Cooking with Aloha

Chef Stephen Rouelle is the owner of Under the Bodhi Tree, a casual vegetarian, vegan, and raw food restaurant at The Shops at Mauna Lani. He was previously executive sous chef at The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii and has more 30 years of culinary experience.

I came up with this dessert starting with a raw, vegan, cashew-based cheesecake recipe. Pairing it with lilikoi and pineapple is a great flavor combination, allowing the pineapple to sweeten the lilikoi slightly. I like the macadamia and walnut combination in the crust. Most of these ingredients can be found at a natural health food store and the fruits are often accessible at most of our local farmers markets.

Raw Pineapple Lilikoi Cheesecake

Serves 12

2 cups walnuts

1 cup macadamia nuts

1/2 cup dates

3/4 cup Meyer lemon juice, fresh squeezed

3/4 cup agave syrup, raw organic

3/4 cup coconut oil, extra virgin

3 cups cashews, raw, organic

1 cup organic pineapple, cleaned, cored and diced

1/4 cup lilikoi pulp with seeds

Place the walnuts and macadamia nut into a food processor. Turn it on and chop the nuts, while adding dates one by one. When the mix is chopped finely and sticky to the touch, remove and place it in a parchment paper lined cake pan or spring form pan.

Place the lemon juice, agave and coconut oil into a Vita-Mix and blend. While it is running, add the cashews slowly. Mix until smooth.

Pour 2/3 of the cheesecake mix into the pan and tap the sides to evenly distribute. Add the pineapple and lilikoi to the remaining mix and blend. Pour the fruit layer onto the first layer.

Place the cheesecake in the freezer overnight. Thaw 20 minutes before cutting and serving.