Raw food has become very fashionable, taking the culinary world by storm. What better than eating something that looks great, tastes the way it should and is recommended for your health and well-being!
The basic principle of raw cuisine is that cooking destroys most of the natural enzymes and vitamins present in the food. The die-hard healthy believe that following a raw-food regimen actually increases energy, delays aging and cures disease. While many of these claims are yet to be substantiated, no one is going to argue with a diet that?s low in carbs and sugar, and full of essential nutrients!
With dishes that focus on purity of flavour, top quality ingredients are vital. So always go for seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Now even though salt is not used during any raw food preparation, it?s always much tastier when sprinkled over it.
Adding some cooked food to a raw food diet doesn?t work because acid is then produced in the stomach. And acid and raw food tend to create indigestion. One problem with eating raw foods is that these are high in pesticides. Thus, organic raw foods may be necessary.
Protein is found in raw nuts and seeds like sunflower and sesame seeds, and sprouts. Sunflower seeds can be soaked for an hour and then added to any dish. The easiest sprouts to make are lentils. These can be eaten as soon as they get soft enough, though sometimes seeds may remain hard for 8 hours or more, which is bad for the teeth. The most popular raw food that?s easily available and low in pesticides is frozen peas.
Many believe that fruit and vegetables should not be mixed and eaten at the same time as they do not digest at the same time. It?s best to eat fruit in the mornings and vegetables during the rest of the day.
It?s not easy to get enough calories because there?s a large amount of water and fibre in raw food. So, a person has to eat about every two hours when on a raw food diet. When a lot of calories are needed, dried fruit like raisins, figs and dates, is a good idea. Banana is the only raw food that creates fat. Raw potatoes are good for calories. But these have to be organic.
tomato soup
Ingredients: 4 large red tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped; 1 onion, chopped; 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped; 1 tsp vinegar;1 tsp sugar, salt and pepper to taste, Celtic sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Garnish: 12 pitted black olives, quartered; 1/4 cup peeled, seeded and diced red tomato; 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Method: In a high-speed blender, combine the tomatoes, onion, cucumber, vinegar and sugar, and process till smooth. Pass the pur?e through a fine mesh sieve and season with salt and pepper. Adjust the consistency as desired. Pour the soup into bowls. Garnish with olives and tomato. Drizzle the olive oil around the soup and serve.
