Raw Organic Broccoli – It’s All About The Sauce!

I was at a raw vegan potluck in early December and the topic of broccoli came up. I was mentioning how once you clean up your diet and start eating more amazing fresh healthy whole foods, your palate changes. Specifically, I used the example of raw broccoli. It tastes way more amazing to me now on a raw vegan diet than it ever did when I was eating a “healthy” diet that contained animal products and processed foods. The person I was speaking to at the potluck remarked “I don’t know about raw broccoli…” indicating that they don’t enjoy it very much. Then someone else involved in the conversation chimed in with something I found interesting: “It’s all about the sauce!”

A good sauce can really change the taste and how much you enjoy certain raw vegetables. I’ve been experimenting a bit and have been using a modification of a pine nut dip recipe that can be found in Raw Food Formula for Health: A Modern Approach Through Simplicity, Variety, and Moderation by Paul Nison¹ (available from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca).

Base Nut Sauce Recipe

The following can be used as a base sauce for your raw salads that include organic broccoli, cauliflower, etc. If you make the sauce really thick, you could also uses it as a dip. I often just like it is so that the wonderful tastes of the vegetables can still come through, but others may want to spice it up more.

Equipment

1. min-prep food processor or blender

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pine nuts, macadamia nuts, and or Brazil nuts
• juice of 1/2 medium organic lemon
• 1 inch peeled organic fresh ginger
• 1 clove organic garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• sea (or Himalayan) salt & black pepper to taste (I usually add about 1/2 teaspoon of each while making the recipe and add more pepper later)
• filtered water, reserved, to help reach the desired consistency for the sauce.

Directions

1. If you’re using macadamia nuts or Brazil nuts, consider soaking them for an hour or two in the fridge in filtered water to help facilitate blending.
2. Place all the ingredients in the blender or mini-prep, adding a little bit of the reserved water as you go along until you reach a nice smooth sauce consistency.
3. Toss into salads consisting mainly of broccoli or other edible vegetables in the the Brassicaceae family and enjoy!

The sauce should keep for a few days in the fridge in a sealed container. I used this sauce (made with macadamia nuts) for lunch today. I made a salad with chopped cauliflower and broccolini, some diced dandelion greens, and a couple of sliced Brussels sprouts I had laying around in the fridge. To help liven up the base sauce, you might consider adding some chopped green onions or other herbs and spices. I’ve made the sauce using each of pine nuts, macadamia nuts, and Brazil nuts separately and in combination. They are each a little different, so experiment and see which you most enjoy. I think I enjoy the sauce the most when it’s made just with good quality raw organic macadamia nuts. Suggestions on improving the recipe above would be most welcome. Please share your thoughts in the comments section of this post.

If you only have a food processor with a large bowl, you may want to double the recipe, else you may have a hard time processing things down into a nice sauce consistency.

QUESTION: What’s your favorite sauce to liven up your salad dishes that include raw broccoli, cauliflower, and other similar vegetables? Please share your recipes in the comments section of this post.

Notes

1. Paul Nison has begun consuming raw goats milk, something I strongly discourage you from doing. Whatever it does for Nison’s health is morally irrelevant, since by increasing demand for goats milk, he has compromised the health & very lives of many, many goats.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Basic Raw Vegan Basil Pesto Recipe
• Brutus Dressing Recipe – a Replacement for Raw Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing?
• Raw Vegan Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”
• Raw Vegan Caesar Dressing Recipe
• Basic Organic Carrot Salad Recipe