Cilantro Hemp Sauce

Even if you are one of those people who have a have genetic anomaly, making cilantro taste soapy, you can still enjoy this recipe – just substitute the cilantro for any other favourite greens! This ‘recipe’ is essentially wonky pesto: instead of basil, I use cilantro (and sometimes other greens); instead of pine nuts, I use hemp hearts.

Although similar, pesto was not the original inspiration for this sauce (a.k.a. Green Goo). Nope. This deliciously spicy, exotic and nutrient-dense sauce was inspired by my favourite take out food: Indian. [Yes, I am human and enjoy indulging in some good lazy take-out meals from time to time]

For our daughter’s 6th birthday, she requested a family dinner at the Indian restaurant so that she could have lentil dahl. And I was happy to oblige – a night off from cooking and dishes, PLUS, I’d get to slurp up some of my beloved green sauce…………..

Since we don’t eat out often (and to avoid green-sauce-withdrawal symptoms), it became necessary for me to develop my own green sauce. Here it is:

Cilantro Hemp Sauce

 

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Prep time

2 mins

Total time

2 mins

 

This sauce is incredibly versatile - great for dipping veggies, chips, wraps, fingers, or use it as a dressing on salad, eggs, burgers, rice or pasta, spread it on some sourdough - whatever! And it takes literally 2 minutes to make!

Author: J

Cuisine: Vegan, Paleo, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Raw

Serves: 1 cup

Ingredients

• 2 (or more) cups of fresh cilantro (or other greens, like basil, arugula,parsley)
• ½ cup fresh parsley (optional)
• ¾ cups raw hemp hearts
• 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 or 2 garlic cloves
• ½ tsp salt
• dash of pepper/cayenne
• 2 Tbsp good quality olive oil (optional)

Instructions

1. Rinse greens.
2. Toss all ingredients (stems, flowers and all!) into food processor.
3. Puree.
4. Taste and adjust consistency (add more hemp hearts to thicken or lemon juice to thin out).

Notes

Serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to 5 days. Mine never lasts longer than that because we eat it so quickly....

3.5.3208

Such a flexible “recipe” allows for lots of creativity, experimentation and the perfect opportunity for little helpers to contribute (and learn!) – selecting ingredients, chopping and tasting until perfection.

A great dip for raw veggies or spread it in a wrap…

Pour it over rice, potatoes, pasta or raw zucchini noodles…

Enjoy!