Recipes
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
By Carly Knowles, M.S., RDN, L.D.
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
Carly Knowles, M.S., RDN, L.D. is a a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and food and nutrition expert. She is the author of The Nutritionist's Kitchen.
Image by Paperclip Images / Stocksy January 08, 2021 We carefully vet all products and services featured on mindbodygreen using our commerce guidelines. Our selections are never influenced by the commissions earned from our links. Eating "rainbow food" refers to eating a colorful diet. For many of us, it maybe easier and even more pleasing to eat monochromatic foods, especiallytan, white, and brown foods, such as bread, rice, cheese, crackers, and otherconvenient foods that taste good but have fewer nutrients. As we learn moreabout food, we are finding that naturally colorful foods may actually delivermore health benefits, specifically more phytonutrients such as antioxidantsand other health-promoting constituents. Many of these nutrients havedisease-preventing properties. By maintaining avaried and colorful whole foods diet, you are laying the foundation for nutritional success. Can you get a minimum of three colors on the plate at your nextmeal?
Rainbow RollsWith Ginger Almond Sauce Recipe
Rainbow chard, a collection of varieties of chard, is incredibly nutritious, deliveringample amounts of magnesium, iron, manganese, copper, and potassium. Cabbage supportsnatural detoxification in the body due to its antioxidant content and sulfur-containingcompounds. These two powerful plants, combined with the other vegetables, provide a recipethat's abundant in fiber, supports digestive health, and is naturally cleansing. Customize theingredients to fit your preferred flavor profile, keeping in mind color and textural variation.Add thinly sliced and cooked fish, shrimp, tofu, or a spread of nut butter for more protein ifdesired.
Ingredients for the rolls
Makes about 8 rolls
- 2 cups dried thin rice noodles orvermicelli rice noodles
- Toasted sesame oil
- 1 bunch rainbow chard,destemmed and each leaftorn in half crosswise
- ½ small red cabbage, coredand shredded or thinly sliced(about 2 cups)
- 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned(about 1 cup)
- ½ English cucumber, seededand julienned (about ¾ cup)
- 1 large carrot, peeled andjulienned (about ¾ cups)
- 1 cup cilantro, destemmed (thinstems OK)
- Eight (8-inch) spring roll ricepaper wrappers
Method
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions for cooking the ricenoodles. Once they are cooked, drain the softened noodlesand rinse in cold water to cool. Add them to a medium-sizebowl and toss with a splash of sesame oil to keep them fromsticking together. Set aside.
- Prepare the chard, red cabbage, bell pepper, cucumber, carrot, and cilantro; set aside. In a blender, blend all the sauceingredients (see next page) on high until smooth. Pour into asmall serving bowl and set aside. Lay out all of your ingredients in assembly-line fashion (akamise en place) and get readyto put the rolls together. Include a prepared protein source inyourmise en place if desired.
- Pour warm water about ¼ inchdeep onto a round plate or into a baking dish (large enoughto accommodate the dimensions of a rice paper wrapper) andset aside another empty round plate. These will become yourrice paper wrapper station. Now, you're ready to roll.
- Start by dipping one rice paper wrapper into the warm waterfor about 20 seconds or until soft and pliable (replenish warmwater as needed). Remove it and gently place it on the emptyplate, unfolding any areas. In the center of the preparedwrapper, lay down a piece of rainbow chard vertically lengthwise and add 3 to 4 pieces of each prepared vegetable in aneat line in the middle of the leaf. Add a heaping line of oiledrice noodles on top of the vegetables, along with a healthyhelping of cilantro leaves.
Ingredients for the sauce
Makes about 1 cup
- ⅓ cup unsweetened creamyalmond or peanut butter
- 2 inches fresh ginger (peel onOK if organic)
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoonsoy sauce or gluten-freetamari
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey or maplesyrup
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes orgochugaru
Method
- Starting at the bottom of the chard leaf (leaving the rice paperalone for now), roll it over the contents, tucking in any strayvegetables, finishing with the seam side down. Re-center thewrapped chard roll in the middle of the rice paper and foldthe left and right edges of the rice paper in and over the chardroll. Next, gently wrap the bottom edge closest to you upand over the chard roll, continuing until fully wrapped andsecured. I find that this process is easiest with wet hands. Setaside and repeat with the remaining rolls.
- To prevent the completed rolls from sticking together, I ruba drop or two of sesame oil on the outside of each roll beforestacking them together on a serving plate. Serve at roomtemperature or refrigerate for 20 minutes until cold and servewith the ginger almond butter dipping sauce. You can alsowrap each roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate to enjoy at alater time. The rolls will store well in the refrigerator for 2 to3 days before the rice paper wrapper will become chewy andstart to dry out. The ginger almond butter sauce can be storedin a glass jar with an airtight lid and refrigerated up to 7 days.
FromThe Nutritionist's Kitchenby Carly Knowles, M.S., RDN, L.D. © 2020 by Carly Knowles. Photography©Kimberley Hasselbrink.Reprinted in arrangement with Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications Inc. Boulder, Colorado.
