A Healthy Thai Meal Better Than Takeout

I’m all about cooking with color right now. I’m so inspired by the fresh summer produced and this meal is perfect for the season. It’s light, incredibly flavorful, and it’s one of the most colorful meals I’ve made. I love Thai food. However, it can sometimes feel heavy. I played with some ingredients to create a deliciously healthy version of Pad Thai. I served  colorful spring rolls alongside the Pad Thai and it made for an amazing meal. Oh and the peanut dipping sauce is so good I could eat it by the spoonfuls – which I may have done when James wasn’t looking.

First start with the Spring Rolls. These are slightly time consuming – but well-worth every minute of work. Trust me! I found the spring roll rice wrappers in the Asian foods section of the grocery store. The package came with a lot of wraps, I only made 10 rolls. I made half with shrimp and half with veggies.

Not all spring rolls are created equal: you don’t have to add the same ingredients to every spring roll. I enjoyed making each one different. Chop up as many different vegetables as you’d like. You can even add fruit like mango to some of the wraps. I didn’t do that this time around, but I will next time. The more colorful the ingredient the better!

The spring rolls can be a meal on their own or they go perfectly with my healthy version of Chicken Pad Thai. I used a combination of vegetable noodles and Pad Thai rice noodles. You would never know this is a lighter version of Pad Thai. The flavor profile is incredible. The ginger, cilantro, and garlic make this dish amazingly fresh tasting.

Unlike the spring rolls, the Pad Thai takes very little time and preparation. This is a great weeknight dish or meal prep dish to make on Sunday. The serving size below is large enough to divide up into servings for lunch and dinner throughout the week or large enough to feed a crowd if you’re entertaining.

Spring Rolls And Peanut Dipping Sauce

Spring Roll Ingredients:

• 8-10 spring roll rice wrappers
• 1/2 lb peeled and deveined shrimp, tail on
• 1 carrot, peeled and julienne cut
• 1 english cucumber, julienne cut
• 2-3 green onion,  julienne cut
• 1/2 red pepper, julienne cut
• 1/4 purple cabbage, julienne cut
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 avocado thinly sliced lengthwise
• A package of edible flowers

Peanut Sauce:

• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp chili garlic sauce
• 1 tbsp freshly chopped ginger
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

First make the shrimp. Start with a small amount of sesame oil in a pan over medium heat. Salt and pepper the shrimp well before adding to the pan. Cook the shrimp for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Set the shrimp aside and start chopping all of the vegetables. This is the time consuming part. Julianne all of the vegetables as it makes assembling the rolls easier. You can use a variety of different vegetables – or any filling you’d like. I used red pepper, green onions, carrots, cucumber, purple cabbage, and avocado. I also used chopped fresh cilantro, and edible flowers I found at the grocery store where the fresh herbs are.

I like to get everything prepped and neatly arranged before I start assembling the rolls. Once everything is chopped and ready, start soaking the wraps. I filled a stove-top pan with water and soaked the wraps one at a time. As I assembled one roll, I had the next wrap soaking. Soak each wrap for 2-3 minutes. For the shrimp rolls, place the shrimp down first and stack the vegetables on top. Use three shrimp per roll and about 4 strips of any vegetable you’d like. For the rolls without shrimp, use avocado and a combination of different vegetables. If you find edible flowers, place those first, flower side down, then the avocado and vegetables. Stack the ingredients on the 1/3 of the spring roll that is closest to you. Fold the sides of the spring roll in over the vegetables. Then pull the side closest to you up and over the ingredients, sealing everything together tightly, and rolling it up like a burrito.

Finally, make the peanut sauce by whisking all of the ingredients really well and pour into a small bowl. This recipe for peanut sauce makes quite a bit. I like to take the leftover sauce and add some red wine vinaigrette to use as salad dressing throughout the week.

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Healthy Chicken Pad Thai

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cup zucchini noodles, homemade with the veggetti or store bought
• 1.5 cup butternut squash or sweet potato noodles, homemade or store bought
• 1 8oz box of Pad Thai Noodles
• 3 thin cut chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup pre-shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tbsp sesame oil

Sauce:

• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp of chili garlic sauce
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

Directions:

Start with the chicken. Salt and pepper the chicken well and saute in 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a large pan over medium heat. Set the chicken aside and begin making  your vegetable noodles. I use the veggetti I found on amazon. It’s under $10 and works amazingly! It’s the best one I have found. Vegetable noodles are easier to find in the stores now – store bought will save you a lot of time, it’s just cheaper to make your own. Set the noddles aside and chop the cilantro and green onions. Set those aside. Whisk the eggs together and set aside.

Now whisk together all of the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. In the same large pan you used for the chicken, heat 1 tbsp of sesame oil over medium heat, scramble the eggs, add the Pad Thai noodles (they’ll soften as you add the sauce and heat) then add the sauce. Cover the pan and let the noddles steam and soften. This will take about 5 minutes. Stir the noddles occasionally as this process takes place.

When the noodles begin to soften, add the vegetable noddles and mix well. Add the shredded carrots, cooked chicken, bean sprouts, half of the chopped green onions and half of the chopped cilantro. Mix well and continue stirring for about another 5-10 minutes until everything is cooked well. I like a little crunch to the vegetables noodles, if you like them softer just cook a little longer. Divide the Pad Thai into individual servings and garnish with the remainder of the cilantro. Enjoy!

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