Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

These are inspired by crab cakes, but I think they're better 'cause they are healthy and cruelty-free. Also they just taste *freaking amazing*. I honestly wasn't expecting them to be as good as they turned out. I gobbled up 3 in mere minutes. They taste great with avocado, just so ya know. Please don't expect this recipe to taste much like the original thing... the ingredients are totally different and there's no cooking involved. Enjoy the flavours and textures for what they are! Veggies are winners all by themselves! But for those of you who are vegan, seriously craving sea food, and are fine with eating cooked food... try Sophie's Kitchen products (my mom loves them).


I never actually ate crab cakes when I was growing up but apparently (thanks, Wikipedia) they are made up of crab meat, bread crumbs, mayo, butter and eggs... yum? Well, we're throwing that stuff out and bringing in fresh veggies and spices. This recipe is based with jicama, onion, walnuts and lemon juice; and spiced with cumin, chili, coriander, dill, salt and pepper. I had trouble NOT eating all the mixture before shaping it into cakes and putting them in the dehydrator. Again: these probably don't taste anything like real crab cakes but they are delicious in their own right. Ya got me!? The spices liven up the crunchy, sweet jicama and zesty lemon, while the onion gives it a bit of heat. Think of this recipe as like a basic burger or something, add some mustard, avocado, tomatoes, etc. and it comes alive. But it's also delicious on it's own. My mom thinks you should add basil and olive oil to make them "pesto burgers", she's smart. Sorry for all the sporadic-ness in this post. There's not really one focus. Hopefully you just scrolled past this because I don't even know what I am talking about now. C'mon, scroll.

JICAMA ONION CAKES with CUMIN, CORIANDER, DILL & LEMON

1 cup jicama
1/4 cup onion 
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Cumin, coriander, dill, chili, salt and pepper (as desired) 
1 cup walnuts

Peel and chop the jicama and onion up into small chunks. Throw all the ingredients - except the walnuts - into your food processor and pulse a few times until it's a consistency you like. Dump into a bowl and set aside. Now process the walnuts into a thick paste and add this to the first mixture, combining evenly so you end up with a mushy mix... it doesn't sound appetizing but other describing words are not coming to mind at the moment. Shape into cakes (I used a large cookie mold) and then dehydrate for a few hours until they hold together; or use your oven at it's lowest temperature to get the same result. Serve with herbs, avocado, veggies, spreads, crackers, or whatever else you like!

I don't feel like I am missing anything when I eat a good veggie burger; all I want is something dense, flavourful, and hearty to bite into and it's really easy to get that with fresh ingredients. Plus you're getting multiple servings of vegetables in for the day, as well as - with this recipe - some super foods like chia and hemp seeds. But to be honest, I think any edible raw plant can be seen as a super food. I don't miss one thing about meat burgers. A round of rotting, ground-up flesh that was once a sentient being who had a mom? Sorry I'm not drooling... I'll stick to eating veggies.

There is ALWAYS a new study excitedly telling us Westerners that a previously unheard-of herb recently found in the jungle has an antioxidant level off the charts and has a specific nutrient that fights cancer so we should all be sure to include this specific plant in our diets from now on. I feel like no one is getting the broader picture: we should just eat more plants, they are powerful medicine. Like the brilliant Michael Pollen wisely advises in his best-selling book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Bam. Also get in some sunshine, lots of clean water, plenty of z's, a few laughs and a good workout - that is health! There is nothing complicated about it, nor should there be. The simplest solution has the highest chance of being the right one.



Aaaaaanyways - back to burgers. These babies are keeping things juicy and satisfying with only the freshest ingredients and mind-blowing flavours. If you like yams, mushrooms, onions and tastiness then you will love these. I know a lot of you like to keep fat to a minimum (I'm with ya) so these are very low-fat. You're welcome. Hehe.