Hi all! Sorry it has been so long. I see you have your Movember mustaches on, so I made a perfectly manly snack to get caught in those whiskers. Lets cut right to the chase.
Mustard Mushroom Bits (Spicy Mustard Crimini Mushrooms w. Raw Sesame Crust)
The Mustard: (adapted from Sarma Melngailis' book 'Living Raw Food')
1/2 cup brown mustard seeds
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup pinot gris (shop local if you can, I chose Sandhill from B.C.)
1/2 tbsp pink sea salt (or more to taste)
1/4 - 1/2 cup raw honey (yes, I'm aware that honey is not vegan... use agave if you want)
Soak the mustard seeds in water for an hour or more to take away some of the heat (but this didn't help me all that much, the mustard is still killer hot)
Rinse and drain seeds and put in blender with the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth. If you taste the mustard at this point you will find it bitter and gross. Pour into dish/bowl and let sit in fridge for a few hours or overnight to get rid of the bitterness and allow the flavours to blend. Should last 1-2 weeks in fridge.
The Mushrooms:
2 6oz (170gr.) packages of organic mini crimini mushrooms, washed and sliced in half
Now for the unmeasured part:
a few tbsp, maybe ½ cup mustard from recipe above
a few tbsp olive oil
½ or ¼ red onion, chopped small
Put the mushrooms and onions in a large bowl. In a separate bowl put the mustard and olive oil. Mix with a spoon to combine well and pour over mushrooms and onions. Allow to marinate for a few hours.
Take a mixture of raw white and raw black sesame seeds (maybe 1/4 cup of each, maybe a bit more) and put them into a food processor or blender (I used the vita mix dry blade container) and blend for a very short time until fluffy and broken up (I think if you blend for too long you might end up with sesame butter). Pour into a separate bowl.
Add some sea salt to taste and mix.
One by one, add mushrooms to sesame seed crumbs and dab or carefully roll to cover in seeds. Try and make sure to have some onion bits on each mushroom for extra flavour before adding to sesame seeds. Place on teflex lined dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 105 for about 8-16 hours (until fully dry inside). If you are planning to eat them right away then you don't have to wait until they are fully dry, there is a bit more flavour if they aren't totally crispy.
I considered spraying them with oil after they were coated for that deep fried feel, but I didn't. Might be good though. I also might add some pepper or herbs to the outside crust next time for some added flavour, but overall these are a fun little snack. Dip them in mustard for extra zing (you will have lots of mustard left over).
I went out last night to a bar for a friend's snowboard video premier. After one too many tequila waters I found myself at home devouring the whole lot of mustard mushrooms... guess I'll have to make some more...
