Experimenting with Raw

It was awhile back that I first discovered Super Foods by David Wolfe and viewed the documentary, Food Matters, and made the definitive decision that though I have always believed that "we are what we eat" , what we take into our bodies (via food and or the products we put on our bodies) really does matter more than maybe anything.  We vowed years ago to eat in a way that was both better for our bodies and for our planet, to eat as much local produce as possible, eat only organic, and eat food in the closest state possible to it's nature.  

With this in mind, just a month or two ago,we personally set the goal, as a family, to "up the ante" on our consumption of raw foods with the intent to ensure we were eating at least 50% raw per day.  Easy enough, to have a salad once a day and when you consider our daily consumption of fruit, but then I started to be inspired.  My friend Dayna Martin, inspires me at least once a day, with her photo posts of her raw cheesecakes and other goodies.  (To see for yourself, check out her blog link on the sidebar: Raw Envy) 

And then there was this cook-book (if you can call it that; heehee), that made it's way onto the shelf of the little health food Co-Op I work at.  Had to have it:

It was this book in combination with a wonderful authentic Thai cookbook that I have that inspired this meal.

  A little something that I literally came up with as I went along.  Another goal we have set; cook only with what there is in the house, resisting the urge to spend more money and in the process test my creativity. 

I present you to our Thai Spring Rolls dinner . . .

Spring Roll Wrappers (also known as rice paper, rice paper rounds, spring roll skin, edible rice paper, wraps, banh trang or summer roll wrappers) are used in both Vietnamese and Thai cuisine for preparing fresh or fried spring rolls. The circular wrappers are thin, brittle, and opaque and marked with a cross-hatched pattern.

 To prepare, submerge the rice paper into a plate of shallow water a few seconds just to soften, one at a time. Do not oversoak or the rice paper will start to disintegrate.

Here is my selection of goodies I planned out for filling: grated carrots, cucumber sliced thin, green onions shreds, jicama matchsticks, cilantro and fresh mint from my garden, grated ginger and unsweetened natural coconut, (though I must admit it was so much fun, I added some stuff along the way; avocado, pickled red cabbage, you name it.)

Fill your wrapper with fillings of your choice and wrap up (much like a burrito and/or eggroll), sides in, top folded over and rolled.  

Some variations:

And the finished product:

All they needed was some yummy sauce for dipping.

Most spring roll recipes suggest Hoisin sauce.  I found this Vegan GF version at my local health food store.

But then, also, found this wonderful Tahini sauce on a raw food site that I just had to try.  I only had toasted Tahini in the house so it's not technically raw but rather raw-inspired.  Mix all of the following ingredients in a bowl until smooth.  

1/4 cup raw tahini

2 tablespoons Nama Shoyu soy sauce

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons raw agave  (I substituted maple syrup)

4 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic, grated

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)

*I found it rather thick and added an additional tablespoon of lemon juice.  Note: this sauce also thickens as it sits so more thinning may be in order if you intend to dip your rolls in.  We settled for drizzling between bites.

I knew the rolls themselves would never be enough for our large family, so proud at my RAW accomplishment set out to finish off the meal.  What I ended up with was: 

Snow peas with curried almonds

Sesame stir-fried nung beans with scapes, onions and carrots

Rice noodle salad

And a side of Edamame


Oh and did I mention I had gotten some seaweed salad to put in our wraps and completely forgot about it? 
Couldn't let it go to waste so we had that on the side too!  Totally stuffed ourselves!  haha

Be sure to check back as I will be back later in the week to share those side dish recipes . . .
(and after this week that will be available via direct link above)

Love and light,

Amber