Mostly Raw Pad Thai Spring Rolls
Servings 6 rolls
Ingredients
- 1 small/medium zucchini
- 2 carrots or about 6 baby carrots
- ½ small cabbage chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped into matchsticks
- 6 chives chopped
- 6-12 mint leaves depending on size (see notes)
- 18 cilantro leaves chopped
- 6 spring roll wrappers
- a couple big handfuls of peanuts or other nuts you prefer
For the sauce:
- 2 limes juiced
- 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter natural
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon ginger ground
Instructions
- First, you want to cut up all the vegetables. I used a spiralizer to make my zucchini resemble noodles (ZOODLES!) and also to cut up my carrots. I had bought my cabbage already shredded as I used some to make coleslaw later that week. You can shred by hand, but just make sure it’s really shredded thin. And same with the bell pepper, you want to cut it into matchsticks. You can give the nuts a rough chop or just leave them in whole pieces—up to you. I kind of like leaving them whole, but if you use nuts that are a bit bigger, you might want to give them a chop.
- Next, make the sauce. Simply whisk together all the sauce ingredients listed above until smooth. If your sauce appears too thick, like it’s very difficult to whisk, then add a little water, but I found this was not necessary for me. I could see a little water helping though if you are using tahini or peanut butter from the very bottom of the jar. Sometimes if the oil separated and you didn’t get to mix it together well when you opened the jar, then the very bottom becomes quite hard. You should be able to pour the final sauce pretty easily.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine zucchini, carrots, cabbage, and bell pepper. Add 3 tablespoons of the sauce (a little less than half) and mix well so everything gets coated. Reserve the remaining sauce to serve on the side along with your final spring rolls.-You can see the size of the mint leaves I was using here in the photos. These are smaller than I normally see them, so I probably used 12 throughout all my spring rolls. But when they are larger, I’d use less, sometimes only one big leaf per spring roll that I tear into a few pieces. The main idea is the chives, mint, and cilantro will add a lot of flavor to your spring rolls, but you don’t want to overpower them with any one flavor (or too much of all). So use your judgement here based on how big your herbs are.-Tamarind pulp is sort of a weird ingredient, I know. But it’s also useful in making Pad Thai sauce (you know, for noodles, not the hippie raw version) and other thai dishes. We love Thai food at our house, so I find it really useful. Don’t be afraid to try it out.-You can totally use any nuts you prefer or even mix. I like peanuts and cashews the most, but any nuts will work well as we’re just looking to add a little crunch. 🙂
- Fill each wrapper with a chive, a few mint leaves, a few cilantro leaves, some nuts, and then a small handful of the raw pad thai. Roll up and repeat until you’ve made all six rolls.
Notes
-You can see the size of the mint leaves I was using here in the photos. These are smaller than I normally see them, so I probably used 12 throughout all my spring rolls. But when they are larger, I’d use less, sometimes only one big leaf per spring roll that I tear into a few pieces.
The main idea is the chives, mint, and cilantro will add a lot of flavor to your spring rolls, but you don’t want to overpower them with any one flavor (or too much of all). So use your judgement here based on how big your herbs are.
-Tamarind paste is sort of a weird ingredient, I know. But it’s also useful in making Pad Thai sauce (you know, for noodles, not the hippie raw version) and other Thai dishes. We love Thai food at our house, so I find it really useful. Don’t be afraid to try it out.
-You can totally use any nuts you prefer or even mix. I like peanuts and cashews the most, but any nuts will work well as we’re just looking to add a little crunch.