This creamy spinach sunflower seed ricotta is perfect to mix in your favorite pasta or lasagna. For this recipe, I have used this ricotta with rice noodles, which are my favorite type of carbohydrate. It can also be used as a flavorful dip!
A very simple recipe indeed! All you need is to soak the sunflower seeds. The quickest method is by covering them with boiling water for 15 minutes or else you can cover them with cold water for 6 hours. Once blended along with the rest of the ingredients, it should result as a creamy ricotta. I also added steamed spinach (which needs to be very well drained) to boost some iron in this meal.
Spinach is a great source of iron! It is an essential mineral you need to help red blood cells deliver oxygen to different areas of your body. When you have too little iron, you get iron deficiency anemia. This Spinach & Sunflower seed ricotta can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
YIELDS
2 cups
PREP TIME
COOK TIME
TOTAL TIME
- 1 1/2 cups Raw sunflower seeds
- 3/4 cup (plus 1–2 tablespoons as needed) Water
- 1 Garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon Nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon Freshly squeezed lemon
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup Parsley
- To taste Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- 1/4 cup Spinach, steamed and drained well
- 2mm rice noodles
- Red pimento (optional)
- Hemp hearts (optional)
Directions
1. Soak the sunflower seeds by covering them with boiling water for 15 minutes. If you prefer, you can cover them with cold water for 6 hours instead.
2. Drain and rinse sunflower seeds. Add the sunflower seeds to a food processor. Add water, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, garlic, smoked paprika and apple cider vinegar to the blender.
3. Blend on high until sunflower seeds have been fully blended and no visible chunks of the seeds remain, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. You can add 1–2 tablespoons more water if needed and blend again.
4. Make sure not to overblend or the consistency will become paste-like.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in chopped parsley, steamed spinach and black pepper.
5. Fold this gorgeous homemade ricotta to rice noodles. Soak the noodles for 6 to 8 minutes in boiling water until tender but still slightly firm and chewy. I used 2 mm rice noodles for this recipe. I would recommend 85 g of rice noodles (dry weight) per person. I also added chopped red pimento (why not!) and some hemp hearts.
Also by Roberta: Sleep Elixir Smoothie
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Photo: Roberta Farrugia
