Like pretty much every other raw foodie out there, I had been eagerly anticipating the release of Ani Phyo‘s new un-cookbook, Ani’s Raw Food Essentials. I finally bought it last weekend and have been planning out what to make ever since.
The first thing I dished up was raw coconut bacon – yum! I’ve been making my own version of coconut bacon for ages, but I always used coconut chips for instant gratification. Ani’s recipe uses young coconut meat, which, after dehydrating, becomes deliciously smoky, salty and chewy. I brought some in for my carnivorous co-workers and it got rave reviews. Sorry, no photos of the bacon, but I do have this photo of the young coconuts I picked up for coconut bacon purposes. The husk was trimmed all the way down to the shell! I didn’t recognize them at first. Even after the grocer was kind enough to point them out to me, I had to stare at them for a minute before it clicked that these white spheres truly were young coconuts. Has anyone else seen these? They seemed extra tough to crack, but I did like that they took up less space in my grocery bags.
On Sunday, I tried my hand at Ani’s raw crepes. I made two kinds – apple and banana flax. They were both great, but I think I preferred the apple variety, as they were lighter and seemed to fold slightly better. Both kinds were dead easy. Blend up the ingredients, dehydrate overnight, and brunch is served!
I also made two kinds of fillings – lemon cream and a Nutella-like chocolate hazelnut cream. (As an aside note, they’re spelled “kream” in the book but for some reason words like “kream” and “mylk” just drive me nuts. So I will stubbornly continue with “cream”.)
I filled these babies with the two kinds of cream, and organic peaches and strawberries. In my opinion, the best combination was apple crepes/lemon cream/peaches! The chocolate hazelnut cream was awesome too, but something about the tart lemon + succulent, juicy peach combo is just perfect for summer.
We ate these babies upstairs on the rooftop patio and it was glorious. Happy Monday, everyone!
Raw Candy 