Jaye impresses chef with three-course meal

Dubai: "I'm not expecting anything strange, I'm just wondering if he's missing anything. This diet is pretty restrictive," said Chef Uwe Michael, Director of Kitchens at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek, and a World Association of Chefs judge.

Watching stalks of celery, basil leaves, turnips, courgettes, and cherry tomatoes emerge from one of three jute bags and a cooler box onto a counter of his large, stainless steel hotel kitchen, Chef Uwe is definitely intrigued at what Jaye Lentin, a Gulf News videographer and raw fooder, is going to prepare for him to try.

"I've never met a raw vegan before," he said.

Preparing fresh, raw fruit and vegetables for every meal can seem trying in modern society where convenience foods dominate most of what is put on the table for dinner.

That's when home-cooked meals are still made, otherwise diners get served in restaurants several times a week skipping the food-preparation stage all over again.

"In terms of vitamins you can't find better than such a diet, when cooked you destroy some of the good things and most people overcook their vegetables anyway," said Chef Uwe, who hails from Germany.

"Some people just boil everything when it should be served fresh and crispy."

Today Jaye is preparing a raw three-course meal for Chef Uwe to taste-test.

For starters, a gazpacho, or cold soup, made from tomato and mango; a main dish of courgette ‘noodles' with a cold tomato sauce and cashew-base ‘cream', topped off with a raw ‘cheese'-cake, also known as ‘calorie-bomb'.

"I've found that when recreating cooked dishes with raw ingredients, if the original is bad for you so is the raw version," said Jaye. This cheesecake is made from a serious amount of macadamia and cashew nuts which ups the fat intake. It also needs to be frozen and so this dish comes already home-made.

In just over 30 minutes Jaye has prepared two dishes.

Strawberry cheese cake recipe
Tomato mango soup recipe
Beetroot zucchini pasta recipe

Tomatoes are blitzed in his industrial blender and mixed with mango. The noodles are made from courgettes passed through a spiraliser which carves out long, soft spirals from the whole vegetable. Turnips are given the same treatment and together red and white noodle-like spirals dominate the plate, topped with tomato sauce and a dolop of the cashew cream to compliment the flavours.

"I'm impressed," said Chef Uwe after a first taste, and then a second. "I'd like to sprinkle some crispy bacon bits on top though," he jokes.

"I take my hat off to him. If he's happy that's great but it might be overdoing it."