Salad Wraps – Playful!

Do you ever feel the need for an antidote to heavy meals? Do you need something simple, refreshing and light to tide you over and fill you up? Meet the Salad Wrap.

Take some lettuce as a wrapper, make veggies the star, and experiment with beans, grains, chicken, fish, meat, tofu, nuts, seeds. As for dressings,  try  an Asian Avocado one or my chef-sister Julia Richardson‘s Asian Peanut Sauce.

Salad Wraps 

• 4 leaf lettuce leaves, lower 2 inches of spines removed
• 2 carrots, spiralized, grated or shaved with a peeler
• 2 mini cucumbers, spiralized or julienned
• 2 endive, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 c baby arugula
• 1 small beet, grated
• 1 bell pepper, or half each, yellow, red or orange, thinly sliced on a mandoline

Lay small amounts of each ingredient on a dry lettuce leaf and roll tightly to make a cylindrical wrap. Snuggle the Salad Wrap in  parchment paper to hold it in place, then cut it in half to reveal the filling. Stick a toothpick in each half. Refrigerate until needed. Serve with Asian Avocado Dressing or Asian Peanut Sauce on the side. Makes 4 wraps. Serves 4 for a light snack or meal, 8 as a side salad. As you unwrap the parchment paper to indulge, be careful not to let any beet juice dribble out the bottom. It’s a lovely red colour, but not on your white trousers.

Asian Avocado Dressing

• 1 avocado
• 1 small garlic clove, grated
• 3 T rice vinegar
• 1 T each soy sauce, grated ginger, sesame oil
• 1 t Sriracha

Combine all ingredients in a blender until creamy. Add 2 tablespoons of water to thin it out a little.

Asian Peanut Sauce

• 1 c each crunchy peanut butter, water
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 T each grated ginger, soy sauce, seasoned rice vinegar, palm or coconut or dark brown sugar
• 1 t hot pepper flakes
• 1 star anise

In a small pot, heat and whisk the ingredients, then let cool. Serve individual portions with Salad Wraps to avoid accusations of double dipping.

Salad Wraps, Asian Avocado Dressing, Asian Peanut Sauce Print Ready Recipe

• Don’t be surprised if your kids want to join in the fun of selecting ingredients and preparing these Salad Wraps.
• Jittery Cook received a Microplane Spiralizer to review. You can use a fancy large Paderno Spiralizer or invest less money and less storage in one of the Microplane Spiralizer pencil sharpener types. If gadgets aren’t your bag a handy knife could julienne the ingredients. The Microplane Spiralizer is great for making soft, super long strands with excellent mouthfeel.
• If your significant other isn’t into eating avocado or peanut flavoured sauces,  offer him some Opadipity Greek Yogurt Dip by Litehouse. I did, and mine looked pleased. And yes, Litehouse did send me samples for Jittery Cooking.
• Inspiration for these Salad Wraps arose during savasana  at Shri Yoga. Clearing your mind leaves it wide open for new ideas.