These ackee ribbon sandwiches are colourful, nutritious and tasty. They contain no artificial flavourings or colours and are vegan!
They use ackee bean spread instead of cheese paste and are tinted naturally with turmeric, spinach and beet powders. Here they’re made on wheat bread but you can always use white or white wholewheat if you prefer.
Ribbon sandwiches were a favourite for me as a child, but now I tend to shy away from adding food colouring to something for the sake of adding food colouring with a few exceptions. I get really excited however, when I can add colour naturally, and as such vegetable powders are my friend.
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To start off, I made ackee bean spread (the same that was used for the Earth Day Spinach Dip).
I used canellini beans but you could also use channa (chickpeas) or any bean you like. I then took a few tablespoons of the spread and mixed it with the powders till I liked the colour. Bear in mind that the colour darkens once it has sat a bit and has a chance to hydrate so try not to add too much too soon. The turmeric, I cooked for about 2 minutes in a bit of oil before adding it to the spread to get rid of the raw taste.
A few other variations could be:
Shredded carrots; shredded and pressed cucumbers or zucchini or shredded beets for texture; Tomato or wheatgrass powder or spirulina/chlorella for colour or various herbs for colour and flavour.
These were fun to put together and satisfied my inner child.
What do you think? As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
If you make this or any of the other recipes on the site, be sure to #amazingackee and @amazingackee so I can see your posts across social media.
Until next time! Thanks for stopping by 😊
Ackee Bean Dip
Ingredients
- 1 can (15oz) Cannellini beans* , drained and rinsed
- 3 tbsps Water
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 cups Parboiled Ackee
- 2 to 4 tbsps Nutritional yeast , optional
- 1 tbsp Oil*
- Juice of a lemon*
- Salt & Pepper , to taste, if desired
Optional spices:
- 2 cloves Garlic , finely minced
- 2 tsps Onion powder , optional
Instructions
- Combine white beans, water and baking soda in a small saucepan and simmer till all the water evaporates (this step is optional but it makes the beans super soft and silky when pureed) cool slightly.
- In a food processor combine: beans, ackee, olive oil, half the lemon juice and if using the nutritional yeast and spices.
- Puree till smooth, add salt and pepper to taste. Use the remaining lemon juice if desired.
Notes
Notes:
- Beans – use any bean you like, channa (chickpeas), navy beans and lima beans are a few of my favourites. If you avoid beans altogether you can use tahini, it will take a little tweaking to get the thickness right.
- Oil – you can use whatever you like whether canola, olive oil or soybean. Avoid using coconut as when the spread it chilled it will become hard. Also, choose an oil that’s neutral in flavour so that it doesn’t overpower the dip, although you could use a strongly flavoured oil like sesame for flavour if that’s what you’re going for. It can also be omitted.
- Lemon – as an alternate you could use a mild flavoured vinegar, I like rice and white wine vinegar when I’m out of lemon