Recipe: The Fresh Ginger’s Activated Raw Beetroot Pâté

This isn’t your average dip or spread. Our newest guest recipe comes from London’s Josie Taylor, known also as The Fresh Ginger; a beautiful beetroot pâté made with activated almonds – perfect for parties this festive season. Plus, read on for Josie’s explanation of the benefits of soaking nuts (and other similar ingredients)… 

Activated Raw Beetroot Pâté 

Total Time: 10 minutes (plus 8-12 hours soaking)
Notes: gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, (mostly) raw

Ingredients:

• 3 small beetroot, peeled and grated
• ½ cup of raw, whole almonds, skins on and activated*
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 tsp chopped, de-seeded red chilli
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, plus extra for garnish
• 1 tsp powdered cumin
• a squeeze of lemon
• salt & pepper

Instructions:

1. The night/morning before you want to make this dip, pop ½ a cup of raw almonds into bowl or jar with 1 ½ cups of filtered water and sprinkling of sea salt. Cover with a clean cloth and leave for 8-12 hours. Rinse and drain the kernels.
2. Grate your peeled beetroot.
3. Place everything in a food processor.
4. Blitz for 1-2 minutes. You may want to pause halfway through and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Taste and season well.
5. Serve topped with toasted cumin seeds and a drizzle of olive oil. Great with crudités or crackers, oat and rice cakes.

 

Keeps for 4-5 days in a sealed, glass jar in the fridge.

* There’s a lot of talk about ‘activating’ nuts and seeds, but why bother? Well, soaking nuts removes naturally present phytic acid (which can be a blocker for nutrient-absorption in humans) as well as the enzyme inhibitors nuts and seeds contain to prevent them sprouting prematurely (which also inhibit the enzymes in your stomach from digesting properly). Soaking = significantly more nutritious.

The Fresh Ginger, AKA Josie Taylor, is a vital food chef, writer and graduate of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York. In her other life, she’s an actress in films, plays and children’s cartoons. A big foodie and good life adventurer, Josie’s mission is to take nutrition out of that earnest box marked ‘Health Food’ and into a fresher place we can all visit.

www.thefreshginger.com

Follow @thefreshginger or on Facebook