Snack on This: Curry Sesame Seeds, Garam Masala Cashews and Chili Macadamias

Flavored sesame seeds - like kale chips (which have reached rock star status in 2011) - seem to be for sale all over the place. This is because, like kale chips, they're pretty damn delicious. But, they're expensive, so I wanted to make my own. And, I happened to have on hand an obscene amount of raw sunflower seeds. Why? Half advanced planning, half crazed hoarding. Every time I'm out of Baghdad, I fill my suitcase with food. Since I'm never sure how long it will be until I can get more raw cocoa and maca powder, coconut, sunflower seeds, goji berries, mulberries, agave and crack (I mean Nama Shoyu), I tend to ... let's say stock up. Amazon selling everything in bulk doesn't help (six bags of coconut in one go? Why not?) This is how I ended up with something like twelve pounds of raw sesame seeds stuffed in a kitchen cabinet in Baghdad. One can only eat so much sesame butter (which we have to make in tiny half-way-to-butter batches in our coffee grinder due to broken food processor situation.)

Flavored seeds and nuts, as it turns out, are incredibly easy to make. All you do is toss with flavoring and a bit of agave date syrup or maple syrup, then dehydrate. We use our oven as a dehydrator (it has amazing 30 and 40 degree Celsius settings and a convection fan setting), but in a normal dehydrator I think you'd go 6-8 hours.

Riffing on the same theme, I made some garam masala cashews, which all mysteriously disappeared from my desk drawer before I had any (eh hem, Ahmed.) I've also had delicious chili macadamia nuts, which are made the same way - toss with agave date syrup or maple syrup and chili powder, then dehydrate. Invest in really raw nuts, especially cashews if you can (Navitas sells them). Because of something or other to do with how the nut is extracted from the shell using heat, apparently many raw cashews aren't actually raw, they're just not roasted post-shell cracking. Also, since 2007, apparently American raw almonds aren't really raw, but pasteurized, but they're allowed to label them as raw anyway. Check out One Lucky Duck for really-raw almonds from Spain.

The flavor difference between "raw" nuts and really raw nuts is amazing. You won't regret it.

Curry Sesame Seeds / Garam Masala Cashews / Chili Macadamias

A big bowl of raw sesame seeds / cashews / Macadamias

A few tablespoons of curry powder / garam masala / chili powder

A tablespoon or two of agave date syrup or maple syrup - enough to make them sticky and the powder latch on

Mix up well; adjust curry and agave to your taste preference. Spread on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate 6-8 hours, or until no longer wet and sticky. Don't over dry. Store in a Ziploc - will keep for several weeks. Don't leave in your desk drawer if colleagues sneak in and eat your food.

Put Your Chili on My Mango

and eat. Mmmmmmmmm.

Mexi Can't? Mexi Can!

There isn't a lot to do here. This is a typical early week. Monday: Mexican buffet at Dojo's. Tuesday: fish curry at the cafeteria. Wednesday: free.

In honor of Mexican buffet night - decidedly not raw and not vegan (but delicious cilantro fish and corn salad) - I made a raw chili tonight. I found the recipe online somewhere - it's everywhere, in various versions - but I think it might be traced back to Ani Phyo (my hero.) She has a version on her site at: www.aniphyo.com. I adjusted the recipes I found according to the bounty of the salad bar and our kitchen cabinets.

Mexican Raw Chili, Baghdad Style
For the chili:

3 cups tomato

1 cup bell pepper (red if possible)

1/2 cup mushrooms

1/3 cup onion

1/3 cup celery

1 T garlic

1/2 tsp black pepper

For the meat topping:
1 cup walnuts (thank you Sara's parents!)
1 T olive oil (thank you dear colleague who carried it all the way to Baghdad from his back yard)
1 tsp - 1 T Nama Shoyu (depending on how salty you want it)
1 heaping tsp curry powder

Chili: chop everything into smallish bits and mix in a bowl with your hands. Scoop a third into the blender and puree; return to bowl and mix. If you use red peppers, as most receipes call for, the chili should be red. Our peppers were mostly green, so it wasn't the loveliest after it came out of the blender. But it tastes amazing so we forgive it. You don't need any salt because the "meat" (we're thinking of calling it "save-the-moo-eat" from now on - what do you think?) is very salty.

Topping: I put the walnuts in a ziploc bag and smashed them with my measuring cup until they were ground beef consistency. You can also grind them up in a food processor. Throw them in a bowl and mix in the other ingredients. Spoon over the bowls of chili. Garnish with something green and fancy.

P.S Sara says she has heartburn right now from eating the chili so fast, but she doesn't regret it because it was so good.