Say this recipe title 10 times fast and…you WIN!
Happiness and energy in a bowl. What more could you want on a Monday?
If I could summarize in a single recipe what a healthy vegan diet means to me, this bowl might just be it. It’s fresh, crisp, vibrant and heavy on the veggies with plant-based proteins throughout and a creamy and indulgent almond butter dressing. In other words – the perfect balance of this-tastes-freakin-amazing and this-makes-me-feel-freakin-amazing. I was bouncing off the walls with energy after I ate this….actually I still am. I swear it has nothing to do with overnight coffee concentrate.
Ok, maybe a little.
I know we’re only 1 week into summer, but this might just be my favourite salad of summer 2013. We’ll have to see if I can top this bad boy.
This salad is inspired by a raw Pad Thai dish I enjoyed at a restaurant called Marbles in Waterloo with my buddy Ange a couple years ago. I ended up recreating the recipe shortly after our visit, but I used glass noodles and I just wasn’t a fan. I don’t usually have texture issues with food, but those noodles were way out of my comfort zone. It’s strange because I’ve enjoyed them before in a couple restaurant dishes, but for some reason when I try them at home it’s creepville. Anyway, I decided to dig out this recipe again, this time using raw zucchini noodles. A very good decision, indeed. No creep factor. All goodness!
I decided to purchase a Veggie Spiralizer several months ago. This hand-powered device turns zucchini into a huge pile of cascading noodles in less than 1 minute flat. The device itself is quite small and compact, not taking up much room to store (which was my main concern) and it’s extremely light weight. The downside to this spiralizer is that it’s plastic and to be quite frank, it feels pretty cheap. However, I didn’t know how much I would use it so I went for one of the cheaper spiralizers on the market which only set me back about $25-30. It comes with a few different blades so you can make ribbons and what not, but I haven’t ventured that far yet. I like that there is very little waste leftover and the noodles aren’t as watery compared to using the hand peeler. Either way, you can use a julienne peeler (or a Y peeler to make ribbons) or a spiralizer for this recipe today. If you really wanted to, you could chop everything by hand the old fashioned way!
The almond butter sauce I made is very light – using only 1/2 tablespoon of oil – but it’s still creamy and indulgent at the same time. It makes just under 2/3 cup and I found it was the perfect amount for 2 large salads. We sure didn’t have any dressing leftover.
Rad Rainbow Raw Pad Thai
Yield
2 large servings plus scant 2/3 cup dressing
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
Ingredients
- 1 medium zucchini, julienned or spiraled
- 2 large carrots, julienned
- 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
- 3/4 cup frozen edamame, thawed (or try tofu)
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
For the dressing
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 cup raw almond butter (or try peanut butter)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium tamari
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2.5 teaspoons pure maple syrup (or other sweetener)
- 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
Directions
- Prep vegetables. Add the zucchini, carrots, pepper, and cabbage into one or two large bowls. Toss with hands to combine.
- Prepare the dressing by processing all dressing ingredients in a mini processor (or simply whisk by hand). The dressing may seem a bit thin at first, but it thickens as it sits.
- Top bowls with edamame (or tofu), green onion, hemp seeds, and sesame seeds. Pour on dressing and enjoy!
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)~~~~~~
Last but certainly not least, Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! This post was supposed to be a red & white strawberries ‘n cream pie, but of course when you plan on a themed recipe working it rarely does. I’m sporting my red & white all day regardless. I hope you have a great holiday! Oh and happy (almost) 4th of July to those of you in the US.
oh my goodness this looks heavenly. We’re having a bit of a heat wave here is Seattle, and nothing but cold foods (like this refreshing salad!) sound appetizing. I may just have to make it :)
Love this! What dressing would you recommend for someone who is allergic to nuts? I would love to try this. Thank you for sharing.
Hey CL, Sunflower seed butter might work, but I haven’t personally tested it out yet. Let me know if you try it!
what would you recommend in place of the peanut butter? I’m nursing my baby who is allergic to all types of nuts.
