Thursday, April 2, 2015

PASSOVER KUGEL

I absolutely LOVE, ADORE, CHERISH (you get the idea),  Kugel!  If you haven't heard of Kugel let me explain the goodness you are missing out on.  It is a traditional, sweet noodle pudding served at most Jewish holidays. Usually made with egg noodles, sour cream, eggs, cottage cheese, milk, sugar, apricot preserves and cinnamon...basically everything bad for you!  I have developed a fantastic vegan, gluten-free and low fat version using brown rice pasta and honestly, it tastes just like the real thing!  Seriously, I would never feel like I was missing out on the "real thing" eating this.  Jewish or not, you need to try this recipe!  SERVES: 9


INGREDIENTS:

1 10oz package of brown rice spaghetti or brown rice pad thai noodles
1 cup fresh made or boxed coconut milk (feel free to use unsweetened almond milk)
1 medium white sweet potato baked (or regular if can't find white), cooled and skin removed 
3/4 cup dried unsulphured apricots, divided
1/2 cup Medjool dates
2 Tbsp best quality vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, divided
1 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
1 Tbsp melted coconut oil
1 Tbsp coconut sugar (optional)
8 x 8 square pan
high-speed blender or food-processor


DIRECTIONS:


1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Soak 1/2 cup apricots with 1/2 cups dates in warm water and set aside.  Boil water for pasta and only cook for half the time it says. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
2.) At this point either make fresh coconut milk by combining the meat and coconut water from a Young Thai Coconut.  If you using from a box simply measure the one cup you need into blender.  Dice the remaining 1/4 cup of apricots and set aside.
3.) Add sweet potato, drained apricots/dates, vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, salt, orange juice and coconut oil to the coconut milk in the blender.  Blend until completely pureed.  Feel free to add a bit more liquid if it's too thick.
4.) Add noodles to a big bowl and stir in the delicious coconut/date/cinnamon goodness you just made.  Make sure the noodles are thoroughly coated with mixture.  Add the noodles to your pan that is lightly coated in coconut oil if you wish.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1 Tbsp coconut sugar.  Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove foil and let brown another 5-10 minutes.
5.) Let cool slightly and cut into 9 squares. Enjoy cold, room temp or hot!








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