Cookbook:Almond-Cowitch Matcha Smoothie

Almond-Cowitch Matcha Smoothie
Category	Nut and grain milk recipes
Servings	3
Time	1 day
Difficulty

Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Equipment | Techniques | Cookbook Disambiguation Pages | Recipes | Beverages | Raw Diet

Mucuna pruriens, commonly known as cowitch or velvet bean, is sometimes used as a coffee substitute; however, cooking leaches out chemical compounds such as levodopa (L-DOPA). If consumed unprocessed in large quantities as food, they are toxic to non-ruminant mammals, including humans.

This recipe shows how to leech out dangerous toxins while still keeping the nutrient enzymes and L-DOPA that have long been used in traditional Ayurvedic Indian medicine.

Ingredients

Almond milk

• 1 bowl water
• 3 ⅜ cups (797 ml) water
• 1⅛ cup (265 ml) almonds

Smoothie

• 2 bowls of water
• ½ cup (118 ml) almonds
• ½ cup (118 ml) cowitch
• 3 cups (708 ml) water
• 12 dates
• 1 tbsp (14.75 ml) matcha
• 0.53 oz (15 g) milk thistle

Equipment

• Measuring cups and spoons
• Bowls
• Refrigerator
• Blender
• Sieve & wooden spoon or sprout/nut-milk bag
• Pitcher
• Freezer
• Ice cube tray
• Drinking cup

Procedure

1. Put 1⅛ cups (265 ml) almonds, ½ cup (118 ml) cowitch, and ½ cup (118 ml) almonds separately into 3 bowls of water. Make sure they are covered completely underneath at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water. This is called sprouting or steeping. Leave them in the refrigerator overnight, and then drain the water. Absolutely do not drink this water, since it has absorbed many of the toxins.
2. Put the 1⅛ cups of almonds from the previous step into a blender and add 3⅜ cups (796 ml) of fresh water. Begin blending. The mixture will start clear and quickly change color. Stop blending after a few minutes when there is no visible change in color or consistency anymore. Wash and dry your hands, and strain this mixture over a pitcher. You can either strain it through a fine sieve by squeezing the milk from the moist mixture through the sieve with a wooden spoon, or simply place mesh sometimes called a sprout or nut-milk bag that is usually made of nylon on top of the pitcher in order to squeeze the mixture through the mesh by hand. You may either discard the pulp or use it for other recipes, such as mixing it into almond agar jelly. Wash and dry your hands, and then pour the almond milk into ice cube trays. Place the ice cube trays into the freezer and remove when frozen.
3. Put the rest of the almonds and cowitch with 3 cups (708 ml) of fresh water into the blender. Begin blending. Just like before, this mixture will start clear and quickly change color. Stop blending after a few minutes when there is no visible change in color or consistency anymore. Wash and dry your hands, and strain this mixture over a pitcher. You can in the same way as you did in the previous step. Discard the pulp, and absolutely do not eat it, since it has many toxins. Do not drink or taste the liquid at this point. Wash and dry your hands, and put this liquid back in the blender. Blend in the dates, matcha, and milk thistle. If you are only going to make part of the mixture now, refrigerate what you’re not going to use and save for later in the refrigerator.
4. When well blended, pulse the liquid mixture with ice made from the almond milk until you reach the consistency you desire. Serve immediately.

Notes, tips, and variations

• Instead of making raw almond milk from scratch, you could simply purchase almond milk or use cow’s milk. Just bear in mind using cow’s milk would make this recipe not be vegan, if that is important to you. There is a recipe for cooked almond milk, Sharbat bil Loz, that involves a stove, although that is not advisable, as that will destroy the food enzymes in the almond milk.
• Unlike dates, artificial sweeteners usually do not have any nutrients. If you would like to substitute the dates for something else, try natural sweeteners, such or stevia or honey instead of sugar or syrup, if you can. Just bear in mind using honey would make this recipe not be vegan, if that is important to you.
• If you do not have milk thistle, you can empty one serving of a liver/organ support/shield or milk thistle supplement, such as a 200 mg serving of milk thistle capsules, into the mixture by simply twisting open the capsules with your dry hands.

Warnings

• Do not to use bitter almonds, since the combination of bitter almonds and water releases cyanide.
• Do not keep for the mixture from step 3 above for more than 2 days, since it spoils quickly. It's best to make it fresh.
• Do not exceed 3 servings per day.