Raw Pad Thai

This vibrant, colourful dish represents Thailand in all its freshness and technicolor. Texture, zing, spice, colour... you've got it all in this little salad that takes only a few minutes to put together. 

It's an interpretation on the Thai national noodle dish of Pad Thai using spiralised noodles made from courgettes, carrots and cucumber (you could also use daikon/mooli). And instead of using peanuts, we use almonds to give it that gorgeous nutty flavour without the nasties found in peanuts. Using cherry tomatoes in the sauce gives it a well-rounded taste and sweet-smelling aroma. Like always, I emphasise using local ingredients to you. We are so lucky to have gorgeous tomatoes that grow in the Isle of Wight all year long (in winter in greenhouses) so they don't come from too far and they just taste divine. Hands down the best tomatoes in the UK! 

Using essential oils in food is absolutely divine if you haven't already tried it. You must use high-quality food grade oils like the ones from Young Living. Essential oils are also best suited to raw food or added to food after the cooking as the heat will destroy the beautiful aromas. I absolutely love lemongrass oil to flavour my drinking water, to diffuse in the home and indeed a necessary note to many Thai dishes, it really adds that truly Thai touch to the dish. If you don't have lemongrass oil at home, you could use a fresh lemongrass stalk instead. I actually grow my own here in London (who knew that was possible?) and thus you can probably too. 

Ingredients:
Almond Chilli Sauce:
• 1 tb small red chillies, finely chopped (or organic crushed chilli flakes)

• 2 tbs organic tamari
• ½ cup full fat organic coconut milk
• 2 tbs fresh lime juice
• 2 tbs raw almond butter
• 1 tb raw honey or coconut sugar, to taste
• 1 cup fresh cherry tomatoes

• 1 drop of lemongrass essential oil or 1 fresh lemongrass stalk

Vegetable Salad:
• 1 carrot, spiralised
• 2 courgettes, spiralised
• 1 cucumber, spiralised

• 2 spring onions, sliced on a slant
• 1 shallot, cut in half and thinly sliced
• 1 head of crispy lettuce, finely chopped (optional)

Garnish:
• ½ cup soaked almonds, roughly chopped to garnish
• bunch of basil, mint and coriander, chopped to garnish

1. Make sure you have activated your nuts by soaking them the night before making the recipe. To make the spicy almond sauce: blend all sauce ingredients in a food processor or high speed blender.

2. For the Salad: Place all prepared vegetables in a bowl and cover with a lime juice marinade. Massage the vegetables with marinade.

3. Top with Almond Chilli Sauce. Sprinkle with chopped almonds, basil, mint and coriander and sesame seeds if using.