrated longer. But Geoff really liked it so that’s saying something!

RAW VEGAN TORTILLAS

• 5 cups fresh corn kernels, or thawed frozen corn – preferably organic*
• 3/4 cup golden flaxseed, finely ground
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon ground chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin

*Ok, I used frozen which might mean that it wasn’t actually raw. I think they might blanch the frozen vegetables first. But close enough!

TORTILLAS METHOD:

1. Blitz in food processor, smooth out on teflex sheets. Score into triangles and dehydrate at 105 for a looooong time. I left them for over 24 hours, flipping them once.

RAW VEGAN BURRITO FILLING:

• 3 cups sunflower seeds, soaked for 2 hours or more
• 2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for 1 hour or more
• .25 cup irish moss, soaked for 2 hours or more (optional, but helps it to stick together)
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 4 teaspoons ancho chili powder
• 4 teaspoons ground coriander
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup filtered water
• 1 jalapeno, cored but with seeds, chopped
• 6 green onions, chopped

BURRITO FILLING METHOD:

• Blitz in food processor. You might need to add a lot more water, or I ended up using some of the liquid from the big bowl of salsa that I had made earlier.
• Dehydrate to get the desired consistency. I wanted mine to be formed into large “lumps” that were tender inside and crispy on the outside. You could break it into smaller pieces or leave it as a big log. It will depend on how moist you want it to be.
• Toss burrito filling in tomato sauce, as listed here:

RAW VEGAN BURRITO SAUCE:

• 4 cups sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for at least 1 hour
• 2 small roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 medium sweet onion, chopped
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

BURRITO SAUCE METHOD:

• Blitz in food processor! Toss burrito filling in the sauce.

RAW VEGAN SOUR CREAM

• 1.5 cups cashew nuts, soaked for 1 to 2 hours
• 1.5 cups coconut milk
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 probiotic capsule, optional

SOUR CREAM METHOD:

• Blitz in food processor! Adjust to taste. You might want more lemon, or more liquid. Mine did get very thick in the fridge which ended up being good for helping my burritos to stick together, but you might like to make it more liquidy.

BURRITO ASSEMBLY:

Lots of large collard leaves. I bought 3 bunches to be sure that I would have enough that were the right size. Wash your collards in advance and let them dry for several hours so that they’re truly dry. You’ll be stuffing them with the burrito filling, the burrito sauce, and the sour cream.

For wrapping your burritos, I found this video to be very helpful. However, in this video she COOKS the collard greens. I definitely didn’t cook mine! Leave them raw. But this was the most helpful video I found for the trimming of the stems and the wrapping technique:

Next, dessert! The dessert was one of my usual recipe-less creations. The base had to be made without dates this time since that’s on my no-no list. I did miss the dates in the base, but I’d say that the pineapple and papaya layers were very successful.

I’ll make a variation on this dessert for the raw vegan potluck this Sunday. I’ll try to post a recipe at that time.

The pineapple syrup was the most exciting discovery. I juiced some fresh pineapple and dehydrated the juice in a shallow tray and it made a very sweet, concentrated syrup. It tastes so sweet, like there must be sugar added, but there isn’t! I’m going to use this technique again. For the dessert I make this weekend, I’ll incorporate more of that syrup into the crust to make up for the absence of dates.

One of the best things about having a raw vegan dinner party is that all of the work is done in advance! There’s no fuss to serve things hot and to time things so that they’re ready at the same time. It’s all totally done so you can let it be and enjoy time with your guests. Go raw vegan!