Raw food cooking class / VeganMofo

Veggies on the counter

We took a raw foods cooking class at PCC Natural Markets, our local food coop. It was taught by the head chefs at Chaco Canyon Café, a great organic, half-raw, vegan restaurant in Seattle. I've been there twice and have eaten raw both times, but my husband chose cooked foods on our two visits. I eat a lot of raw food - fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds - but other than salads, don't usually prepare special raw dishes. I eat more cooked foods than raw, especially during the cold months, but was really interested in learning more about preparing raw foods. The subject of the class was Thai food, with an introduction to using young Thai coconuts.

Raw Thai tom kha soup

The first dish our chef-teachers prepared was a raw tom kha soup, using the water and meat of a young coconut as well as traditional Thai ingredients like lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, cilantro and ginger. To simulate the flavor usually obtained from fish sauce they used dulse and Nama Shoyu. The soup was raw and cold, and served with sweet red pepper and mung bean sprouts. This was not my favorite part of the meal. To be perfectly honest, I prefer hot, cooked tom kha, but if I were following a raw foods diet, hey, this would be a good recipe to have.

Marinating mushrooms and other things

The next dish prepared was Portobello mushroom larb salad. I don't have a photo of this so you'll have to take my word for it that it was attractive as well as tasty. After marinating the mushrooms for an hour, they became soft and pliable, as if gently cooked, and they were served atop a beautiful plate of mixed salad greens augmented with green onions, basil and cilantro.

Raw Thai green curry

Raw Thai green curry, a dish recently developed for the restaurant, was the entrée. A wonderful, creamy sauce was served over a plate of mixed raw veggies. This was my favorite dish. I really loved it.

Coconut mango parfait

The dessert was coconut mango parfait, except it was made with pineapple. One thing the teachers stressed was the need to be flexible when preparing food. You need to adjust ingredients to suit the nature of the fruits and veggies you are using. Is the lime especially sour? Are the carrots unusually sweet? Are the mangoes looking unripe and funky? Are there no parfait glasses in the kitchen? You get the picture. The parfait was another example of how to use young Thai coconuts and consisted of cardamom-scented young Thai coconut pudding topped with fruit.

I have permission to share a recipe from this dinner on my blog, and I think it will be the portobello mushroom larb salad. As soon as I get it together to gather the ingredients and make some, you'll be the first to know.