Cauliflower, Chia & Hemp Pizza Base

One of the most common questions people ask me when they find out that I'm a vegan who loves to cook is, "how do you bake without eggs?!" Although there's an abundance of egg replacers out there, I usually try to avoid them because they're highly processed. I prefer to use flax or chia eggs instead - all you do is grind flax or chia in a coffee grinder until it resembles nut meal, then mix with water to form what I like to call "gooey egg glue". 

The following recipe uses chia eggs to hold this dairy-free, egg-free, grain-free and soy-free pizza base together.

Ingredients (makes one pizza base to serve 2 (or 1 extra hungry person))

1/2 head cauliflower - processed into cauliflower rice
1 tsp dried rosemary
handful of fresh parsley
pinch of Celtic sea salt
pinch of lemon myrtle
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup filtered water
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup hemp flour

1. Boil the cauliflower rice for a few minutes and then drain well. Freeze for 10 minutes to cool quickly.
2. Grind chia seeds and mix with water to create chia eggs. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to thicken.
3. Squeeze cooled cauliflower rice in paper towels to remove any excess moisture.
4. Blend all ingredients, including chia eggs, in a high-speed blender and spread mixture onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (I ran out so I had to use foil - definitely not ideal!). 
5. Bake at 190C (fan-forced) for half an hour then top with all your favourite ingredients (I used homemade macadamia cheese, finely chopped beetroot/carrot sautéed in coconut oil, and green beans) and re-bake for another 15 minutes.
6. Garnish with parsley or other fresh herbs.

*You can replace chia seeds with flax seeds to achieve the same binding effect of eggs. 

Raw Cauliflower Rice Sushi Rolls

Not only do these sushi rolls look good, they're good for you too! 

Ingredients (makes about 8 rolls)

4 nori sheets
1/2 a head of cauliflower
the following vegetables, thinly sliced:
carrot
capsicum
avocado
spring onions
parsley

Kale pesto:
few leaves of kale
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Celtic sea salt to taste

Sauce:
1/3 cup olive oil
fresh juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp dulse flakes
Hawaiian black lava salt to taste

1. Process cauliflower into cauliflower rice using a blender or food processor on low speed.
2. Blend pesto ingredients and stir pesto through cauliflower rice.
3. Wrap cauliflower rice and veggies in nori sheets using a bamboo mat.
4. Dip in sauce to serve.

*This recipe uses pine nuts but you can replace pine nuts with avocado in the pesto to make it a nut-free recipe.