Indian-Spiced Wraps

Every food blogger has their favorite food blogs, and one of mine is called Choosing Raw.  http://www.choosingraw.com/
When I saw the other day that Gena had posted a recipe with the name "Indian Spiced" in it, well, I knew I had to get to making it as soon as humanly possible.

The following is how I prepared the recipe for Indian-Spiced Wraps. For Gena's original recipe, which involves dehydrating the vegetables instead of roasting them, for a truly "raw" experience, please see http://www.choosingraw.com/indian-spiced-wrap/

If you love Indian food like I love Indian food, run as fast as you can to your grocery store to get the ingredients to fix this. You will be glad you did!

Raw Curried Cashew Spread

(yields 1 1/2 cups, or approximately 6 servings)

1 1/2 cups cashews (soaked at least one hour, preferably several)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tbsp agave nectar, or 3 pitted dates, soaked

1/4 tsp salt (the next ingredient is miso, so if you’re sensitive to salt, start with a little less and add more as needed)

1 tbsp mellow white miso

1 tsp mild (but high quality) curry powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Blend all ingredients in a food processor or high powered blender, stopping a few times to scrape the bowl. When the mix becomes relatively smooth, add a thin stream of water (I used the extra soaking liquid from my dates) until it’s very creamy, but still thick in texture — akin to a hearty hummus. Serve on its own, in wraps, on salads, or as a dip!

This spread is a stand alone hit, and you should make it just as fast as you can. If you want to turn it into a meal, though, give this amazing wrap a try!

Gena’s Indian-Spiced Roasted Veggies

Along with your spread, you’ll need to make Indian-spiced veggies. These things are genius! And simple as heck to make.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Begin with large chopped veggies–alot of them-you could use any or all of eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower, red bell peppers, and carrots. After choppoing, place veggies in a large ziploc bag.  Into the bag, put in a few teaspoons of vegetable oil (or you might try Spectrum’s coconut oil spray).  Not too much, you don't need alot.  Then sprinkle in a little salt, pepper, agave nectar and garam masala.  Close the bag and smush the coating all over the veggies.

Then, I sprinkled them with salt, pepper, a tiny smidge of agave nectar, and 1 tsp garam masala. After tossing them to be sure they were all coated in spices, I poured them out onto an aluminumm foil lined cookie sheet.  Roast them for about 45 minutes.

In total, I roasted two big bags of veggies and I wish I had spiced and roasted more. These were amazing in the wraps and would be equally as fab served over brown rice or on their own as a side dish.

Gena's Indian-Spiced Wraps

1 bunch collard greens
Indian-spiced roasted veggies (recipe above)
Raw curried cashew spread (recipe above)

Prepare collard greens by washing them and shaking off the water.  Lay one leaf on a cutting board, lighter green side up. With a small knife, slice out the very thick stem. You can create two leaves from one large leaf, like I did below, or with the small collard leaves, just cut out the thick stem in a v shape but leave the top of the leaf intact.

Spread some curried cashew spread near the base of the collard leaf. Place roasted veggies on top of cashew spread and roll from the bottom.