Here’s a new invention of mine that I know you will love! Not only is it super easy to make, it also doesn’t require fancy equipment and tastes wonderful!! Try making this for your guests next time, I’m sure they’ve never seen anything like it.

The secret in this recipe is the spicy Spanish paprika – it just gives the most incredible “smoked” taste to the dish that makes you want more and more. I personally can’t stop eating them this entire week!

Video recipe on how to make raw cheesy tapas:

Please watch the video below for clear guidelines – it’s much easier to understand if you can visually see it. For some reason the preview icon shows the Almond milk recipe, but once you click on it, it’s the correct video after all.

Makes 10 tapas

Equipment: food processor, mandoline (optional)

Ingredients for the raw vegan “cheesy” tapas:

For the layers:

• • • 1 fat zucchini
    • 2 medium tomatoes
    • Marinated beetroot slices (1 beetroot, salt, olive oil and apple cider vinegar)
  • • Alfalfa sprouts

For the cheese:

• • • 1 cup macadamia
    • 1/2 cup cucumber
    • 1 tbsp. lemon juice
    • 1 tsp. olive oil
    • 2 tsp. nutritional yeast
    • 1/2 tsp. salt
    • 1/2 tsp. spicy Spanish paprika (pimentón de la Vera) – the secret ingredient!

How to prepare the tapas:

• Firstly, lets make the marinated beetroot slices. Wash and peel the beetroot first. I would recommend using a mandoline for this but if you don’t have one, a knife will do just fine as long as you can cut the beetroot super thin.
• Once you have cut the beetroot circles, put them in a container one layer at a time. Sprinkle some salt, olive oil and apple cider vinegar on top of the beetroot slices, then put down the next layer. repeat this process, covering each beetroot layer with the marinate until there’s no more.
• Leave the beetroot in the fridge overnight to soften as much as possible.
• To make the cheese, put all the ingredients into a food processor and mix until it’s broken down well but there are still some chunks left. Set this aside for now.
• Once you have the beetroot slices soft and the cheese prepared, you can now cut the other layers. Cut the zucchini and tomatoes into circles, about half a centimetre thick.
• To assemble, use a zucchini circle as the base, now put a beetroot slice on top, followed by a tomato slice.
• Now I like to put down some alfalfa sprouts, followed by a spoonful of the macadamia cheese, and that’s it!

Unlike some raw recipes, this dish will not so soggy so you can prepare it in advance if you have people over. I always recommend that you eat it fresh, but you can also keep it in the fridge for 1-2 days, the colour of the cheese will change a little though.