Raw Vegan Nut Cheeze from Ani Phyo's "Raw Food Essentials"

Almonds.

Since I had made the Kalamata Olive Crostini in my last post, I needed to make a topping.  Lots of avocados were in the cupboard, but none ripe enough this morning for a spread.  So I grabbed a bag of almonds and decided to make the Raw Nut Cheese recipe from Ani's  "Raw Food Essentials" Book.  No soaking required!  Just your nuts, garlic, lemon juice and whatever flavor you want.  The only tool you need is a food processor.  It just has a few ingredients.  Almonds, Lemon Juice, Garlic, and Salt.

You can add whatever flavorings you like.  Sundried Tomatoes, Onions, Chives, Red Sweet Pepper.

Almonds, Lemons, Garlic.

Lemons, Garlic.

 It you want a very smooth and creamy cheese, you can just add more water and put it in the Vita-Mix.  I made a roughly textured cheeze.  Actually, it is probably a little lower in calories?  I remember Dr. Oz saying that you only absorbed about 80% of the fat from nuts, partially because they are not finely ground, and there is so much fiber.  And throughout the years I have heard that the more finely ground something is, the more readily absorbed.  So if it is juice, well that's great because a very smooth juice will just penetrate your system in seconds.   But if it is flour, well that stinks.  Because you probably don't want flour flooding your bloodstream in seconds.  For me nuts can go either way.  As an American girl that grew up with photo-shopped images of supermodels on the zines, I don't mind not absorbing all the calories.  On the other hand, I have NEVER counted calories and with the way I eat now, I don't really need to worry about the amount of anything I eat.  I basically always eat too much and I know that's not good on the blood sugar, but so far it hasn't afftected my gut (well at least the size of it).

All you need is a Food Processor.

I leave it a little chunky.  Sometimes I make very smooth cheezes
in the Vita-Mix.

Store in a Glass Mason Jar. I avoid plastics!
Mason Jars are cheap and I store just about everything in them.

Ani Phyo is great because she is Korean so she has enlisted the help of her mother to adapt several Korean recipes for the raw food experience.  Kind of like Anupy Singla created beautiful traditional Indian Dishes in the slow cooker.  Embracing traditional food yet presenting it in a way that our modern culture is able to easily recreate.  I can't wait for Ani's new book because my husband is a huge fan of Asian food and we basically never eat it.  While there are scads of eateries around here that offer these types of cuisine, it seems impossible to know whether there is fish sauce lurking in the broths or msg enhanced flavorings.  It's not like we have Lan Cafe,  a small Vietnamese joint in New York owned by Buddhists so they adhere to a strict vegan menu,  or Hangawai, which is higher end Korean place (for vegans anyway!) but in the most beautiful space and a very un-pretentious environment.  You get to put your shoes in cubby holes there!  So Ani's new book, Ani's Raw Food Asia,  should be great for hubby's love of Asian Food and my love of eating lots of very fresh, raw foods.

Cheeze goes great with Raw Kalamata Crostini Crackers
(Also from Ani Phyo's Raw Food Essentials Book)

And then I wanted something sweet!  So I took the same idea, almonds,
lemon juice, water, and this time added maple syrup (I was out of dates)
instead of garlic and you have a great, sweet dip for apples or
just to eat with a spoon!