If you made snowdrop's sesame 'chicken'

[Radiantly Raw]

Please answer this question for me!!!! I'm also going to vent here a little (or a lot) so please forgive me in advance for that!

I didn't want to bog down the actual sesame chicken recipe thread with this. Plus I really want some answers, hopefully everyone will see this!

What I wanna know is- What brand/model food processor did you use?

I'm so frustrated right now! I made this recipe to the letter. And my food processor couldn't handle it!!! :mad: And I KNOW it's my FP- not the recipe, cause it worked for everyone else!

OK, just to make sure everyone understands - At the beginning, before you even add the nuts & seeds, it wouldn't even completely process the bell peppers into the tomato mixture. HUH?! Yes, I was cutting up fairly small, tried it a bit larger, to make sure it was getting caught up in the blades, nope, that didn't help. I let it run forever, scraping every so often & moving it around by hand. Till the batter was starting to get warm.:mad: I don't see how this could be user error? Then I started adding seeds & nuts and it went much worse from there. I eventually had to scoop it all out, reassemble the FP and then start adding 4 scoops at a time to it to process all over again. Then I got half of it all in there, took all that out and started all over again, 4 scoops at a time.

And I still had to let it run forever, just until it was warming up from going so long. Meanwhile, I would stop it every few minutes to move it around on my own & scrape down the sides. Oh, and I slammed it on the counter a few times to get everything down there. After all this, as I scooping the spoonfuls onto the dehydrator sheets, I was having to pull out whole walnuts and a couple large pieces of bell pepper. :(

I'm so angry right now! So many folks made this recipe, I KNOW it must work well. I was looking at and feeling the batter the whole time, there's enough moisture in this to not cause a FP any problems!!!

Now, I'm asking about this recipe in particular because it's not like a some thick thing like fudge balls, because this is the type of recipe I'll be making often & want my FP to be able to easily do, and because so many people love it & have made it. I want my FP to do more than make salsa! Is that too much to ask? Grrrr.:mad:

Alright, vent over. Thanks for letting me get that out there.

So, what FP did you use for this? I have a 10 yr old Hamilton Beach which hasn't been used until 3 months ago. I need specifics (makes and models, etc) because I'm going to get a new one right away and I want to get it right! I almost left the house with the batter still in mine to go get a new one I was so frustrated!

[spiralgirl]

Radiantly Raw,

I'm so sorry it didn't work out for you and believe me I know how frustrating it is to make something raw and have it not work.

My food processor is an old Braun Multipractic 1000

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/foofooberry/images.jpg

Hope this helps and I hope you can get this recipe to work well. It really is worth the effort.

[IamLoved]

Hi Resa,

Maybe try doing this in your vitamix? That thing had lots of power. Might work better. From what I've heard you can process anything in that baby! ;)

[snowdrop]

awww sweetie, sorry you are having so much trouble! :cool:

if you have a juicer with a blank (homogenizing) plate you can run the ingredients for the 'chicken' nuggets thru it and then just stir it together.

i used a full size Cuisinart food processor.

i made the sauce in my tiny black & decker food processor
but the next time in my hi speed blender.
both worked well,
but the blender pureed the bits
whereas the food proccessor chopped it finely.
lumps vs no lumps.
a matter of taste & not recipe.

xoxoxox
-snow

[eachpeachpearplum]

Oh Dear :eek: !

I used the Cuisinat FP I inherited from my gran. She bought it when I was about 13 - I am now 38 and I use it all the time. I used it and my VM to make my entire raw Thanksgiving dinner (will post about that ASAP!)

My heart goes out to you. Yes I do think you need a differnt one; ANY other sounds like it would work better!

All the best and good luck!

EPPP

[Lady Green Jeans]

A big cyber hug to you. So sorry to hear of your frustration. Cuisinart Custom Prep 11 is what I use (from the wholesale club).

[Eva]

For what it's worth... my FP is too small to be worth much for food. I'm getting a new one soon I think... but I was just at Alissa's class in Maine and she swore by the medium sized Black and Decker. She is convinced it's the best, and it's literally something like $25. :) Hope that helps. That's what I'm getting when I get a new one.

[Aleesha Sattva]

i feel for you. i just made my first ever crackers... and my experience was... well... not stellar.

:::hugs::: to you!

