It’s safe to say that I will probably not be the latest Food Network darling. While I do adore cooking (obviously!) and love to teach others how to embrace the wonders of the kitchen and the world of food, the whole “me || audience” style of teaching is so cold to me. I need to be able to work with my students, teach them hands-on, get feedback and really know that what I’m saying and trying to ingrain in them is actually getting through. But a food demo was what we had to do for the class, and it had to be a healthy recipe prepared start to finish in ten minutes, at least in appearances like on TV, with a poster, a recipe handout and a brochure too. Which meant I actually had to make and stick to a recipe, and make it look easy to do in 10 minutes. Without cooking or reheating equipment or running water. Dang. And whatever I picked had to fit other dietary criteria too: vegetarian, nut / coconut free, and we had to supply a gluten free option. Mind you, a good portion of the students ignored that, but having lived with restrictions myself I felt it wasn’t fair t
o not make something the vast majority of my class could tolerate and enjoy.
I have to say, though, that people got all kinds of creative. While the obvious route (which some of us, me included, took in the interest of time and equipment) was to completely prepare a food at home for the “voila” dish and show all the “look how you can prepare it at home” stuff during the demo, some people really went all out. We had gas-lit hotplates going as students whipped up japchae effortlessly, dished up piping hot beans and rice and even made a holistic variant on hot cocoa. Salsas, salads from all parts of the world, juices, tons of dessert-y things and even Vietnamese fresh rolls made their appearances, and nobody went hungry either day we did the demos. In short, my classmates owned it.
"Chef Plantain" made by my friend Johana |
Monkey Balls
Makes 24 2 large, over-ripe bananas
1/3 cup sunflower seed “butter”
1 tsp maple syrup
2 cups quick-cooking (not instant) rolled oats, divided
1 cup Kamut® flakes (or more rolled oats)
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
½ cup raisins
½ cup diced dates
½ cup toasted sesame seeds
In a large bowl, mash together bananas, sunflower seed butter and maple syrup.
- Stir in 1 ¼ cups of the oats, Kamut® flakes, flaxseed, raisins and dates, combining well.
- Place remaining oats and sesame seeds in a large zip-top bag.
- Using a spoon, scoop small amounts of the banana mixture and with damp hands roll into balls.
- One by one, drop into the oats in the bag and shake to coat. Place on a plate.
- Ideally chill 30 minutes before enjoying.
- Keeps in the fridge up to 5 days and can be enjoyed frozen up to 1 month.
*For gluten-free, use quinoa flakes or certified GF oats for the rolled oats and Kamut flakes OR 2 cups puffed millet in the balls, ½ cup toasted sesame seeds and 1 cup cream of rice cereal to coat
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 113.4
Total Fat: 4.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 87.7 mg
Total Carbs: 17.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.7 g
Protein: 3.5 g
You look great up there! Very professional.
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