Ani's Raw Food Essentials (6 page)

Almond butter
Flaxseed and meal
Tahini
Thai young coconuts

Condiments will keep indefinitely, so I have these in my fridge at all times. I'd recommend starting out with the smaller sizes to see which you like the taste of best. They go a long way. Bragg Liquid Aminos is a gluten-free salty sauce similar to soy sauce but has a slightly different flavor and is supposedly raw. Nama Shoyu is a raw soy sauce that has not been pasteurized. Miso contains probiotics and is a fermented and cultured food. Miso comes in different flavors, including white, red, and brown. White is the mildest and easiest to use, because it doesn't affect the color of your recipes. I like to buy apple cider vinegar containing the filament “culture” inside it to show it's raw, alive, and full of probiotics and enzymes. Store all condiments in your fridge.

Olives will keep for up to six months or longer in your fridge. I prefer black olives because they are the most common to find online and occasionally at health food stores. Buy them pickled, using sea salt rather than table salt. Sea salt is raw and healthier for us because it is dried ocean water; table salt is chemically created. I always keep at least a pound of dates on hand. Shelf life in the fridge is up to six months, or one year frozen. They dry out, so keep them sealed. I store four or five lemons and a few limes in the fridge, as they keep for a couple of weeks; and a couple of avocados, which will last for a week or more in the fridge. Buy other fresh fruits as needed per recipe.

Avocados

Black olives
Lemons
Limes
Medjool dates
Other in-season fresh fruits

Onion and garlic will keep for weeks, so I always have them in my produce drawer. Jalapeño will keep for a week or two, and I keep one or two on hand. I always buy whatever greens look great at the farmers' market, then figure out what to make when I get them home. Or, you can also buy greens as needed per recipe.

Garlic
In-season greens and lettuces as needed, such as collard, kale, and romaine
Jalapeño
Onion, red
Onion, yellow

When in season, fresh herbs are always the way to go. They will only keep for a week at most, so buy as needed per recipe. Use half the amount of dried when out of season, since dried is stronger than fresh.

 

In-season fresh herbs, as needed, such as basil, thyme, and rosemary

I'll give you the basic tools you need, along with the essential understanding of how to create interesting textures and delectable flavors, so you can start creating your own unique recipes.

I've spent fifteen years learning about the art of live foods, and one of the things I've discovered is that anyone can learn to make delicious raw foods that are simple to prepare yet sophisticated in flavor and presentation.

In this book I'll tell you all you need to know to enjoy making fast, easy, delicious, healthy food . . . every day. Once you get down the basics, you can then explore swapping out ingredients, adding spices and flavors, and even adding sauces and additional recipes to create increasingly complex dishes.

I start out each chapter or section with a series of “basic” recipes that are pared down to the fewest ingredients possible. Next, I include “basic plus” recipes by adding ingredients to a “basic” recipe, to show you how easy it is to create new flavors and variations. I also provide other recipes designed to help inspire you to explore and experiment, to create your own personalized recipes. Look for my SmartMonkey to point out my simple basic recipes.

I will show you that you don't need to spend hours in the kitchen to prepare sophisticated, delicious, healthy food. It can be done quickly and easily.

This book uses nuts and seeds extensively, though there are some nut-free recipes. If you're allergic to nuts, this may not be the best book for you.

Once you've fallen in love with making and eating raw foods, you may want to venture deeper and deeper into the world of dehydration and fermentation. I've included a dehydration chapter full of easy-to-make foods that require several hours of patience as they dry, before you can eat them. But still, the prep time remains short and fast. Recipes that require dehydration include breads, pizza crust, chips, vegetables, wraps, pancakes, and jerky.

Cultured foods are extremely beneficial for any diet. I include pickled vegetable
recipes for making sauerkraut, cucumber pickles, and Korean-inspired kimchi, and also a cultured drinks chapter where I'll show you how to make probiotic drinks such as kefir and kombucha. These recipes are easy to make but require time to brew and ferment.

At the end of this book, I provide additional resources for green living, my recipes and online uncooking videos, ingredients, and kitchen tools.

All natural food starts out raw, whether eaten immediately or cooked and eaten later. When you make my food, you can enjoy it right away without having to cook it. However, if you are just starting with raw foods or maybe it's a chilly day and you want something that's warm, you may decide you want to cook or heat my recipes, such as a soup, burger, sauce, or pizza, after it's been prepared. Feel free to change my recipes to suit your liking, even if it means heating or cooking them. At least the ingredients started with all fresh, whole food, and preferably organic ingredients. So, it's still a very healthy option free of fillers, chemical flavors, or artificial colors snuck in along the way.

You'll see places throughout this book with a cooked-food icon. This is where I recommend transitional ways of enjoying more raw foods. For example, eat my Sun Burgers on a sprouted whole-grain bun, roll up my wraps in a spelt or whole-grain tortilla on the outside, or toss a raw sauce or cheeze over cooked rice noodles.

If adding a bit of cooked food to my recipes helps you to enjoy more raw foods, then I think that's great! Remember to have gratitude, be happy, and celebrate life.