Raw vegan experiment - Day 5

'The Golden Age' - Beck

Beetroot salad with yogurt, lemon and cumin dressing


Serves 2

3 beetroots of varying varieties if you can find them
A pinch of ground cumin
1 tablespoon (soya) yoghurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
A handful of parsley and chives, chopped
A shallot, peeled and sliced
Salt and pepper

Peel and slice the beetroot. Stir together the cumin, yoghurt, lemon juice and olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange your beets on a plate and garnish with herbs and sliced shallots.

Raw vegan experiment - Day 4

'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' - The Smiths

Cold cucumber soup



If you try and pretend that you are indeed eating soup, and not just a big bowl of tzatziki, then this is really rather delicious. Perfect for a starter in the summer. Next summer.

Serves 1

A quarter of a cucumber
4 tablespoons soya yoghurt
1 small clove garlic, peeled and crushed
A handful of mint, coriander and chives, chopped
A good squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Grate the 'cumber into a bowl. Stir in the yogurt, garlic, herbs and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and chill for an hour or so. Remove from fridge, check for seasoning and adjust with salt or some fresh tears, and eat.

Raw vegan experiment - Day 3

Couscous salad with cherry tomatoes and chilli


I'd never done couscous using cold water, and I have to say that I was not convinced it would be a success when told about it by my mate Dave. I'm thrilled to say that not only was it great, I actually preferred the texture to couscous done with boiling water. So there.

Serves 1

A handful of couscous
150ml water (or thereabouts)
A few cherry tomatoes, halved
1 chunk of cucumber, roughly chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
A good handful of mint and coriander, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Stick the couscous in a bowl and pour over the water. Leave for 15 minutes (the couscous, not the room - it's not that coy).

Fluff with a fork then add your other ingredients, seasoning with salt and pepper and olive oil. Devour like a crazed animal.

Banana and blackberry smoothie



Makes about a litre

3 bananas
A big ol' handful of blackberries
150g oats and seeds
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons soy yoghurt
200ml orange juice
Dried berries - raisins, cranberries, woteva

Stick everything but the dried berries in a blender and, you know, blend. You could sieve it if you are worried about having bits in your teeth for a week (I personally consider the detritus between my molars a cheeky mid-morning snack).

Chill for an hour and pour into a glass with a handful of dried berries on top.

Raw vegan experiment - Day 2

Gazpacho

Makes 2 large portions, serves 4-6 as a starter

2 large tomatoes
300g passata
1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
1/4 cucumber, roughly chopped
1/4 red onion, roughly chopped
1 small clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and, you guessed it, roughly chopped
A handful of herbs - parsley and basil, a little rosemary
Salt, pepper, sugar
Olive oil
White wine vinegar, about a tablespoon



Peel the tomatoes by putting a cross in the top with a sharp knife, then leave them in boiling water for a minute. The skin should then come straight off. Quarter them and remove the seeds.

Put the tomato flesh, passata, cucumber, onion, garlic, chilli and herbs in a blender. Season with salt, pepper and sugar and add a dash of olive oil and white wine vinegar. Blend.

Chill for an hour in the fridge and serve with a blob of pesto.

Raw vegan experiment - Day 1

Tagliatelle of courgettes with pesto and black olives



It might seem a little pretentious to be calling this 'tagliatelle', but for all intents and purposes the courgette was a replacement for pasta.

Serves 1

A big handful of basil leaves (no stalks)
50g pine nuts
1 crushed garlic clove
Juice of half a lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
(N.B. - you will have pesto leftover. I intend to plonk mine in some gazpacho)
A few black olives, roughly chopped
2 small courgettes
Tarragon vinegar

Make the pesto by whizzing together the basil, pine nuts, garlic and lemon juice. Blend in olive oil until you have a loose-ish consistency. Season with pepper and salt.

Take a vegetable peeler and peel the courgettes down into strips. Toss through the pesto and olives, add a dash of vinegar, and serve.

Rocket and beansprout salad with chilli lime dressing



Again, genuinely tasty, though would have benefited from having a whacking great chargrilled steak sitting proudly atop it.


Serves 1

For the dressing
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil (not strictly allowed, I since discovered, though just painting an honest picture. Replace with sesame seeds if being strict)
Dash of soy sauce
Dash of fish sauce (both technically fermented, I believe)
1 red chilli, finely chopped (I wouldn't recommend using a habanero as I did. A little too pokey)
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped coriander
A pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
(NON-VEGAN RECOMMENDATION: I have done this dressing before with yoghurt and it's delicious that way too)
For the rest then
Rocket leaves
Beansprouts
Some finely sliced red onion
A few coriander leaves

Make the dressing by whisking together the ingredients. Taste and adjust with a little more oil, sugar or lime juice if needed.

Assemble the salad leaves, sprouts and onion, and drizzle over the dressing. Garnish with a few coriander leaves. Try not to cry yourself to sleep.