Ana's Raw & Thai'd Up

Are you reading Fifty Shades of Grey yet?  I'm not because quite frankly, the story horrifies me.  The housewives in the neighborhood are all reading it.  They and their husbands are loving it because they are all getting so turned on, it makes for lots of 'play time' for them.  I, on the other hand, have no plans on reading it yet after a friend described the story to me in all its horrific steamy glory.  It sounded more like pedophilia to me and while whips and chains may sound exciting, I have no desire to read about or live out any strange rape fantasies.  Either way, its been a hot topic of conversation and after creating yet another delicious Thai meal, I thought Id have fun with the name and dedicate it to the lovely vixen, Ana.

Last night was a major BUST in my secret laboratory (i.e. the kitchen).   I spent 2 hours preparing what I thought would be a decadent and savory meal, only to discover my brilliant idea should have remained in my head.  So, I did what any self respecting wanna chef would do and I ate it.  I choked down an entire bowl of the junk while sneering at the stove.  It tasted like tears and defeat and I couldn't wait until I had the energy to play in the kitchen again.  That time came today when I decided to pull out the raw kelp noodles that had been sitting in my pantry and go all raw. 

Kelp noodles are a great raw substitute for pasta but the texture can be a little funky, so I added some zucchini noodles to it using my spiralizer. 

Then I got all Thai'd up and made my own tamarind juice. 

All in all, the recipe didn't take long and was really damn good.  This makes enough for 2 small portions but you can double or triple the sauce ingredients and serve over more raw noodles, spaghetti squash, soba noodles, etc.

Ana's Raw & (Pad) Thai'd
1 Tbsp raw almond butter
2 Tbsp raw cashew butter
1 Tbsp Tamari or Shoyu
1 Tbsp flax oil
1 Lime, juiced
1 tsp dulse flakes
1 clove garlic
1 tsp raw honey or agave nectar'
2 Tbsp tamarind juice *recipe follows
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 carrot, peeled to make ribbon noodles
1 zucchini, spiralized or peel using veggie peeler for ribbon noodles
1 C raw kelp noodles
1/4 C sliced red cabbage
1 green onion, sliced on diagonal
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped


*To make Tamarind Juice, remove the hard outer shell from the tamarind.  Pull apart and remove inner seeds.  The barky-flesh that's left is the part you eat.  Use flesh from 1 tamarind pod and put into 1/3 C warm water (or hot.  I tried to stay raw so I used lukewarm.)  If the water is hot, allow to sit about 2 minutes.  If its warm, stick to 4 or 5 minutes.  The flesh will soften and the water will become thicker and darker.  Take this and put into a high speed blender with 1/4 tsp Turmeric.  Blend well and then pour through cheesecloth into a bowl, squeezing the cheesecloth to allow the liquid to escape.  Discard the cheesecloth and paste and you are left with the juice.  You will only need 2 Tbsp for this recipe, but you can always dump in rest or save for another use. 

Mix the first 11 ingredients (almond butter-cayenne) in a blender until smooth.  Toss together carrot ribbons, kelp noodles, cabbage and green onion and sauce.  The sauce may not seem like enough at first but after just a few tosses, the zucchini will release its juices and there will be plenty of sauce.  Sprinkle cilantro on top and serve.