Rainbow Collard Green Spring Rolls with Spicy Almond Dipping Sauce

For this week’s culinary school recipe I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and make something I’ve never made before! These collard green spring rolls are not only super cute they’re also #whole30, #paleo and #glutenfree and surprisingly not that hard to make. Feel free to mix up the veggies and add protein - just make sure you don’t skip that almond butter dipping sauce! Here’s what you need:

Rainbow Collard Green Spring Rolls with Spicy Almond Dipping Sauce

INGREDIENTS

Rolls
8 large collard green leaves (one bunch of collards usually comes with 8-12 leaves) 
1 large carrot, julienne
1 medium cucumber, julienne
1 golden beet, peeled and julienne
1 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
1 cup spring mix
1 bunch cilantro, stems removed
1 bunch mint, stems removed

Almond-Butter Dipping Sauce
3 Tbs creamy sugar free almond butter
2 Tbs coconut aminos
1 Tbs sesame oil
1/2 Tbs rice wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 a lime
pinch of salt
1-2 Tbs hot water, to thin out

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium bowl mix together all of your dipping sauce ingredients except hot water, making sure it is well combined. Add 1-2 tablespoon of hot water to thin out sauce to your liking. Set aside.
2. Using a paring knife, gently slice off the bottom two-three inches of the collard green stems. Organic collard greens tend to have holes or tears and are not even sizes, so it is helpful to layer two leaves together to make one roll - this give you a larger surface area to stuff and you won't have to worry as much about julienne vegetables popping out of holes. To assemble take two collard green leaves and place on top of each, stem sides facing in.
3. Once collards layers in twos, begin adding the rest of the spring roll ingredients along the stem of the leaf, length wise. Start with herbs, then layer the carrots, cucumbers, beets, cabbage and spring mix. You want to make sure you are arranging julienned veggies in a long row, so each roll will have a good amount of each vegetable. It doesn't necessarily matter what order you arrange them in but make sure you are layering the vegetables by contrasting colors so when you slice up the rolls you get complimentary bursts of colors.
4. Once all of your stuffing vegetables are arranged it's time to roll it up! You want to roll towards the stem length wise, taking the leaf and tucking it under the stuffing and gently rolling into a cigar. It may be a little lose but that's okay, you can use a couple of toothpicks to keep them together. Once the collards are rolled, slice into thirds to create 3 inch rolls. Discard any excess collards or stuffing that may fall out. The rolls may loosen up after slicing, if so, delicately re-roll them and use a toothpick to fasten in place. Serve with almond dipping sauce and be sure to warn your guests to remove the tooth picks!