"A Cascading Waterfall of Deliciousness"

I kid ye not, but the title of this post is a quote from Tessa, a recent course attendee as she took her first bite of my famous raw food pizza!

I have to say, all these years down the line, this pizza still tastes as good now as it did then. It's a real treat that tastes incredible, looks amazing and even better - lasts for 3 days or so in the fridge! This is also the self-same pizza that appeared live on LK Today (GMTV) back in November 2002, when Pete, Luke and I appeared with the lovely Lorraine Kelly and the suave Dr Hilary Jones. What a great experience that whole trip was - and even better that Lorraine had to have two forkfuls live on air in front of no less than 4 million viewers, declaring it "really lovely".

And this is also the same recipe that I teach and serve on all my Raw Food for Beginners courses as it's a real hit with everyone, no matter what their dietary preferences, and yes, I guess it really is rather like "a cascading waterfall of deliciousness"!

So, if you're up for a bit of dehydrating the rest is actually very easy. Here follows my recipe, which is very long in paper terms, but in time terms, once you have the base made, will take about 20-30 minutes to make the cheese, sauce, assemble and serve. Not bad really for what you come away with... (I make HUGE ones! - and 2 or 3 at a time)

You’ll need a dehydrator for this recipe (or you could try a low set oven with the door ajar). You can make this pizza in the evening ready for lunch the next day as long as you start dehydrating the base as early in the evening as possible. The base takes about 15 minutes to get together and about 12-20 hours to dehydrate depending on how thick you make it and at what temperature you dehydrate it (115 deg F to 125 deg F is perfect). An hour before serving, get together your other ingredients and make the 'cheese', tomato sauce and chop the toppings.

Makes one 25cm /10 inch circular pizza (enough to cover a Paraflexx sheet in an Excalibur)

Base

• 400g sprouted wheat (or sprouted buckwheat)
• 2 medium fresh tomatoes
• ½ a medium sized onion
• 6-8 sundried tomato halves (ideally pre-soaked)
• About 10 leaves of fresh basil
• Liberal shaking of Italian dried herbs mix
• 1 clove garlic
• ⅓ cup of olive oil

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until a thick dough consistency is achieved. If the mixture feels quite dry, add more fresh tomato.
2. Pour into a large mixing bowl in order to finish mixing by hand and feel the texture of the mixture. Make sure all ingredients have been blended together well. If not, return to processor and repeat the process until satisfied.
3. Spread the mixture bit by bit onto a paraflexx sheet and gradually shape into a circle or square shape according to your preference. Use the palm of your hand to press the mixture out to the desired shape and size and thickness. A good thickness is approximately 3-4mm high.
4. Dehydrate at 95 - 110°F for approx. 4 hours (until top is nearly dry), then flip over and dehydrate again until other side is dried to desired degree. (Some prefer the base to be hard and crispy, but I prefer it to be semi-dry so that it is easy to cut and eat - a bit more bread-like).

'Cheese'

• 2 cups of raw macadamia nuts
• 2 cups of cashew nuts
• Juice of 1-2 lemons (depending on sweetness and amount of juice)
• 1 clove of garlic

1. Blend all ingredients thoroughly using either food processor or hand blender.

Tomato Sauce

• 4-6 tomatoes
• 10 sundried tomato halves
• 1 clove garlic
• Half a red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped
• Handful of fresh basil leaves

1. Blend all ingredients thoroughly using food processor, hand blender or vita-mix.

Toppings

Choose from:

• Fresh tomato slices
• Fresh bell pepper slices (red, orange, yellow)
• Fresh onion rings
• Black olive halves
• Basil leaves, finely chopped
• Italian seasoning (dried herbs)
• Chopped pineapple
• Broccoli florets, halved and marinated
• Mushrooms - either fresh, marinated in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice, or dehydrated after being marinated
• Anything else that appeals!

How to make the pizza:

1.     Spread the 'cheese' evenly over the top of the pizza base. Any left over 'cheese' can be spread on crackers, or crumbled into a salad. Alternatively you can mould it and shape it anyway you wish. One suggestion is to cut it into small cubes and spear top create the traditional cheese and pineapple party food.

