sweet miscellany

A colorful rainbow of spring veggies served are served up alongside your choice of a cooked grain and a ginger peanut sauce. Rosy-hued pickled radish slices add a nice tangy element to this vegan and gluten free deconstructed spring roll bowl.

The swift arrival of spring has brought not only the dusty yellow covering of pine pollen but a slow refilling of the creative well. I started imagining things I wanted to create, photograph, and share here. This process isn’t always the same. Sometimes it starts with a fully fledged idea, other times it centers around a single ingredient (passion fruit!) or a specific combination (strawberries and basil!). In this case however, the recipe is based on a meal that I keep in a mental list and refer to regularly when preparing for the week.

This dish doesn’t feature prominently on my rotating mental list in the fall and winter because my body is transitioning to hearty and warming fare. Now that the weather is trending warmer, it’s time to bring it back out! I like to ease my body back to lighter fare so it’s not such a shock to my digestive system, thus the lightly steamed carrots and snap peas rather than all raw veg. The pickled radish will also help with digestion as will the ginger root in the sauce.

The ingredients in the bowl are really up to you and what you enjoy about spring rolls. I’ve included a list of suggestions below along with what is in my bowl that you see in the photos. I highly recommend making it as colorful as possible!

Deconstructed Spring Roll Bowl with Ginger Peanut Sauce

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Author: Courtney
Total Time: 15 minutes

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Description

Ingredients

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for the sauce:

1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup mellow miso paste
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3–4 tbsp tamari (if you don’t like things as salty, start with 3 tbsp)
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
sriracha to taste (I used a heaping tbsp)
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger root
water as needed to thin

for the quick-pickled radishes:

one bunch of radishes, thinly sliced
3/4 cup vinegar (white, apple cider, red wine, or rice are all good options)
3/4 cup filtered water
2 smashed garlic cloves
a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp mustard seed
2 tsp salt
2 tsp of honey or maple syrup

for the bowls:

any combination of raw or steamed spring veggies and herbs that you like such as snap peas, carrots, cabbage, sprouts, kale, mint, cilantro, and avocado
any cooked grain that you like such as brown rice or quinoa
for extra protein, you could add tofu or tempeh

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Instructions

Make the sauce by blend all of the ingredients until smooth. Add water a little at a time to get a consistency that you like. I ended up using roughly 1/3 cup of water. Makes 1 3/4 to 2 cups of sauce depending on how much water you use.

To make the pickled radishes, add the sliced radishes to a jar with at least 2 cups (pint) capacity. Add everything else to a small pot and heat it over medium-high. Stir it a few times while it heats to make sure the salt dissolves. Once the vinegar mixture comes to a simmer, let it simmer for 2-3 minutes, then remove it from the heat. Carefully pour the vinegar mixture over the radishes into your jar. The liquid should cover all of the radishes. If not, gently press the radishes down until covered. Ideally the radishes are best after pickling in the brine for at least 24 hours but you can eat them once they cool if you like. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 2-3 weeks.

To assemble your bowl, think about all of the things you like that tend to make their way into spring rolls. I went with more of a seasonal veg combination with a literal interpretation of spring roll but once we hit summer, you could add in cucumber, sweet peppers, and basil. Once you build your bowl, add your sauce, your pickled radishes, then eat and enjoy!

Notes

The bowl you see here is filled with Napa cabbage (a beautiful purple variety called Red Dragon), lightly steamed carrots and snap peas, broccoli sprouts, cooked brown rice, avocado, and pickled radishes. I lightly steamed the carrots and snap peas to make it easier on my digestive system.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

There have been many times in the past that I’ve hitched my wagon to someone else’s dream or concept only to be let down and nothing come to fruition. I’ve been promised many dream scenarios that turn out to be just that, someone else’s dream that stays in the ether and never becomes tangible. I decided last year that I’d had enough of that and began to reconsider some of my own dreams and how to make those happen.

Over the course of last year and this year I’ve been working on something big (and simultaneously keeping it under wraps) and it’s time to let the proverbial cat out of the bag. I’m opening up a local grocery concept along with my brother in Salem, Massachusetts later this year called Little Radish Provisions. So, that means I’m also moving to Salem later this year!

Little Radish will feature predominantly locally sourced produce and goods in addition to a coffee bar (with a bevy of housemade nut milks to choose from) and a seasonally rotating selection of prepared foods and baked goods. Think of us sort of like a farmers market you can visit 7 days a week.

We’re currently in the middle of an investment campaign to secure start up funding to get Little Radish off the ground. If you feel like investing in us (and it’s an actual investment that you’ll get back over time plus a return on top of the original amount), please check out and share our campaign here. I’ve also created a permanent page up above in the menu bar for Little Radish where you can find the link to the website. Or you can just click here.