Midlife Kitchen Recipe: Raw Pad Thai from Mimi Spencer and Sam Rice
Another recipe from the Midlife Kitchen cookbook. All the recipes are designed to promote midlife health. Enjoy!
Raw Pad Thai Recipe
WHY WE LOVE IT
One of our Midlife mantras is to embrace variety – and the sheer abundance of flavour, texture and colour here will clearly do wonders for you. It’s a rainbow of raw excellence, brought together with a terrific tangy dressing guaranteed to transport you to a Koh Samui beach. You’ll need a bit of time to chop and slice, but otherwise it’s a doddle. Add cubes of tofu or cooked prawns for a more substantial meal.
SERVES 2
1 small carrot, peeled andcut into thin strips, shaved or shredded
1 small courgette, finely sliced or cut into thin strips
50g red cabbage, very thinly sliced
50g sugar snap peas, sliced
1/2 a pepper (orange, yellowor red), deseeded and thinlysliced
2 spring onions, sliced diagonally
1 mild red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
a handful of bean sprouts
a handful of coriander leaves
a handful of mint leaves, plus sprigs to serve
FOR THE DRESSING
2 tbsp coconut milk
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter (100 per cent peanuts, no sugar)
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp tahini
1 tsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp maple syrup
1cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 lemon grass stalk, tough outer layers removed, finely chopped
TO SERVE
20g peanuts, crushed
2 tsp Midlife Sesame
Seasoning, see page 32 or below, or sesame seeds
Place all the vegetables and herbs in a large bowl and mix well.
Place all the dressing ingredients in a jar, seal with the lid and shake well until combined.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well, then arrange on a serving plate. Top with the peanuts, seeds and extra mint sprigs and serve.
Health Tip
Peanuts are not, in fact, a nut but a legume. In addition to
their ‘good’ fat content, peanuts contain an array of other
nutrients that have been shown to promote heart health.
Midlife Sesame Seasoning
WHY WE LOVE IT
An excellent ‘semi-salt’, this seasoning includes sesame seeds for a shot of added fibre, vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids. It’s a simple combination based on a 1:10 ratio that goes to the heart of what makes the Midlife Kitchen tick: bumping up the health benefits, pumping up the flavour and trying something new that takes mere seconds to prepare. The Japanese call this seasoning gomashio; try adding ground nori seaweed sheets to the mix if your taste for umami stretches that far.
MAKES APPROX. 4 TBSP
10 tsp black (or white) sesame seeds
1 tsp sea salt flakes
Using a pestle and mortar, pound the sesame seeds until lightly crushed (alternatively, whizz in a blender), then combine with the salt.
Transfer the mixture to a jar and use as an alternative to salt.
Try This…
* On dark green salads
* With French beans
* Sprinkled on an omelette or scrambled eggs
Midlife Hack: Semi-salts can really reduce your salt consumption, while adding dazzling nutrient-rich flavour to any number of dishes.
Health Tip
For such an unassuming little seed, sesame brings quite a lot to the Midlife party:
protein, fibre, B vitamins, calcium and iron are just some of their nutrient line-up, guarding against health issues such as high cholesterol and osteoarthritis. They are also a source of phytoestrogens, which can promote the cardiovascular health of menopausal women.
The Midlife Kitchen: health-boosting recipes for midlife & beyond
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