2.      Spoon the tomato sauce on top of the cheese topping and spread evenly until there is a good covering.

3.      Top your pizza with your chosen ingredients. I usually begin with the tomato, then the onion rings, then bell pepper, then olives, then mushrooms, then fresh basil and finally sprinkle the whole pizza with the Italian seasoning. Occasionally I add pineapple or broccoli florets.

4.      Serve either fresh as is, or put the whole pizza back in the dehydrator for a while until warmed through. Either way it is delicious!

5.      Serve with a large green salad and extra tomatoes and onion rings.

Comments

[Julie]

Karen this is the first time I am leaving you a comment. I heard you on the rawkathon last night and I was blown away by your wisdom. Everything you had to say touched me deeply like we were soul sisters. You inspired me so much, I am not a raw food eater as yet, but I am starting tomorrow, you blessed me so much with your gentleness while speaking. God bless you, I wish you didn't live so far away :) But lots of luck with your coaching.
Julie

[meadow]

Heather - if your husband isn't allergic to raw cashews, they are a good substitute for macadamias (similarly creamy and rich), I think.

[Heather]

Hi Karen,

Discovered you just yesterday and am thrilled as I went raw just last week. Thank you so much for a fabulous resource!

My question: my husband is deathly allergic to macadamia and brazil nuts--to the point that we can't even have them in the house. I'd love to try your famous pizza as well as some other recipes I've seen that include or feature these nuts. What would be a suitable replacement for these nuts?

[Yvonne]

Love your website, Karen, so much great information!

[Beatriz]

Hi, I was wondering why you recommend the easygreen sprouter over the freshlife. I don't know which one to buy. Thanks,
Beatriz

[Karen Knowler]

Hi Donna

It's 3 American measuring cups.

Good web tool for everyone:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/

Best wishes
Karen

[Donna Stanger]

I cannot find the conversion of 400g to US measurements. What is the conversion?
Thank you
donna

[Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach]

Hi Daphne

Great questions.

Re the sprouts, NO, don't green them up! Never green them up unless you are growing wheatgrass : ) When it comes to wheat and other grains, the length of the shoot (sprout) should be 2-5 mm. If you eat one it will be chewy and taste sweet. As soon as they go beyond this stage they start tasting bitter and unpalatable.

In fact, I have some wheat sprouting right now and I soaked it on Thursday, drained and rinsed on Friday (morning and evening), and by yesterday evening you could see the shoots poking out. Even then it would have been OK to process, but today it will be even better because the shoots are that bit longer and the sprout will be that bit sweeter. Hope this helps!

Ref your other question about 'cups'. The cups I refer to are the American measuring cups. Whenever I want to convert weights, volumes etc, I go to: http://www.onlineconversion.com/. In this case the 1/3 cup olive oil appears to equal 5.5 UK Tablespoons.

By the way, measuring cups are available to buy in all good kitchen shops and even supermarkets. I have metal ones, plastic ones and the very cool Metric Wonder Cup which The Fresh Network sells.

Good luck Daphne! Hope you will share how you got on with the recipe!

Karen

[Daphne Williams]

Hi Karen,

I'm about to try your delicious sounding pizza. I've sprouted the wheat berries but am not sure at which stage to use them - should I green them up first? Also can you define what one square cup of olive oil represents? All I could think of was a whole cup!!

With baited breath
Daphne

[Wendy]

Just found your new website. It's lovely and it's also now on my list of favourites. Keep up the good work.
Love and Light

[Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach]

Thanks ladies! Although it looks like a complete site redesign in actual fact it's just the addition of a graphic banner and a change in background colour ; ) Needless to say, this is a taste of things to come on my web site... now getting very near to completion! Very exciting!

Very appreciative of your feedback : ) x

[Lesley-Anne]

I've just logged on to your site and I'm speechless! It doesn't happen often believe me! Your new site is amazing and has captured your essence beautifully.

Nice work Karen!
Lelx

[Amy]

Beautiful new site design Karen! Thanks also for sharing your pizza recipe!