Saturday, April 18, 2009

chunky grumpy rolls-long post!

Feeling full and happy. Ahhh, pura vida, the beauty of tasting amazing, fresh, organic food that I got to eat in my own restaurant. Does that sound snobby? I guess a little. but hey I am working long hours, i need to eat well. Finally I figured out a way to make super easy, super tasty, super filling rice paper rolls...

Chunky because they are loaded...Carrots, beets, sprouts, avocado, 3 rice paper rolls, spinach, lettuce, mint, cilantro..These are gigantic, burrito size!

Grumpy because it is so delicious, can't have enough...but then even if you have two, you get full and it is so tasty you want more but don't have any more space in your stomach, so you have to be patient till you get hungry again..

This recipe has been a work in process since 2 years. When Anna from Australia was working at Organico, she made the Vietnamese rolls for us but they were cumbersome. Too much prep work with ingredients we don't use for other dishes so there was always waste. But we sold them a lot and loved to eat the left overs, even after two days. With more work piling up, we retired the recipe.

Last week, Igor from Montreal showed up, a vegan, raw chef and our obsessive food conversation lead to a spontaneous food demo class and we made sushi and rolls. For the rice paper rolls he used carrots, beets, spinach, sprouts, all the ingredients we have ready for almost every dish on the menu. Except for the veggie pate with sunflower seeds that needed some soaking time, tons of veggies, spices, not too difficult but another extra item on the menu...i loved the rolls but not got the clarity to go ahead for a new menu item. Though he taught us the trick to make really stable rolls, using 3 rounds lined up like a Venn diagram and it is so much easier to fill it with tons of veggies and tuck the ends and roll with ease. A trick I have never knew before, makes such a difference. Check out some photos...

Then, two days ago, i searched for raw humus recipes totally unrelated, because I am tired of eating cooked food, hours wasted on energy, taking tons of enzymes, loads of it, to off-set the dead food and trying to take care of myself. So, I found a great recipe with zucchini...It is the same exact humus recipe we use at the cafe, made with zucchini instead o garbanzo beans. I made it today but since zucchini is very liquid, the humus turned out way too wet. Inspired from Igor's veggie pate, I added a cup of sunflower seeds, and it was perfect!

So, here it is....best rolls ever...

3 rice-paper rolls, dipped into hot water for 30 seconds and lined up in a Venn Diagram.

lettuce
shredded carrots, beets
cilantro, mint
raw hummus made with extra cup of sunflower seeds, 1 cup of parsley and 1 cup of spinach (use 3 tablespoons of humus for one roll)
sprouts
avocado
spinach

Pile up all the ingredients in the order above and roll firmly. Serve with your favorite dressing or Thai sweet and chili sauce.






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