Hi Darla, Sunflower seed butter might work, but I haven’t personally tested it out yet. Let me know if you try anything!
I just used sunflower butter and it was awesome!
Thanks for letting me know, so happy to hear this is an option! What brand of sunflower butter did you use?
The jar says, “Sunbutter Natural.” Basically the only brand in my grocery store down here in sunny Florida! It gave it a tahini taste/smell.
This is such a beautiful summer salad! I love edamame! It’s so versatile. That veggie spiralizer looks so cool too! I want one now ;) I also want to get a pasta maker so I can make fresh pasta. I wanted to tell you- I’ve been working up to veganism. I’ve gone a few weeks pescatarian and I’m loving it! I can’t wait to be full out vegan.
Thanks for the great idea, Angela! I might have to play with a few sauces so I can make this delish dish all the time! I was recently given a spiralizer and we love it, even took it with us to the beach (who wants to cook there?). Thought about writing about it on our website and here it is – great minds think alike, I guess! Question: did you have a problem with the noodles breaking? I found it only works if I put the narrow end of the veggie toward the blades (cutting veggies in half so there’s always a narrow end).
Great-looking recipe, so colourful, can’t wait to try! Here’s the thing though about the spiralizer – why is there not a 1/2-inch wide core of the zucchini poking out the end in your photo of the spiralized zucchini? I have the exact same device and the whole long core of the veggie piece is wasted because it’s anchored into the small hole in the back, just above the blades, and just continuously pushed/poked through as you spiralize. Does anyone know what I’m talking about??? It’s also superhard to spiralize relatively narrow veggies like carrots because they don’t have a diameter big enough to continuously hit the blades. Help, please??? I’m pretty sure I’m using it right, but maybe someone has a tip.
I always have that core sticking out too! Yeah, it’s too bad you can’t spiralize carrots unless they’re really fat. :(
Wowowowowow!! I can’t wait to try this!! It sounds AMAZING.
I’m SO making this. Made the dressing today….will have it for lunch tomorrow! Looks delicious :)
This salad looks so pretty and colourful! I can’t wait to try it! :)
My 4-year old and I made this today for lunch and Loved it, seconds all around. I especially loved the texture: so many different kinds of crunch going on in each mouthful. Thank you!
Wow! That looks beautiful and delicious! I’m definitely going to try it! Thanks for sharing!
This looks like a lovely colorful bowl full of goodness!
Wow this was sooo good! I made just a couple small changes – yellow zucchini for green, green cabbage for red, and left the water out of the dressing. I also topped it with crushed tortilla chips. Def repeat worthy! I hope there are lots of salad recipes like this in your cookbook because this is my fave kind of food!
I think I’ve died and gone to Heaven. That really is happiness in a bowl! I’m not vegan, but I HAVE to try this!
Kisa.
Thank you for sharing! I had this for my birthday meal at home. It was delicious! We added grilled pineapple slices which made it extra yummy!
This looks beautiful!! Sounds like a great recipe – can’t wait to try it out =)
This salad was very good! It should be even easier to make next time, since I now have my very own spiralizer. I think I’ll add some rice vinegar to the dressing though. I really loved the punch it gave the Thai-Inspired Cucumber Salad.
My husband and I made this for lunch yesterday, and we both loved it! I’m trying to get him to eat more vegetables and less meat, and even though he added chicken, I was happy to see him enjoy something so good for him (he even took the leftovers to work!).
The only changes I made were adding a bit of stevia for a little extra sweetness, and a few dashes of red chili flakes. I also used peanut butter, but I’ve tried sunbutter in a similar recipe, and it was awesome too.
Thanks for sharing!
been a fan of your blog’s for a while but finally made a recipe and this was it! I LOVED IT. So easy, so yummy, SO GOOD FOR YOU. Thank you so much! Will be trying more of your recipes very soon.
Best always!
Thank you for trying it Maria! :) So glad you enjoyed it.
Looks so good. Where did you buy your spirilizer? I’ve been to two big kitchen/bath stores, and I can’t seem to find one.