Going for a fall picnic or potluck? Impress your friends by making a colorful rainbow raw slaw with hemp dressing. I’ve learned to recreate so many of my favorite more “conventional” meals into healthier raw-food versions. This one is especially easy: simply minus the mayonnaise, and add in the hemp seeds for a dairy-free salad dressing.

Hemp seeds are not only creamy with a delicate nutty flavor, but they’re also an incredible superfood. Hemp seeds are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. In just one ounce of hemp seeds (about 30 grams) there is almost 3 grams of omega-3, which is more than double your daily requirement. I talk about the benefits of hemp seeds and show you how easy it is to make raw hemp milk in my ebook “Your Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Dairy Alternatives“. Hemp seeds aren’t the only powerhouse in this meal. The incredibly benefits of cabbage also adds to the nutritional density of this meal.

Essential Kitchen Equipment

For this raw slaw, you will need a high powered blender to make the creamy hemp salad dressing. I personally use and recommend the Vitamix Blender. I wrote a comparison review between the Vitamix and Blendtec that’s worth reading if you’re looking at buying a new blender.

To chop up the cabbage, you can either use a sharp knife, a mandolin, a grater or the shredder blade on a food processor. You can also shred up the carrot with this blade or simply use a regular grater. I love my 14-cup Cuisinart Food Processor, but if this is too big to suite your needs and you’re looking for something smaller, consider the 7-cup Cuisinart Food Processor, it’s a smaller and more affordable model.

A high-powered blender and a food processor are two of the top 4 raw food kitchen tools I recommend stocking your kitchen with.

Raw Ingredients

Creamy Hemp Dressing Recipe

In a high-powered blender place:

• 1/2 apple
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 date or tablespoon of honey (if you eat honey its best to support your local beekeepers and buy local, organic, raw honey)
• ½ cup coconut water (or you can just use regular water)
• 1 cup of hemp seeds (also called hemp hearts)
• 1 teaspoon of caraway (I love the taste of caraway, so I like to add 1 tablespoon, but that might be a bit much for most people!)
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• Pinch of garlic powder (not garlic salt)

Preparing the Raw Rainbow Slaw

In a large bowl:

• Shred up 1 small to medium sized purple cabbage. You can also use a combination or purple and green cabbage.
• Shred up 3-4 carrots for a beautiful orange color
• Thinly slice 3 celery stalks
• Dice up 1 apple into a small dice
• Add ½ cup of raisins

Pour the dressing over the rainbow slaw and massage it with clean hands. It’s best to make this dish several hours in advance to allow the flavors to marinade.

Place in the fridge, serve and enjoy!

Aloha from the Big Island of Hawaii,

Laura Dawn