Dinner is served with this incrediblly tasty Raw Pad Thai from the cookbook all-star Choosing Raw by Gena Hamshaw. Look, let’s get real for a second. For most of us, eating raw all the time is not only impossible but undesirable. God bless if you eat raw all the time. I mean that with all my heart. For me, I need to eat my soup hot, I want my cookies baked, and there is nothing like the smell of onions and garlic sautéing on a pan that I could never give up. However, I do love dabbling with raw foods as you may know. I thoroughly enjoy taking fresh ingredients and whipping them into something unsuspecting (like how nuts, dates, and cacao powder can turn into raw brownies). Eating food in it’s natural state is a great way to keep your meals uncomplicated, fresh, while saving time in your busy schedule.
If you are familiar at all with Gena’s website, Choosing Raw, you will know that she pours her heart into her recipes and message of attainable healthy eating with an approachable girl-next-door candor. So it’s no surprise that she would create a beautiful book that shouts exactly that message: You can eat well and have more raw foods in your life without having to maintain what can be seen as an intimidating raw foodie diet.
It’s down-to-earth, approachable, and full of recipes that do not require you to purchase expensive kitchen equipment or hard-to-find ingredients (Gena gives great tips on where to find them, just in case). My kind of book!
*Please note that I added the peanuts in the recipe because, well, I like peanuts.
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Raw Pad Thai
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 mins
Ingredients
- For the Pad Thai “Noodle” Ingredients:
- 1 package (12 oz) kelp noodles
- 1 c. carrot, julienned or peeled into slips with a vegetable peeler
- 1 c. julienned or spiralized zucchini
- 1 c. shredded red cabbage
- 1/2 c. chopped cilantro
For the Pad Thai Sauce Ingredients (makes 1 cup):
- 6 Tbsp. almond butter
- 1 Tbsp. tamarind paste
- 1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp. tamari
- 1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger (or 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated)
- 1/2 c. water
Instructions
- Soak the kelp noodles in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Shake them dry, then pat them very dry with a paper towel or kitchen towel. Use a pair of scissors to snip them into smaller pieces.
- Blend all the sauce ingredients, along with one 1/2 c. of water, in a blender until smooth.
- Mix the noodles thoroughly with the vegetables and cilantro. And 1/2 c. of sauce and mix in. And more sauce if needed, until the noodles are thoroughly coated with sauce. Serve, garnished with cilantro.
Notes
The Pad Thai sauce will last for a week in the fridge. The noodle dish will keep for 2 days in the fridge.
The recipe was reprinted with permission of the author, Gena Hamshaw of Choosing Raw.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
- Calories: 200
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 288mg
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated Fat: 1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 12g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 14g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 17g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Candida-Friendly Tip:
Use coconut aminos instead of tamari. Replace Stevia with the tamarind paste and maple syrup. Omit the peanuts and used crushed up almonds for a nice crunch.
Read no further and purchase this dang awesome cookbook now here. No wait, make this Raw Pad Thai first and see for yourself and then buy this cookbook. No, that means you have to wait longer so buy the cookbook first and then eat thi…oh do what you want as long as it means you buy the book! After all, you really do need one more to add to the collection and this is one you want in your pile.
Disclaimer: I was given a copy of Choosing Raw from the publisher to review however all ideas and opinions are my own.
Hi – My husband has Candida and I was especially chuffed to find your website, an experienced cook who loved food and (sadly) has also had to deal with personal Candida problems.
On further investigation I noticed that quite a few of the recipes you offered seemed to be for both candida and gluten, this is not the case. They have 2 specifically different areas Gluten can’t eat wheat etc but Candida can eat wholemeal, they just can’t eat yeast and there are a few other things which Candida doesn’t seem to like but Gluten sufferers can eat. I am finding it all very confusing and really difficult to differentiate what each diet entails.
But it looks as if your Thai salad is considered ok for Candida sufferers as you have it included in the ‘fields’ of both, but there are peanuts which are a definite no no for Candida according to other sites and also carrots, again a no no.
It would help if you could have different sections on your site for the different diets because you have some very sick people reading your site and eating these things could put there progress backwards, when they are desperately dealing with a battle.
I am from the UK and we already have a battle trying to get our NHS to even accept that there is such a thing as Candida in the gut.
Your blog looks excellent but when dealing with diets for people illness you should be very clear about what each illness is allowed.
Kind regards and thank you for trying to assist all the poor people trying to find a diet to suit their needs.
You know, I really need to not look at your posts a few hours after eating. Now I’m all hungry again. I’ll just have to take this Pad Thai off your hands…
Turn off your computer and no one gets hurt…
Look, a bunny! ::runs off with Pad Thai::
Fluffy bunny…
Everything I could wish for in one cookbook…Love it!
I highly recommend it, Vivian!
I just got this book and really look forward to trying this recipe!
You are going to LOVE the book Angie!
There are obviously slices of sweet red pepper and pieces of green onion in the pictured dish, but not in the recipe. How much did you include?
Honestly, that was for color for the photo to stand out. You can add 1/2 red bell pepper and 2 green onions if you’d like.
They aren’t raw, but could you substitute bean thread noodles/mung bean noodles? I have a cupboard full of things like that and they need to get used up…
I didn’t have kelp noodles on hand so I just substituted them out with mung bean noodles as well and it was fantastic! I’m familiar with kelp noodles and their flavor/texture and I have to say it was nicely comparable. Enjoy, Laura!
what a great review, cara! the cookbook really does look awesome. and i love that you added peanuts. they are like my most favorite thing in the world.
You are girl after my own heart, Caitlin. I sometimes wonder if we were separated at birth…
Awesome recipe and I love Gena’s new book. Unfortunately, “Raw” Kelp noodles that are usually sold by the company Sea Tangle Noodle Company aren’t actually a raw food. The kelp is heated and processed along with sodium alginate which is mostly what you’re eating, not kelp. Also, look at the color. Is that really what kelp resembles, clear and translucent? I surely don’t think so.
Hi Mich, thank you for that–sounds like some good research on kelp noodles is the way to go, like you are saying, if that is important to you. Thankfully Gena gives us awesome recipes that are not all 100% raw as a means to add more good stuff into our diets.
I love how your chop sticks have your url
They are special-made like that Marge. haha. Just kidding 😉 Thank you!