Yogi Raw Food Workshop

Hello my lovelies!  I'm blogging from Quebec, Canada where I'm living and teaching yoga.  I'll be here in the beautiful mountains for the entire summer.  But guess who else is here??  Two yogis/raw food chefs!  And they were gracious enough to host a raw food workshop for us last week.  I love the synchronicity of life ...

Meet Lakita & Murali (their yogi names), our raw food gurus:

Lakita and Murali owned and operated a very popular raw food restaurant in New York, Raw Soul.  However recently they decided to leave the restaurant biz and create a new path, a yogic one.  I first met these lovely raw souls in India, where I was teaching yoga.  They came for a yoga teacher training course in February.  Fast forward to June where we met again and are now staff at the same yoga centre.  Small world.   Actually it happens all the time here.

 
I didn't know they were raw foodies when I met them in India, let alone that they had a raw restaurant.  But I was super excited when they announced this workshop.  I hope it won't be the last ...

First they explained the importance of soaking raw nuts and how to sprout raw seeds using a strainer. 

Sprouted sunflower seeds.  Soaked for 4 hours and then sprouted 1 day.  Use quickly because the nutritional value diminishes as times goes on.  Recently I've been busy sprouting my own seeds too.  Using the strainer method & in soil. 

Sprouted wheat berries.  I've never seen wheat berries before.  Must try at home.  Although they didn't make anything with it, so I'll need to find a recipe (hint, hint: if anyone out there has one, let me know). 

First up, we made a raw sattvic soup.  No garlic, onions or vinegar here.

They didn't give us copies of the recipes, but I made a mental note of the ingredients for this one.  Lots of tomatoes, some avocados, red bell pepper, squeeze of agave and a pinch of salt.  Toss in a blender with fresh water.  Combine well and then pulse in some dill.  We used dried today, but I bet they used fresh in their restaurant.  We're yogis, we're flexible like that ;) 

Of course they gave us all some to sample.  It was a great starter and crowd pleaser.  I love how shocked some people are when they taste raw food for the first time, and they like it.  Murali explained to us that food should make you want to ...

jump up and dance, do the splits and not be able to get up, James Brown style.  Yes, this soup made us want to do exactly that, although no one (except Murali) actually did, as seen in the picture above!

They also talked to us in great detail about being connected to your food (i.e. mixing with your hands or taking to your sprouts), the importance of your mental state while cooking, and making food with love, respect and gratitude.  The spirituality of uncooking, Amen!

Next up was a mock tuna burrito.

I didn't catch all the ingredients that went into the food processor for this one, but the main ones were almonds, celery, lemon, pickles and something I'd never seen before, a seaweed mix:

 

Gives it that ocean flavour!  Here's a shot of the finished product wrapped up using a romaine lettuce leaf:

I went back for seconds of this one.  Easy to make, simple ingredients & sooooOooo good!

Then it was time for dessert, which was raw coconut ice cream!!  Again didn't get the exact recipe (hey, I was busy taking all these photos), but here's a before shot of the blender:

Looks like it was dried shredded coconut (again they said they would have used fresh if it was available), cashews, agave, vanilla extract and coconut oil.  Murali blended it up and then let us sample the unfrozen mixture.  Of course we sampled the pre-frozen ice cream too.

I liked the coconut-y taste, and it was a nice treat, but I have to say that I prefer my banana based raw serves (raw soft serve type ice cream).  It's easier (less ingredients) and I think takes less time than this raw ice cream.  Although this did give me an idea to try for a coconut raw serve ...

We all had so much fun and I could tell that everyone learned a lot during the workshop.  Being fairly familiar with raw food and it's preparation, I can't say that I really learned anything new from the workshop, but I did have a fabulous time.

Lahkita & Murali gave out so much love and positive energy.  They could should have called the workshop The Yoga of Food, because that's exactly what it was.  They showed us how to prepare healthy food that reduces environmental degradation in a way that spiritually connects us with what we eat and how we prepare it.

*OM*