I haven't felt well lately, but seeing the dessert round for The Post Punk Kitchen's Vegan Chopped event sure put a pep in my step. So I headed to my local farmers market today and scooped up strawberries, red beets, almonds, walnuts and dates. For the few things the market didn't have, and were not in my pantry, I headed to the store. As per the challenge, we were required to use the following 4 ingredients: red beets, mango, shredded coconut and crisp rice cereal. I'm pretty good at improv when it comes to breakfast, lunch and dinner, but for desserts, I search for a recipe. This put me a little outside my comfort zone and I was glad for the challenge. Thank you to Isa Chandra Moskowitz, my chef idol, for a fun activity on this hot Sunday.
Crust:
1/4 C Shredded Coconut
1/4 C Almonds
1/4 C Walnuts
1 Tbs Maple Syrup
2 Dates (pitted)
2 tsp Cocoa Powder
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
Pinch Salt
1/2 C Crisp Rice Cereal
Add all ingredients except cereal and blend until mixture starts to stick together. Add in cereal and pulse until chopped into smaller but still visible bits.
Filling:
1/2 C Cashews (soaked at least 1 hr)
2Tbs Chia Seeds + 1/4 C water for soaking
1/3 C Beets (peeled and chopped)
1 C Strawberries (chopped)
3 Dates (pitted)
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
Add chia seeds to 1/4 C water and allow to soak about 5 minutes while getting other ingredients together. Add all ingredients to a high powered blender ( I used my Vita-Mix.) Blend on high until very smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides.
At this point, you may assemble in whatever manner you wish. This should be enough for a small springform pan, but you may have to double the filling... I have not tried that. What I did was use silicone liners to make the cute shape and filled the cups 3/4 full of filling and put them in the freezer for about and hour. Once the filling was firm inside the cup, I filled the rest with the crust mixture, pressed it down, and popped it back in the freezer for another 30 minutes. Another way in which you could assemble this chiascake would be by pressing the crust into a pie plate, adding the filling and freezing for about an hour.
Topping:
2 Mangoes (Peeled and Cubed)
2 Tsp Vegan Margarine
1 Tbs Brown Sugar
1/4 C Strawberry Lemonade (easiest to make in a juicer or you can try vita mix)
1/2 tsp Arrowroot Powder
Add mango cubes, margarine, brown sugar and lemonade into a small sauce pan over med heat. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes lowering heat if necessary. Turn heat off and blend into a puree. Leave the puree in the pan and use a hand blender. Return to low heat and whisk in arrowroot powder until smooth. Cover the mango topping, and place in your refrigerator to cool. Once you are ready to serve the chiascake, add mango topping and enjoy!
