Rai Singh's "No Bones About It" Recipe for the week, July 29th, 2010

Sat Nam everyone. I hope you've all had a great week. If you didn't make it to my cooking class at YP on Tuesday, which was a blast, I'm doing another one on August 24th.

This week's recipe is, and it's a fun one!!

"Southwest" Spring Rolls filled with Cabbage, Onions, and Sprouted Quinoa, with a Tomatillo Avocado Dipping Sauce
(Vegan, Almost Raw, Gluten Free, Nut Free)


I'm going to utilize another one of my weekly recipes. If you look back at my first post for July 1st, the Tomatillo Avocado Salsa. This week we are going to use that as our "sauce" for our Spring Rolls. That will be used as a "marinade" for the filling and as a dipping sauce.


Ingredients:
1/2 head green cabbage
1 medium red onion
2 ears of corn
1 bunch of cilantro
2 each serrano chiles
1 English cucumber
2 cups sprouted quinoa, (need to do about 24 hours prior to use)
1 package rice paper wraps
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
-Sprouting quinoa you say? EASY. Quinoa is a very small grain, so it sprouts very quickly. First, you put 2 cups of dry quinoa into a large enough bowl to fully immerse them. Run cold water over the quinoa for about 3-4 minutes, stirring to make sure none of them are sticking together. Heard someone say that if they float, they're witches, so pour those off with the water as your drain them. Then you strain the quinoa, shake off excess water, put in a glass jar with, and cover it with a cloth. (Needs to breathe) About 8-10 hours later, you repeat the rinsing, straining and jarring process. Again, at the 8-10 hour mark, your quinoa should be sprouted, slightly crunchy, and good, good, good. If not repeat once more. Rinse, strain well, and store them in a container, in the fridge, with a damp cloth in the bottom to help keep them moist, but not wet.
-About an hour before you are going to serve the spring rolls, julienne, (thin strips,) the onions, cucumber, and green cabbage, chop the cilantro, cut the corn off of the ear, dice the chiles into small pieces, and put into a bowl. Add about 1/2 cup of the tomatillo salsa, salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Put in the fridge to keep cool.
-When you're ready to serve, get a plate/bowl/pie pan that is large enough to dip the rice paper into with water. Dip one wrap at a time into the water for a few seconds, and place about 1/2 cup of the cabbage mixture into the middle of the wrap. The paper is a little stiff still, so be firmly gentle, fold the sides towards the middle and over the mix, roll into the burrito shape we, as Arizonans know and love. It may take a few practice rolls, but it is pretty straight forward.
-Serve chilled the Tomatillo Avocado Salsa as the dipping sauce.

Tips and Comments about this recipe:
-These are very fun to make, especially if you're having friends over and you make it an interactive experience.
-You can substitute cooked black beans for the quinoa.
-Sprouting is EASY. Check out youtube, or google for tips and techniques for other grains. You won't understand why you've never done it before.
-You can literally choose anything to fill the wraps with.
-Almost raw because I'm not sure about how the spring roll paper is made. I'm assuming it's cooked to some extent.

That's it. Pretty simple. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this post, please contact me at raisingh108@gmail.com. Any requests?? Send those as well.

Until next week, Sat Nam, and remember nurture your creativity and your belly by making your own food.

Rai Singh