Clean Gut’s Thai Vegetable Wraps With Almond Sauce Recipe

Remember when Grey’s Anatomy was all the rage and everyone was yapping about who was hotter…McSteamy or McDreamy? That show always made me too depressed to even care, but that’s all in the past now that I’ve found the biggest smoke stack of them all: McCleany (aka Dr. Alejandro Junger).

Born in Uruguay, Dr. Junger experienced severe stomach problems and depression when he moved to NYC for his post graduate training. The extreme change in his diet and lifestyle left him feeling sick and down. Tired of seeing doctors and getting no clear answers, he decided to become his own patient and get to the root of the problem through alternative solutions.

After healing himself through clean food and meditation, he started to do the same thing for others with his Clean program (Gwyneth Paltrow and Donna Karan are fans). He’s helped thousands of people through this innovative program and the accompanying (and New York Times Best Selling) book, Clean.

And now his latest book, Clean Gut, has arrived. In it he explores ways we can attack disease before it ever takes root in our gut in the first place, instead of just treating our symptoms. I love this example: “A pill for an ill to suppress symptoms is a lot like painting the brown leaves green for a sick tree. It just bad gardening. And it doesn’t work.”

The book is chock full of great stories and information, but also some great recipes too. This one is one of my favorites. It’s super easy to make, and you can add or substitute any veggies you like depending what you’ve got in the fridge. I love taking these to work, because unlike bread, the romaine leaves don’t get soggy by lunchtime. And the sauce is just so damn good.

{ Thai Vegetable Salad Wraps with Almond Sauce }

The Sauce
1 tablespoon almond butter
1 teaspoon grated ginger
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon tamari
Pinch of cayenne
1/3 cup water

The Rest
4 Large romaine leaves
1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
2 scallions
6 snow peas, thinly sliced
1 cucumber peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
Fresh cilantro for garnish

To make almond sauce, puree the almond butter, ginger, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, tamari, cayenne, and water in a blender until the mixture is creamy. Add more water if the mixture is too thick. Set aside.

Wash the lettuce leaves and set them aside to drain. In a medium bowl, combine the cabbage, carrot, scallions, peas, and cucumber. Spoon about one quarter of the vegetable mixture into each lettuce leaf, roll up the leaves, and set the wraps into a serving platter.

Drizzle each wrap with 1 tablespoon of almond sauce. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

OPP Tips/Notes:

Use the peels from your cucumbers to tie the wraps together. It makes them prettier and much easier to eat!

I wanted a thicker sauce, so used about a 1/3 cup of water. I would start with this and then add more as you go.

In the original recipe, Dr. Junger recommends topping with nori. I skipped this step because I’m not a nori lover. But if you love it, go for it!

Come back tomorrow. I’ll be giving away a little something special from the Doc himself.