I love having large salads during spring and summertime, but when it’s cold outside I usually crave a combination of raw and cooked foods like today’s Mexican Wraps with Smoked Cashew Cheese & Cooked Quinoa. These are easy to make, high in protein and super filling. Perfect for a quick lunch or a light dinner on busy days!
Mexican Rice Paper Wraps with Smoked Cashew Cheese
SERVES: 2 people
EQUIPMENT: 2 mixing bowls
INGREDIENTS:
Mexican Quinoa
1 cup of cooked quinoa
2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons of spring onion, finely chopped (or chives, red onion…)
1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice (or lemon juice, apple cider vinegar…)
Himalayan crystal salt or sea salt, to taste (I used 1/8 teaspoon)
Cumin powder, to taste (I used 1/8 teaspoon)
Cayenne pepper, to taste (I used 2 pinches)
Wraps
Rice paper
Smoked Cashew Cheese Spread
Mexican quinoa (see above)
Romaine lettuce, shredded
1 ripe avocado, pitted and cut into slices
¼ small white cabbage, shredded
1 red bell pepper, peeled & seeded and julienned
½ large cucumber, julienned
Sprouts of your choice (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Mexican Quinoa
Combine your quinoa, cilantro, spring onion, lime juice, salt, cumin powder and cayenne pepper in a mixing bowl. Stir well and set aside.
Wraps
- First cut your veggies and avocado. If I’m making these wraps for a large group I usually use a food processor to shred the white cabbage and slice the red bell pepper. It saves a lot of time!
- If you haven’t already done so, prepare your smoked cashew cheese spread. You’ll need a blender for that.
- Now you can start assembling your wraps! Fill a mixing bowl with warm water to soften your rice paper. It’s really important that your water is warm but not hot, because it won’t work if it’s too hot.
- Soak your rice paper for a few seconds until it starts to soften. Don’t leave it in the water for several minutes because it will become too soft and you won’t be able to use it for your wraps.
- Place your soaked rice paper on a damp towel or cutting board.
- Spread a nice layer of smoked cashew cheese on top of the rice paper.
- Add quinoa, Romaine lettuce, white cabbage, red bell pepper, cucumber, avocado and sprouts. It’s important that you don’t overfill your wraps, otherwise it will be impossible to wrap the entire thing. I have a tendency to overfill my wraps, so sometimes I just have them as a pancake ☺
- Now fold your rice paper around the vegetables, sealing in the filling. Voila!
JULIE’S TIPS & TRICKS:
- This Mexican Quinoa will stay fresh for at least 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Make sure to rinse your quinoa well before you cook it, because quinoa contains saponins – natural plant chemicals that taste kind of bitter and that are hard to digest. By rinsing your quinoa with cold water, you will be able to remove those saponins and your quinoa will be a lot sweeter to taste.
- Don’t like the texture or taste of rice paper? Replace it with nori seaweed, chickpea flatbread, gluten free tortilla wraps, collard greens, cabbage leaves… Whatever floats your boat!
- Make sure to serve these rice paper wraps as fresh as possible, because they tend to become a bit (taai) after a while.
Now I would love to hear from you! Have you ever used rice paper as the base for a wrap? What are your favorite fillings? Let me know by leaving a comment down below.
