Thursday, September 12, 2013

Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce - Vegan MoFo Day 8


Wow, that name was quite a mouthful, wasn't it? Even by my usual standards. I promise that this dish is worth every syllable though!

Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

When it comes to raw food, there's nothing like zucchini/courgette to replace regular pastas; be it zucchini lasagna, flat zucchini noodles, or if you have a fancy spiralizer tool (which is so on my I-want-this list), zucchini spaghetti! It's the one vegetable, which when combined with a creamy raw sauce, has that perfect al-dente pasta texture. It's something that you just have to taste to believe!

Since it is of utmost importance that the zucchini pasta is super thin, I use a vegetable peeler to quickly scrape it into flat, fettuccine-like noodles. This whole dish takes five minutes to put together but tastes like a laborious work of art! :D

Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

In the summer I make real sun dried tomatoes. But since we've barely had any sunlight in this monsoon season, I made the batch used in this recipe by dehydrating cherry tomato halves in the oven at 70°C. If you don't want to make your own, you can buy them locally in Bangalore at Food Hall and a few other grocery stores that carry speciality goods.

If you like, you can substitute fresh cherry tomatoes for the sun dried ones in this recipe. But sun dried tomatoes have a significantly richer flavour and better texture, so if you are able to get your hands on them, you should definitely use them.

The nutritional yeast makes the sauce mind-blowingly flavourful. In India, you can currently order it online from i2cook. I know there are a few more sources of these precious, golden flakes coming up here soon and I'll keep you updated about them. :)

Here's a step-by-step HowDo guide (oh, how I enjoy making these HowDos) for this recipe, followed by a typed out, text version.


Raw Zucchini/Courgette Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

1 small Zucchini
1/2 C Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/4 C Cashews
2 cloves of Garlic
1 T Nutritional Yeast
5 Raisins
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Salt

* Wash the zucchini well and using a vegetable peeler, scrape it into flat, fettuccine noodles (including the peel) and keep them aside
* When you reach the soft, seed portion at the heart of the zucchini, chop it up roughly and pop it into a mixie jar
* Add the cashews, garlic, raisins and salt give the grinder a quick whirr
* Squeeze in the lime juice and add a splash of clean, filtered water
* Blend into a smooth, creamy sauce, adding more water as required
* Place the zucchini noodles in a serving dish and add the sun dried tomatoes
* Pour the cashew sour cream sauce over everything and mix well
* Enjoy! :)

Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

16 comments:

  1. This looks great! I've been wanting to try zucchini pasta but thought I needed something fancy to get that shape. This is on the to do list for sure!

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    1. It took me a long time, pining after a spiralizer, before I figured out I could turn the zucchini into pasta this way. Just had to share so everyone else can give it a try too. :)

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  2. Love your HowDo videos (with the sound effects)! Keep them coming!

    I really like this cashew sauce. Sometimes I put the sun dried tomatoes into the sauce. Gives it a nice pink colour.

    Great going with the raw vegan theme! :)

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    1. Thanks Rithika! :)

      Ooooh I can just picture that pretty, pink, super flavourful sauce!

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  3. I can't believe I didn't use my spiralizer once this summer, after using it constantly last year. Now I really want zucchini noodles — with sun-dried tomatoes and cashew sauce.

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    1. Haha it always happens with tools, Andrea. When they've newly arrived at the kitchen, they get used so much in all the enthusiasm and then forgotten. :)

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  4. I am definitely going to try this sauce!

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  5. This sounds like a raw meal I could get into! I've seen many zucchini pasta recipes about but none have really appealed. Your creamy cashew sauce has won me over, I'm bookmarking this to try when our weather warms up. Thanks for the tip about using a vegetable peeler too as I don't own a fancy spiralizer either.

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    1. Mel, yeah cashew sauce somehow seems to be the best combination with zucchini pasta. The creaminess seems to totally wash away the raw nature of the zucchini.

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  6. I love that this is raw and I love even more that it has so few ingredients - - but I know it's out-of-sight delicious!

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    1. Thanks Annie. :)

      This MoFo, I'm really beginning to understand the pleasures of creating with fresh, minimal ingredients.

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  7. That's so cool that you made homemade sun-dried tomatoes plus I bet these are tastier in Bangalore! I would love to visit Bangalore one day! That creamy raw pasta dish looks amazing.

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    1. Thanks. :)

      Oh you totally should visit here! I'd be happy to take you around to all the vegan friendly places around here. :)

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  8. I must say I especially love love love the sound effects of pepper grinding and spiralizing and chopping and pouring. Brilliant!!

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  9. Tried today. Really tasty. Thank you.

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