Words by Blanka Priddle

Whether you need to avoid gluten for health reasons, or you choose to give your digestion a break from bread from time to time, it is always handy to have a fun alternative that you can munch on with your soup for lunch, eat with your favourite cheese accompanied by a glass of wine, or take with you to a pot luck or picnic for a healthy snack, or simply for a change. A couple of months ago I shared my favourite plant-based cheese recipe and it just so happens that I love to eat it together with these crackers. The mild, soft, creamy luscious cheese and these spicy, full-on flavour crispy crunchy crackers are made to be eaten together! You could make it into a cute little appetiser by making small round crackers, piping the cheese on top and decorating with long stems of fresh chives, chive flowers or other edible petals, now that Spring is officially here.

Spicy Sun-dried Tomato and Herb Crackers

Ingredients

1 cup sunflower seeds, soaked overnight, and rinsed

1 cup almonds, soaked overnight, and rinsed

½ cup sundried tomatoes packed in oil

2 Tbsp olive oil from sun-dried tomatoes

1 or 2 red peppers, about 1 cup when roughly chopped

2 or more chilli peppers, depends how spicy they are, and how spicy you want your crackers

2 cups flax seeds, ground (this can be done in a high-speed blender)

½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 Tbsp cumin powder

1 Tbsp chilli powder

1 Tbsp salt (I use pink Himalayan salt)

1 bunch of fresh coriander, stalk thinly sliced, leaves roughly chopped

1 bunch fresh basil, stalks thinly sliced, leaves roughly chopped

Hemp, poppy or sesame seeds to your liking

Method:

1. Rinse sunflower seeds and almonds, then discard the soaking water and let excess water drip away.

2. Grind your flax seeds. You can do this in a dry high-speed blender or a coffee grinder. While you can buy them already ground, this would have caused the seeds to lose nutrients, so if you are able to grind them fresh as needed, this is so much better.

3. If you like things spicy, you can leave seeds in the chillies, otherwise remove seeds and the thin membrane inside the chillies, as this is where the heat is; chop them roughly

4. Put the sunflower seeds and almonds in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add everything else apart from the more delicate herb leaves and flax seeds. Add herb stalks at this stage to incorporate properly. Process until the mixture comes together and everything is finely ground. 

5. Pulse in the ground flax seeds. If the mixture id too thick, add enough water to make it pliable

6. Add remaining herbs and pulse enough time to chop them finely and distribute them evenly through the mixture.

7. Now spread the mixture over your dehydrator Teflex sheets lined dehydrator trays (a kind of non-stick sheets used in dehydrators when working with a wet mix); there should be enough for 3 – 4 trays, depending on if you want your crackers more thin and crispy, or thicker and slightly chewier. Then sprinkle with hemp and poppy seeds, optionally with some Maldon salt flakes for extra savouriness, and use a rolling pin to lightly press the seeds into the mix.

8. If you would like your crackers to have a particular shape, you will want to score the mix now. I sometimes leave the tray whole and break the finished crackers into more rustic pieces.

9. Dehydrate at around 40 degrees C for 12 hours, at which point you will want to flip the crackers over and peel the Teflex sheets away. Dehydrate until completely dry through and crispy-textured. I use Excalibur dehydrator and have been happy with it for over a decade now.

If you do not have a dehydrator, I suggest you bake on baking paper lined trays at around 160 degrees C, and that you score the mixture once it is on the trays with the blunt edge of a knife, to make the baking process easier. Keep an eye on them, as the ones around the edges will start to crisp and turn golden after around 15 minutes or so, while the ones in the middle of the sheet will take longer. Once they harden enough you can flip individual crackers over to speed up the baking. I would probably not use hemp seeds if you are baking these in the oven, as they are very delicate, and may burn more easily. Remove those that are ready and return the tray into the oven until all crackers are nice and crisp. Leave to cool on a wire rack. 

You can store these for a couple of weeks in a tightly sealed container, providing you dehydrated/baked them until completely dry.

Enjoy with soup, broken into small pieces as croutons sprinkled over a salad, or with any kind of creamy spread, fresh soft goat cheese, sprinkled with more herbs and seeds if desired. The ultimate combination is with a nut-based cream cheese for which I have written a recipe in January. You can find it here.

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