Tongue Thai-d.

I have a thing for Pad Thai. I'm not talking about a little crush, either. I'm talking about love, here. Infatuation, even. The noodles, with the scallions, crushed peanuts and the slightly spicy sauce--oh boy. If you're into having different textures and flavors on your plate, then you understand me when I talk Thai.

Now that I'm transitioning into raw foods, it's been fun and eye-opening to test new recipes and ways to bring some of my favorite dishes to the raw side. Creating raw chocolate chip cookies? I'm not quite there yet. But Pad Thai? Yes, that we can do, and we can do it in about 20 minutes. Nice!

The beautiful aspect about this raw dish is that the noodles are made out of carrot ribbons. They're so pretty and sweet, and have a little al dente crunch to them. Perfection, especially on a hot summer day.

Having gone to the French Culinary Institute, where sauces reign supreme, the idea of an uncooked sauce (that was delicious) used to be foreign to me. After a little trial and error, this is an exceptional Asian-inspired sauce that works great for this dish, and can be thinned out with a little water to dress salads or thickened up with more almond butter to use as a veggie dip.  God bless versatile recipes.

Most of the time, you probably use mint with desserts, ice creams, or berries, but this herb is actually a staple in Asian cuisine. Often times it's paired with dishes that are rich in spices to balance the heat and flavors.

Okay, let's get our 'cook' on!

Carrot Pad Thai

Serves 2

For the noodles:

4 medium-sized carrots

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/3 cup golden raisins

1 scallion, sliced

small bunch of mint, rolled and sliced into thin ribbons

For the Thai almond sauce:

1/2 cup raw almond butter

1 small clove of garlic

1 lime, zested and juiced

1 1/2 tsp. freshly grated ginger

1 red chile, sliced (remove seeds if you want to avoid a spicy sauce)

1 Tbsp. agave nectar

1/4 cup water

salt and pepper

For the noodles:

Peel carrots and then use your vegetable peeler to peel away long thin ribbons of carrot. Mix noodles with the cashews, raisins and scallions.

For the sauce:

Combine all ingredients, except water, in a blender and blend until they are homogenized and the sauce is smooth. Add water depending on how thin or thick you prefer to have your sauce. I usually blend a couple of teaspoons at a time until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Season as desired.

Pour the sauce over the noodles and toss gently to combine. Sprinkle the mint on top of the dish, along with some extra raw cashew pieces for a nice crunch, and enjoy this healthy, easy meal!