Carmelized onions and other softened veggies?

[lissomllama]

When I was cooked I loved soft, carmelized onions and boiled,grilled potatoes and carrots and such. I know that part of being raw is to abandon one's needs for cooked textures and I've done that and taken it a step further by trying to eat everything in its natural state but I'd still like to have that texture as a treat. I heard that dehydrating these veggies and then soaking them can make this texture. Is that true? Has anyone tried it?

[metta13]

Yes! I love the carmelized, roasted-type flavours. This is what I did:
toss sliced veggies (like onions, peppers, mushrooms) lightly with olive oil. Put in dehydrator at 145 degrees for 1 hour, then 105 degrees for1-2 more hours. Use teflex sheet.

I took this to a potluck and got nice compliments. One gal said she was going to take it to a vegetarian potluck, because it tasted cooked.

The dehydration somehow infuses the oil into the veggies and softens them, sweetens them, but there was no drying effect.

good luck
metta

[lissomllama]

Hmm, that sounds good but I don't trust olive oil to be raw. I'll try the soaking method first and then see if I can find any truly raw olive oil but it's still so processed that I don't like the idea. Thankyou so much for the advice though, I'll look into it. I wonder if either of these methods would work with potatoes and such as well.

[janicejourney]

I tried the marinated portabella mushrooms from the collard green wrap recipe in Alissa's book and they were incredible. I added red onion. I did use some olive oil and nama shoyu and water with fresh basil and fresh Italian parsley. GOD it was good. The mushrooms were silky soft and firm. You could sub whatever non-processed spices and water or whatever you do feel comfortable using.


I bet Celtic sea salt, water, herbs, and lemon would work great!

[lissomllama]

Thanks, sounds wonderful. I also am wary of nama shoyu because I'm not a fan of soy because it is a phytoestrogen and since I am on a graveyeard sleeping schedule, I don't get to sleep in pitch darkness long enough so my pineal gland already produces a little more estrogen than it needs to. When I'm back on a normal schedule I might start using a little nama shoyu maybe. I'm sure I can use lemon or orange juice and spices to tenderize it though.

[rawpriestess]

dehydrating veggies, warms them and dries them and causes them to wilt, if you add oil, it wilts them but keeps them from drying out, so you can place them in a baggie, and allow them to warm and wilt, without using the oil

I often do this with food, that doesn't need to dry, but I want warm.

[juliebove]

When I tried making potato chips, I didn't care for the finished product. However, I noticed that after being in the dehydrator at 145 for about a half an hour or so, they were soft and warm and tasted like cooked potatoes. I do think you have to keep checking and time it just right though. And you'd have to eat them right then. They quickly got beyond this stage and as they dried out, they regained that "raw" flavor.

I used a raw russet potato (large one, like for baking). I left the peel on, but scrubbed it well, then made thin slices using a box grater. The thinnest of the slices went quickly to chips, but the ones that were slightly thicker are the ones that got that cooked taste to them. So you might try thinly slicing them with a knife.

I then soaked them for about an hour in cold, salted water, changing the water several times. I then did one last soak (about 5 minutes) with about a teaspoon of cider vinegar. I'm not sure what the vinegar does, but I've seen it used for chips. I then transferred them to a colander and rinsed them well and shook off as much water as I could. I added more salt (perhaps a bit too much) and put them in the dehydrator.

I haven't tried any other veggies in there. But I'm thinking onions might also work. Perhaps a combo of potatoes and onions. Hmmm... Perhaps I'll try that next!

[lissomllama]

Thanks, great responses, all.

[Ka-Yun Yoon]

how do u dehydrate veggies w/o a dehydrator?