Coleslaw with a Spicy Almond Dressing (aka Raw “Pad Thai”)

Rob is the King of pad thai. The recipe has been perfected. The secret ingredient has always been love…. and tamarind concentrate!  It is Rob’s go-to signature dish whenever we have company. He continues to make it with eggs and rice noodles for guests, but I have tried it sans egg with quinoa or zucchini noodles. Not the same, but good for me. I think kelp noodles will be the real winner, although we haven’t tried it yet.

Go to a raw restaurant and I guarantee you there will be a version of raw pad thai on their menu. But it is not anything like the real version. I prefer Thrive‘s version the most but just because it tastes good. Usually one gets a medley of shredded veggies with or without kelp noodles with a spicy nut-based dressing. It marries the sweet-sour-hot-spicy thing but doesn’t have the magical touch from tamarind.

I actually made this dish with Rob in the summer, life before the spiralizer. It was a raw weekend, because we also made the raw Tropical Mango Pie. After spending the morning finely chopping all the veggies, I think that’s when Rob thought the spiralizer would be a great gift.

So why post this now?

How many of you have random photos from your hard drive pop up as your screensaver? I do. Recently, photos of this dish came up and I remembered how good it was even if it wasn’t real pad thai. With a focus on cruciferous vegetables this month, I really had no excuses not to share this pretty and delicious dish, loaded with 3 cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli!).

While I haven’t had the raw pad thai yet from Live Organic Café here in Toronto, I spotted their recipe on Ricki’s website.

Raw cuisine (as opposed to raw food) is all about showcasing something different from “ordinary” vegetables. A play of textures without cooking your foods.

Here, you chop, grate, julienne and otherwise manually spiralize a host of veggies. Pick your favourites but some are more sturdy than others: carrot, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper, etc. I opted to buy some broccoli slaw to assist with spiralizing my broccoli for me. 😉

Then you coat them in a spicy-sweet almond sauce: ginger and chili flakes give you some heat, dates and agave confer sweetness, balanced by the sour lemon juice and saltiness from soy sauce. And of course, this all lusciously bathes within creamy almond butter. Add enough water to make a dressing and throw it on your salad. A spicy coleslaw. I didn’t want to mislead you by calling this pad thai. 😉

Devour.

This is my submission to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays and to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend.

Coleslaw with a Spicy Almond Dressing (aka Raw “Pad Thai”)

340g broccoli slaw
1 large carrot, shredded
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 apple, grated or julienned (optional)
1 cup finely chopped cauliflower
2 tbsp unsweetened coconut

Sauce
3 tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
4 dates, soaked for 2 hours
1/4 cup soy sauce
1.5 tbsp ginger, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp Aleppo chili flakes
1/2 cup almond butter
2 tbsp water, or more to thin to your desired consistency

1. Place the slaw, carrot, peppers, cabbage, apple and cauliflower in a large bowl.

2. In a blender, combine all sauce ingredients and 2 tbsp of the water.  Blend to combine, then test thickness.  If the sauce is too thick, add more water, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached. (The veggies will release some liquid, too, so try to keep it thick! 4 tbsp was too much water for us).

3. Pour the sauce over the vegetables in the bowl and toss to combine well.  Plate the veggie mixture and top with coconut. Will keep in the refrigerator up to 2 days.

Serves 4.