Say hello to our first guest poster here on Green Kitchen Stories. It is the amazing raw food blog Golubka, which is run by a russian family – a mother and her two daughters – living in the States. They do amazing creations with raw food that most of the time looks like small pieces of art. If you haven’t visited their blog before you have to jump over there right after you are done reading this post. Enough said from us, we leave the word to them:
There are not many fruits in the world that I love as much as I do persimmons. Every time their season comes, from November to February, I get a feeling that I could live exclusively off those soft, plump, orange wonders. This tart is a combination of my two favourites – persimmons and chocolate. They make a great pair.
Our blog mostly focuses on raw food, and we work with ingredients, equipment, and techniques that might not be familiar to everyone. Although sprouting and dehydrating may sound intimidating at first, in reality it’s not any more difficult than baking and frying. If you like the process of creating and eating healthy and delicious meals, you will enjoy discovering these new ways of food preparation.
This recipe calls for sprouted oat flour, we make it ourselves. The process is quite simple, although it requires a dehydrator. (The dehydrator is a great kitchen appliance that can be used for making endless fun and healthy dishes and snacks.) To make sprouted oat flour, soak raw oat groats in filtered water overnight, rinse, and dry them in a dehydrator. Then grind them in a simple coffee grinder to achieve a flour-like consistency. We usually make a large batch of this flour and keep it in the refrigerator, using as needed for nutritious raw cookies, crusts, crumbles, and baby food.
Almond flour is made in a similar way, where almonds are simply ground in a food processor. You can also find almond flour in most health food markets.
Another ingredient that may sound new to you is date paste. It’s an excellent natural sweetener that can be made in advance and used on many occasions. To make, pit dates and soak them in purified water for an hour. Then puree in a food processor, adding a little of the soaking water at a time if needed.
Young Thai coconut has received lots of great publicity lately, and we feel that its amazing flavour and health benefits are well worth the effort of cracking its shell.
Chocolate Crust
1 cup sprouted oat flour
1 cup almond flour
/2 cup maple syrup powder
3 1/2 tablespoons raw cocoa powder
1/2 cup raw almond butter
1/4 cup date paste
2 tablespoons purified water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract – optional
Sift together all the dry ingredients. Add the almond butter and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl combine the date paste, water and vanilla extract. Add the combined liquid ingreidents to the oat mixture and mix well. Line a tart pan with plastic wrap. Press the dough into the tart pan evenly. Dehydrate for 2 hours and remove the crust from the pan. Peel the plastic away and dehydrate the crust for another 6-8 hours.
Chocolate Cream
1 cup fresh meat of young Thai coconut
1 cup cashews – soaked for 4 hours or more
1/2 cup fresh water of young Thai coconut OR purified water
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raw agave syrup
5 tablespoons raw cocoa powder
In a high speed blender, mix all the ingredients until smooth and creamy. Let set in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
Persimmons Soaked in Vanilla Agave
Ripe persimmons
Agave syrup mixed with a few drops of vanilla extract
Slice persimmons the way you prefer. Pour vanilla agave over the slices and let soak for 2-3 hours.
Assembly
Spoon the chocolate cream into the crust evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 8 hours or overnight. Arrange the agave soaked persimmon slices on top of the cream and garnish with ground pistachios.
Text & photos by Golubka
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