Thursday, July 2, 2015

Cooler Fare for Summer

Fresh Asian Cucumber Spring Rolls
Makes 6 to 8 rolls
Ingredients: (use organic)
1/3 cup almond butter
½ Tablespoon grated ginger
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon + ¼ teaspoon high-quality sea salt, divided
2 Tablespoons raw coconut nectar or maple syrup
¼ cup raw macadamia nuts, pulsed in a food processor (Retain some texture and do not overprocess into a fine powder. Pine nuts or cashews are okay as a backup option if you can’t source macadamia nuts.)
¾ Tablespoon sesame oil
2 organic cucumbers, English hothouse or long garden varieties
a few handfuls of clover sprouts
1 cup julienned carrots
Directions:
Put the almond butter, ginger, lemon juice, ½ teaspoon sea salt and coconut nectar or maple syrup in a blender and process until smooth. Pour contents of the blender in a bowl and set aside. If you don’t have a great blender, you can easily whisk the ingredients together. Pulse the macadamia nuts in a food processor and add to a small bowl. Mix in the sesame oil and remaining sea salt, and set aside. With a mandolin, slice the cucumbers into very thin, long strips. If you have a steady hand, you can try doing it by hand with your knife, but it is rather difficult to keep them thin and as long as the cucumber. To assemble the rolls, add a bit of the almond butter mixture about one-third of the way up the cucumber slice, and top with a little bit of the macadamia nut mixture. Next, add a trace of sprouts and carrots, and roll carefully all the way up. Place on a tray with the folded edge firmly down. You may have to slightly break the outer part of the cucumber so that the roll doesn’t unravel.
Note: If you are slicing the cucumbers by hand and they are not super thin, it can be helpful to soak them in about 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice overnight, to help soften them up for rolling.
Recipe courtesy of Kimberly Snyder, C.N. author of The Beauty Detox Foods

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