Easy Thai Flavored Staples

This week, we were both feeling a little under the weather so we needed something really easy to keep ready to eat in the fridge. Enter the Favorite ...

Thai Crunch Salad.

Thai Crunch Salad

There are a couple of ways to enjoy these flavors - as a salad and as lettuce wraps.
I have posted them both below.
If you want simple and tasty, it doesn't get much easier than this.

The Thai Crunch Salad

Ingredients:

Bag of shredded Cabbage
Bag of Broccoli Slaw
Bag of shredded Carrots
Bag of Mung Bean Sprouts
Cucumber, peeled, and chopped or julienned (depending how much time you want to spend.)
Raw Cashews, roughly chopped

If you have a larger family or more time, of course you can buy the whole ingredients and shred them yourself as well.

Put all but the cashews into a big bowl and mix well. Then put into a ziplock bag or container until ready to portion out and serve.

To Serve: grab a handful or so per person, add to a bowl, add dressing and toss. Plate and sprinkle cashews over top. This is perfect to take to work as well.

Dressing:

If you are fortunate to have a Trader Joe's Market around and are not concerned with eating peanuts, then the Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette is a wonderful dressing!!

You can find it in the refrigerated produce section at Trader Joe's.

For a raw version without peanuts try this:

Mock Peanut Sauce
1/2 cup raw Almond Butter
1/4 cup Water
1 Tbsp fresh Lemon juice
2 tsp Agave Nectar or Maple Syrup
2 tsp Tamari
1/2 tsp crushed Garlic ( 1 clove)
1/4 tsp grated fresh Ginger
dash Cayenne Pepper
dash Sea Salt

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Store in sealed container in the fridge. Should keep 5 days. Makes 1 cup

Dressing Recipe found in Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people, which by the way is a really great book!
I haven't ever made something from this book that we did not like.

Thai Lettuce Wraps

Thai Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

Boston Bib Lettuce

Carrot -grated

Broccoli Coleslaw (comes in bag pre shredded)

Cucumber - julienned or cucumber salad (recipe to follow)

Sunflower Sprouts or Mung Bean Sprouts

Raw Cashews, chopped

Spicy Peanut Dressing or Mock Dressing from above

Assemble like a taco using lettuce leaves, putting dressing on top with a sprinkle of cashews to finish. 

Lettuce wrap

Cucumber Salad

cucumber- julienned

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp agave

1 Tbsp nama shoyu

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Mix all except sesame seeds and place in bowl over cucumber to marinate in refrigerator. 

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top at serving.

I hope you try this. It is so delicious!