Ani's Raw Food Essentials (46 page)

 

Not just for lunch or dinner! Enjoy with a breakfast scramble (see pages 79 to 85).

My raw wrappers are similar in concept and texture to fruit leather, but less rubbery and sticky. Fruit is blended, sometimes with flax meal, then spread in a thin layer onto lined Excalibur Dehydrator trays and dried.

Wrappers can be used to make crepes when filled with kream, fruit, and sauce; as the “tortilla” to make a burrito or wrap; and to make Korean pockets called
mandu
, filled with marinated vegetables. Wrappers even make fettuccine noodles when sliced into long strips.

 

If you don't have a dehydrator, spread the batter onto a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet in a 140°F oven, with the oven door open about an inch or two. Dry for 3 to 5 hours, or until leathery but still pliable. This is hardly an eco-friendly way to dry, but hopefully the results will inspire you to invest in a dehydrator.

MAKES 4 WRAPPERS

A delicious red wrapper that has a fruit leather texture, but thinner and less sticky. Great to use to make vegetable hors d'oeuvre “pockets,” wraps, and rolls.

Make sure not to put in more than a tablespoon of agave syrup, or your wrapper will never dry solid but will stay sticky, because agave doesn't dehydrate fully.

3½ cups seeded and chopped ripe tomato
1 tablespoon agave syrup

Place the tomato and agave in a high-speed blender and puree until smooth. The mixture will be a liquid. Carefully and evenly spread the mixture onto one lined 14-inch-square Excalibur Dehydrator tray. Dehydrate for 4 to 6 hours at 104°F, until completely dried. No need to flip the wrapper; just peel away the liner and use.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Julienned zucchini strips are tossed in a creamy, delicious Lemon-Tahini Dressing and then rolled inside a wrapper made of either tomato or apple with fresh basil for bright flavor and color.

1 recipe Tomato Wrapper (page 173) or Apple Crepes (page 69)
1 cup julienned zucchini
1 recipe Lemon-Tahini Dressing (page 155), made with half the
amount of water
¼ cup fresh basil leaves

Cut the wrapper into four strips. Cut each strip in half so each strip is about 3½ by 7 inches. Set aside.

 

Toss the zucchini with the thick Lemon-Tahini Dressing. Set aside.

 

To make your rolls, place a wrapper on a flat surface, such as a cutting board, positioned so it is taller than wide. Place a couple of basil leaves near the bottom of your wrapper (the side nearest you), and then arrange about 2 tablespoons of zucchini horizontally on top of the basil. The leaves will help keep your wrappers from becoming moist from the wet filling. Roll upward to enclose the filling. Repeat to make a total of eight rolls.

 

Serve immediately.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS