Asian food has been the biggest challenge since going Allium free. There isn’t much food in Asian food that doesn’t have at least a bit of garlic. Even condiments (like Sriracha sauce) have garlic in it.
But for my family, Asian food is a staple so something had to be done. That was the start of the great Asian condiment replacement experience. And so far, I’m really enjoying the ride.
Tonight, I made one of my favorites : Fresh spring rolls with my now officially awesome Carrot-Ginger-Miso dipping sauce!
Carrot-Ginger-Miso dipping sauce
2 tbsp miso paste
1/3 cup finely grated carrot
2 tbsp finely grated ginger
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp agave nectar
3 tbsp lemon juice
sprinkle of salt
All you have to do is blend all the ingredients until smooth. That is it! Keeps in the fridge for a week. But if you are like us, you’ll finish the uneaten sauce with a spoon.
Let me know what you think!
Family, Faith, Food and Fabric 
That looks so delish! Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to try it 🙂
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Make sure and let me know what you think… you could probably had a few TBSP of vinegar and make a nice miso dressing for salad as well. 🙂
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Why alliums free ….asked she who just tucked into homemade leek and potato soup?
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Mmmm… I use to LOVE leek and potato soup… but this is a good lesson in letting go of attachment…
We started cutting out garlic and onion because my husband couldn’t digest them. Horrible intestinal pains, it was horrible. But we still weren’t super intense about it. If a dressing had garlic powder, we wouldn’t say no. My hubby would deal with it and we would just move on.
When we started cultivating Tao, we found out that certain Buddhist/Taoist vegetarians (including our group) did not consume anything from the Allium family. They are referred to as the “Pungent Foods” and are believed to create a very important imbalance in your Chi. They raise your energetic “fire”, creating intense feelings such as anger, hate, lust… all feelings we are trying to let go of. So when my husband an I took the vow of purity of the mouth, that came with it. So we now do it for medical AND spiritual reasons. 🙂
Was that clear? If it wasn’t, do not hesitate…
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No thanks…very interesting. I’m not familiar with Tao teaching.
However have used the inclusion or exclusion of certain foods as an experiment to deal with various medical conditions.
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We went through SO MANY phases before finding out what was causing it for my hubby : Dairy free, gluten free, egg free, soy free (that one was tough being vegetarian)… You can imagine how strange it was to find out it was garlic and onion!
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Wow!! That looks so amazing!! I will be making this within a couple of days. Dare I ask how to make those incredible looking spring rolls? I would love instructions on how to do that as well, if you can spare.
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Sure! First you’ll need rice paper. I use the 11 inch ones. The ingredients I usually use are Boston lettuce, shredded cucumbers and carrots, thinly sliced avocado, cooked rice vermicelli and fresh cilantro and Thai basil.
The trick is to not over-soak the rice paper. I use a lasagna pan and put about 1/4 inch of water at the bottom. I’ll dunk the paper one and it’s straight out. It should NOT get soft in the water! I lay my rice paper down on a wood board and start loading up my filling. I always cut the hard part of the lettuce leaf off to not create a hard edge that will puncture the rice paper. Lettuce first and then I put the rest. I don’t really have an order. 🙂
This lady has a really nice step-by-step rolling post :
http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/how-roll-fresh-spring-rolls/
Hope this helps!!!
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Wow!! Thank you so much for that. I am most definetely going to try it this week. I love that basil but I can’t ever get my hands on any at the markets around here. I just realized I SHOULD GROW IT MYSELF !!!!
Thank you . I’ll send you a picture when I make it.
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Awesome! I’d love to see it… do you have a Chinese/Asian grocery store around? Cause you could get good basil and cilantro there.
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Hmm actually there is one about half an hour away yet near some other shopping areas. Good point!!
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Mmm I’ve never tried mixing miso with ginger and carrot before, must be delicious!
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It’s lovely… They all have such distinct flavors and balance each other out really well… Along with the agave nectar. Just perfect! 🙂 Let me know if you try it!
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Will do! It might also be a great way to round out and change up the traditional carrot ginger soup – so many ideas floating in my head now haha.
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Yeah, I’ve thought of putting a bit more sesame oil (virgin sesame) and a bit more apple cider vinegar and using it as a dressing!
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Mmm that would be tasty. Especially with napa cabbage or something bright like that.
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I, too, have a terrible food sensitivity to alliums in any form. It has been very frustrating to find tasty non-dessert foods that my husband and I can both enjoy, to say nothing of being happy to serve them to dinner guests. I’ve been missing my Asian and other ethnic foods so much! All the miso items I find in my local health food or other food stores appear to have garlic in them. Can you recommend any brands that are safe for me to eat?
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It is hard, but we’ve learned to make due… Are you thinking miso based prepared products or simply miso paste? Honestly, we have sworn off all prepared products so I’m afraid that might be hard for me. I mean, when you find out that they even put onion powder in French’s Mustard, you kind of give up! 😛
My favorite miso brand is Amano. Their Genmai Miso is what we use a lot (a mixture of soy and brown rice miso). Does that help? If I misunderstood your question, please correct me. I would love to help!
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