[tiggerbounce]

I have an el-cheapo FP. I try to use my blender as much as possible though if I want something smooth. FP tend to chop instead of grind up. I believe for this recipe I used my blender for getting the nuts ground up, set them aside, then did the wet part, and then put the lot of it in the FP to blend it together.

Whenever I make a recipe, I think about the texture I am going for and use the appliance necessary to produce that texture. FP tend to chop and leave things in tiny bits. Blenders tend to make things smooth and creamy. And I almost always put my garlic thru a garlic press and sometimes onions to in smaller recipes where I want the sweetness of the juice to taste.

And with the sesame chicken, you can even just mix the powdered nuts that you set aside in by hand. Like making meatballs. Does that make sense?

To me it sounds like your FP was fine, was just doing what it is supposed to. Us the blender for the liquids and you will be a happier camper. I also find that if I grind the nuts separately I get better results on many recipes. The ones where they need to be whizzed fine and creamy. And sometimes you just need to add more liquid because not all flours/nuts/ingredients are the same moisture content. You can play with it just a bit and still not have to worry about ruining the results if you are uneasy with working with recipes still.

For the most part, as you can see from the above responses, you just do what ya gotta to get the texture that pleases you. Use the homogenizer plate on the juicer, the blender, ..whatever appliance you have on hand to get the job done. Don't feel like you have to use the EXACT appliance someone else does. Everyone has different appliance brands/sizes and as I said before, not all ingredients have the same moisture content.

Hope this helps a little bit. For what it is worth, if you still have some of the "pate" left, try putting in your blender with some more liquide and get it nice and smooth how you like it, adjus the spices a bit, and then add in some nuts ground into a flour by hand to thicken it back up to rescue what you have left.

[Yeshia]

I used my Braun food processor:)

BUT

I processed the nuts in my Magic bullet before I added them.I always do that:D

[ViolinCyndee]

OK I tried searching for the recipe but this thread came up! Can someone point me to the recipe, please?

[Thick]

Violincyndee, Ill have to pm it to you, as it's an outlink link=/

[RawKnitster]

ViolinCyndee, Is this the recipe you are looking for? Pics are on page 23 & 24 of our PHOTOS ONLY THREAD. (http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=48555&page=24)

‘Chicken’

begin the nite before…
2 c walnuts soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite
2 c sunflower seeds soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite

1 c sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite and then dehydrated

1 c sundry tomatoes soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite in:
1 c orange juice

1 onion
2 cloves garlic
¼ yellow pepper (or red)
10 fresh sage leaves or 1 T dried herb
1 t cumin
½ t tumeric
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 T dark miso
1T braggs or soy

1 T lecithin to be stirred into batter by hand at the end

sesame seeds

food processer the tomatoes in their liquid and blend untill a paste.
Add onion & garlic, blend
Add herbs spices blend
Add nuts, process till smooth (I did it in 2 batches)
Put into a bowl & stir in the lecithin.
With a coffee grinder, powder the dehydrated sunflower seeds.
Stir into batter till blended.
Spoon onto telflex sheets (I used 3 trays) by the tablespoon.
Dehydrate 6-8 hr at 105-115
Flip half way thru drying time.
Make sweet & sour sauce*.
Dip your chicken nuggets into the sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds and continue to dehydrate another 4-6 hrs

*sweet & sour sesame sauce

¾ c nama shoyu
¾ c honey (or agave)
2 cloves garlic
1 pc ginger as big as your thumb (equal to the amount of garlic approx)
2 T sesame seeds
2 T coconut oil
1 t sesame oil
2 t red pepper flakes

chop the garlic & ginger so it doesn’t jam under your blades, and put all into the food processor and blend till the veggies are well pureed. The seeds will float up with the oils when left standing, that’s ok, just stir when using.
i made more that this recipe called for, because i will be using this on lots more veggies the next couple of days, as it is mind blowing good.


In a glass pie plate: Take a nice head of broccoli and make bite sized pieces. Slice up 4-5 mushrooms. Sliver up ½ red pepper. Toss these in some of the sweet & sour sesame sauce and put into D till broccoli is tendered up some.

The nuggets were a nice change form what I had been eating, but…
The veggies + sauce was the finest thing I have put in my mouth in months!
I will be making that even when I don’t have any nuggets to serve them with, just a dash of sesame seeds on top. mmm