Working with Kelp Noodles and Raw Pad Thai Recipe
2012
This raw version of Pad Thai is close to the authentic, and very popular, Thai dish. It is made with tamarind and has all of the distinctive flavors of the original. The big difference is in the noodles. I like to mix softened kelp noodles with flat peeled zucchini noodles for my Pad Thai, and include strips of carrot, red pepper and other vegetables to fill it out also. Pad Thai is a dish that excites all of the taste buds at once as you experience all of the flavor sensations; the sweet, sour, salty, tangy and spicy. This dish is a favorite and a wonderful taste sensation.
The zucchini noodles can be spiralized or you can use a vegetable peeler and peel off long strips with it of the peeled zucchini. This very closely resembles the traditionally and commonly used rice noodles. If you do not have kelp noodles you can just add more zucchini noodles.
About Kelp Noodles and Preparing them
Kelp noodles are a product made by the Sea Tangle Noodle Company. They are made of kelp, water and sodium alginate. I do not know exactly what sodium alginate is. According to my research it is found mainly in the walls of brown algae and is extracted. It binds with water and forms a viscous gum. Extracted alginate is said to absorb 200 to 300 times its weight in water. Extracted sodium alginate is white to light yellowish brown. The thing I don’t understand is how it is clear and kelp is deep green and also I have not seen or heard just how the kelp noodles are processed. Personally, I have to admit that I am a little skeptical as to how healthy they are. They seem liek they should be as they are made of mainly pure kelp and fall into the raw foods category, processed at low temperatures. Bottom line. I love them and so I eat them once in awhile, but to be honest I don’t really trust them completely and keep dishes made with them (which are delicious) to a once in awhile thing.
Soften the noodles in advance by soaking them in a bowl of hot water. Kelp noodles straight out of the package are crunchy and smell like sea water. Rinse them well and then put the noodles into a bowl of hot water. This will take the sea smell away and they are left odorless. They also are quite tasteless when you use them in dishes which makes them very versatile, as they will take on the taste of any sauce you put them with. Make the water as hot as your hand can stand with your hand still being able to be in it. This is a good general guideline for raw foods: if the water is too hot and hurts your hand it will be too hot and start to destroy the enzymes. Different foods have a different temperature at which they start losing enzymes and so this is a general and quite safe guideline. The water you are soaking the noodles in will get cool quickly so continue to add hot water to the bowl and let sit until they start to soften.
How to Prepare the Kelp Noodles on Video
Phad Thai
Ingredients
Noodles and Vegetables:
1 pkg. Kelp Noodles – soaked in as hot water as possible to stay raw (under 115 degrees), for several hours to soften.
1 Green Zucchini – spiralized
1 Yellow Zucchini – spiralized
1 Carrot – angel hair spiralized
½ Red Pepper – julienned
6-8 leaves Nappa Cabbage – thinly sliced
¼ cup Cilantro leaves – chopped
Sauce:
1 cup Cashews- soaked 1 to 2 hours to soften
2 Tbsp Almond butter
1 Tomato
¼ cup Tamarind paste
3 Medjool Dates
2 Tbsp Nama Shoyu
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
1 Lime – juiced
1 Garlic clove
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp Black pepper
½ tsp Sambal Oelek or 1 t Chili – seeds removed
¼ tsp Coriander seed
Topping and Garnish:
¼ cup Cashews – coarsely chopped
½ tsp Sesame oil and Salt
2 Green Onions – sliced diagonally
2 Tbsp Red Pepper – diced small
Directions
For the topping mix the chopped cashews with sesame oil and salt together in a small bowl and set aside until ready to serve.
Soak the kelp noodles in hot water for several hours to soften. Prepare the vegetables and set aside in a bowl. When the kelp noodles are soft, rinse and drain and then add to the bowl of vegetables.
Make the Pad Thai sauce by blending all of the sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy.
Mix sauce with vegetables and noodles until well combined. Serve in a beautiful bowl, garnished with the seasoned cashews, green onion and red pepper.
How to make Pad Thai on Video
Part 1 – Preparing the vegetables
Part 2 – Preparing the sauce and Plating the dish
