Raw Food: Cold but Still Delicious

So registering at the local community college has been a fantastic idea. Dance class is super fun, the Chef for the Chocolate's class ended up letting me register even though the class is full, and yesterday I took a raw foods class!

In case you hadn't noticed based on my previous posts, I've been vegetarian for quite a long time. I've read about raw food, and I've occasionally eaten it at various restaurants. I've never really pursued the raw food diet though because honestly my reasons for being vegetarian have nothing to do with health (not that I don't think it isn't an added bonus!). I thought it would be fun  to learn a bit more about raw foods though and maybe try to incorporate more of them into my culinary adventures so I signed up for this weekend class.

I think a lot of people hear "raw food" and assume that all you can eat is salads and fruits, but I really think it is so much more than that. My favorite thing we made in this class was a stir "fry" with Almond Thai Sauce - insane amounts of flavor! I definitely can see myself making this recipe again and I really can't imagine that anyone wouldn't love it.

We also made a Tropical Salad (ok yes - a salad, but not a boring one!) and a Mango Cobbler and tried a Green Smoothie. My inner picky child was a little wary of the green smoothie, but you seriously couldn't taste the greens at all. I think I might need to invest in a blender that doesn't leak everywhere and actually blends more than just the bottom inch of ingredients.

Thai Adventures

One of my favorite restaurants from back home is Araya's Vegetarian - a Thai restaurant that I have been going to since I was in high school. It's all vegan and all delicious - especially their lunch buffet! For years I went weekly to catch up with a friend and stuff as much food as possible into our bellies (I really miss those days when my metabolism was my friend!).

I bought a vegetarian Thai cookbook when Jonathan and I were in Phuket last October, but I've found the recipes to be a little too vague and perhaps advanced for me - perhaps I need to just give it a better try, but I think the translation to English didn't work out that well for them.

If it wasn't lunch buffet time at Araya's my favorite dish was the Orange Tofu. I was exploring different food blogs this weekend and came across a recipe for Orange Pan Glazed Tempeh (ok I know this is the same website that the Ravioli Salad came from, but at least it's not my usual!). It reminded me so much of that dish at Araya's that I had to give it a try. The verdict? The sauce had the perfect flavor, but I didn't think there was enough leftover once it had reduced to a glaze - it left the rice a bit dry. I also think I should have marinated the tofu and then dried it out so the flavor was throughout - I always struggle with that with tofu, lots of flavor on the outside and none inside.

Thinking of this Orange Tofu (I used tofu instead of tempeh - forgot to mention that, but it was probably clear from the picture) made me think of the dessert that Araya's always had as part of the buffet - Black Sticky Rice with Coconut Milk! I had never tried making it before, but figured it couldn't be that tough - luckily I was right! Here it is - simply Forbidden rice (black sticky rice) cooked with coconut milk, palm sugar, and a little cinnamon topped with a little of the remaining coconut milk!

Up next: the most Oregonian thing I have done since living in Oregon!

-C