A raw feast for dinner

I was given a great idea for a raw dish last week from a friend, while we shared a bowl of dehydrated parsnip chips. Here is the result of that conversation.

Crunchy parsnip noodles with Asian style cabbage 'stir-fry',
served with a side dish of mushroom and pea fried rice,
and Broccoli in marinated sesame Hoisin sauce.

I am really loving the in-season parsnips at the moment and making the most of their versatility.

Here is what started tonight's meal - raw parsnip crunchy noodles

To make raw crunchy parsnip noodles, I spiralled about 4 large parsnips into strands and rubbed a dash of olive oil and salt onto the 'noodles'. These were then dehydrated for about 12 hours. The results were fantastic and the kids thought they were fun to nibble on straight from the dehydrator. I was inspired to create an Asian influenced cabbage 'stir un-fry' to serve over the top, similar to my favourite childhood chinese dish - Chow Mein.

Here is the result of my tasty cabbage stir fry.

I started by thinly shredding half a cabbage and placing into a bowl with a handful of snow pea sprouts and shredded carrots, bunch of fresh coriander and some thin slices of leek.

I then added 1/2 cup sesame oil, 2 teaspoons of cumin and coriander powder, 2 tablespoons of namo shoyu, juice of half a lime, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, 1 chili deseeded and minced, 1 tablespoon of agave syrup, 2 tablespoons of tamarind pulp and a pinch of salt. I massaged the ingredients until the cabbage become soft and then warmed in the dehydrator just before serving over a bed of crunchy noodles.

Raw parsnip 'Fried rice' with marinated mushrooms and peas

I made this tasty side dish by processing some parsnip tips and left over centres from making the noodles with a handful of macadamia nuts until the result resembled a texture like rice or cous cous. I then sprinkled in some nama shoyu, garlic granules, and seasoned salt. I added a cup of defrosted organic peas (which I was happy to find now stocked at the local supermarket), a few thin slices of leek and a small punnet of brown swiss mushrooms that had been left to marinate in olive oil and salt until soft.

Broccoli marinated in sesame hoisin sauce

 

The final dish served up to tonights feast was this delicious marinated broccoli. I started by chopping up 2 head of broccoli into small bite size pieces and marinating in a mixture of olive oil and lime juice to soften. I sped up the process by placing the dish in the dehydrator.
I made the sauce by blending together equal parts of sesame seeds and sesame oil, juice of half a lime, 1 teaspoon of agave, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons of nama shoyu, 2 garlic cloves, thin strip of fresh ginger and a de-seeded red chili from the garden. The final mixture was not smooth, but remained partially crunchy with some of the sesame seeds staying whole. This gave the dish a nice texture.