Raw Vegan Hanukkah and Christmas Main Course: An All-Around Favorite: Raw Zucchini Spaghetti and Walnut Meatballs
by Joanna Steven
For the main course in this Christmas and Hanukkah menu, there is Raw Zucchini Spaghetti and Walnut Meatballs. This recipe is perhaps the most popular raw food recipe with most raw vegans, so it is only fitting that it be served on these important holidays.
You can’t believe how much these little healthy raw walnut balls taste like meatballs, and they don’t take all day to cook. Homemade cooked sauce and meatballs take hours – sometimes all day – to cook. They may taste pretty good, but on a health scale from one to ten, they are certainly near the bottom, and these raw vegan ones are pretty close to the top. These also take a fraction of the time to make. These are the perfect way to use up zucchini and tomatoes. You can also put this raw tomato sauce on regular pasta.
This is a great dish to bring to potlucks. But you’ll probably have to make lots of it because it will go quickly!
Walnuts are a very important food in the vegan diet as vegans depend heavily on nuts to obtain their omega 3 fatty acids. Walnuts are high in Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA) which is a type of omega 3 fatty acid. The most beneficial omega 3s are EPA and DHA, mostly found in fish. People can generally convert ALA into EPA and DHA, but you have to eat enough of it. The Vegetarian Society recommends 4 g of ALA per day to ensure that you can produce enough EPA and DHA. This recipe delivers 3.7 g of ALA omega 3 fatty acid.
The optimum balance of omega 6 to omega 3 is 4:1 but unfortunately most people eat a much higher ratio. This can interfere with the body’s ability to convert ALA into DHA and EPA. This recipe provides a beneficial ratio of 4 to 1 omega 6 to omega 3.
Ingredients
For the Spaghetti
4 medium zucchini, peeled
For the Raw Tomato Sauce
- 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, soaked in filtered water for 1 hour
- 1 Medjool date, pitted and soaked in filtered water for 1 hour
- 1 cup tomatoes, quartered and seeded
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 2 packed tablespoons fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan or sea salt
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 4 chopped pimento stuffed olives (not raw – optional)
For the Walnut Meatballs
[makes 12, 4 servings of 3 meatballs]
- 1-1/3 cups raw walnuts, soaked for several hours
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1-1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Nama Shoyu soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon thinly sliced green onion (white part only)
- 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced ,plus some for garnish
Preparation
Peel the zucchini and make spaghetti on a spiral vegetable slice. Dry the spaghetti in paper towels (don’t skip this step or your spaghetti will be watery and will not hold the sauce). Place dried spaghetti in a mixing bowl.
While running the food processor with an S blade, run the clove of garlic through the chute. After it is minced, add the drained sun dried tomatoes and date to the food processor along with the fresh tomatoes, basil, salt, cayenne pepper, olive oil and olives. Process until smooth. Place the tomato sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
Wash and dry the food processor. Drain and rinse the walnuts and add them to the food processor along with the nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice, Nama Shoyu and garlic. Process until smooth, stopping now and then to scrape down the sides. Add thinly sliced green onion and minced fresh parsley and pulse several times until combined. Make 12 little round meatballs from the mixture. Dip each one in the sauce until covered and set aside. Take the rest of the sauce and add it to the zucchini. Divide the zucchini and sauce into 4 plates and place 3 sauce covered meatballs on each. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
Per serving: 380 calories, 30.9 g fat, 3.2 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 10.6 g protein, 23.3 g carbohydrates, 7 g fiber, 3.7 g omega 3 and 15.5 g of omega 6.
About Dr. Joanne
After spending decades as a successful engineering executive at IBM and spending another 9 years as the CEO of Ampro Computer Company in Silicon Valley, Dr. Joanne L. Mumola Williams pursued her PhD in holistic nutrition. Nutrition and health has always been her life-long passion and in 1999 it became her full time mission to help people achieve remarkable health by eating a delicious and nutritious plant-centric diet. From Sebastopol, California, she writes the food blog, www.FoodsForLongLife.com where she shares raw and cooked vegan recipes along with articles on nutrition. She is currently working on her first book which will be published next year.
About Joanna Steven
Joanna Steven is the director of the Raw Mom Club. She’s also the author of Well-Rounded:The Ultimate Guide to a Healthy Raw Food Pregnancy.
To learn more about Joanna, access our free online community of thousands of raw food enthusiasts doing their best to raise healthy families and help their kids enjoy a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. You can also interact with Joanna at the Raw Mom Facebook Page!