Collard Rainbow Rolls

With Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

Make this easy whole food, plant-based recipe for your next party, or prep a batch or two for your lunches this week. It’s filled with veggies, plant-based protein and a zingy dipping sauce that you won’t be able to get enough of! Gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan.

For most of my life, I didn’t give collard greens a second thought. They unfortunately weren’t a common vegetable in my family when I was growing up, and when I did see them at the grocery store, I never picked them up because, honestly, I wasn’t sure what to do with them.

However, in recent years collard greens and I have become closer friends. I like to chop them up into a slaw, sauté or braise them with garlic and spices, and use them as wraps. Yup, you heard that right- wraps!

Subbing a fresh collard for a flour tortilla is a great way to sneak more greens into your diet and eliminate the blood sugar spiking carbs that regular tortillas deliver.

Keep some collard greens on hand in your fridge, and you’re literally ready for anything. You can stuff them with whatever leftovers you’ve got on hand- veggies, grains, beans, chicken, ground beef…

The recipe I’m sharing here is plant-based, gluten-free, and super fresh and flavorful. These rainbow rolls are a great way to display the colorful produce of the season, and can make a nice lunch, a snack or appetizer, or a dish to bring to a cookout.

*Tip: make a DOUBLE batch of the vinaigrette (dipping sauce). You’ll thank me later.

Your Plant-Based Protein Source: Baked Sesame Peanut Tempeh

The first ingredient in these rolls is organic tempeh- a fermented soybean cake that is high in protein and loaded with vitamins and minerals (see this article for more on that). It’s popular in Indonesian cuisine (I ate a ton of it when I was in Bali a few years back), but has now become so common in North America that you’re almost guaranteed to find it in your local grocery store. However, be careful and read the ingredients on the tempeh package. Some brands are now making ‘alternative’ tempeh varieties that are not soy-based, or include soy as well as other grains. If you’re avoiding gluten, you’ll want to be sure no gluten-containing grains are in your tempeh. Plus, since soy is a complete protein, it’s good to get the soy-based tempeh.

How to cook tempeh

Preparing tempeh can feel a little intimidating at first, but it’s actually quite easy to do- as long as you follow a couple steps!

First, steam or simmer the tempeh for 20 minutes before using it. Don’t skip this step! It’ll plump up the tempeh, improve its taste and texture, and help it to absorb any flavors you add.

The second step will be to slice it up and marinade it. In this recipe you’ll use a spicy sesame peanut marinade. These first two steps can actually be done ahead of time- a day or two before you’re going to make the rolls. Let the tempeh sit in the marinade for at least 4 hours- the longer you marinade, the better the flavor.

A tip for this recipe: if you want, you sub a different protein source for the tempeh. For example, chicken would work great. But if you’ve never tried tempeh before, I encourage you to do it at least once!

For the Tempeh

1 8oz package of tempeh

1/4 cup sesame oil

2 T peanut butter

1 T fresh lime juice

1 1/2 T tamari

1 T raw honey

1/2 t red pepper flakes

For the Rolls

1 cup cooked short grain brown rice

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup shredded red cabbage

1 cup julienned yellow and/or red bell pepper

1 bunch of collard greens (12 leaves total, the bigger the better)

Wooden toothpicks (optional)

For the Cilantro-lime Vinaigrette

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1-inch knob of ginger, grated

1 t raw honey (or sub maple syrup)

1/4 t pink Himalayan salt

1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro

Directions

Prepare the tempeh

First, prepare the tempeh. Steam the tempeh for about 20 minutes. Alternatively, you can simmer it in vegetable broth. But you must do one of these steps. This plumps up the tempeh and prepares it to better soak in the marinade.

While the tempeh is steaming, prepare the marinade by mixing the sesame oil through the red pepper flakes.

When the tempeh has finished steaming, remove it to a plate to cool. Then, slice into 12 equal sized strips. Place the tempeh strips into a shallow glass dish and gently toss to coat with the marinade. Cover and allow to marinate in the fridge anywhere from 4 to 24 hours- the longer the better. Toss/turn the tempeh slices once or twice while marinating, to ensure all sides of the tempeh are coated equally.

Next, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the tempeh slices on the sheet, reserving any leftover marinade.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove and flip the tempeh. Coat with the remaining marinade and return to the oven to bake for another 10 minutes. Cool completely (and store in the fridge 1-2 days if you’ll be preparing the rolls another day).

Make the cilantro-lime vinaigrette

While the tempeh is baking, make the cilantro-lime vinaigrette by placing all the ingredients for the vinaigrette (olive oil through chopped cilantro) into a small bowl or a jar with a lid, and mix thoroughly.

Assemble the rainbow rolls

Place each of the roll ingredients (tempeh, rice, veggies) in small dishes on your workspace. Rinse and pat dry the collard greens. Carefully cut out and remove the stiff stem (see diagram).

Next, place a small amount of each ingredient on the leaf, close to the tip of the leaf. Fold each side of the leave in towards the middle. Then, starting at the tip of the leaf, roll the leaf like a burrito. Secure the roll with a wooden toothpick. The rolls don’t need to be perfect- and you’ll get better at this technique the more you practice!

Repeat with all the ingredients until you’ve got 12 rolls. Serve them with the vinaigrette as a dipping sauce. If you prefer, cut the rolls in half to serve (as shown in the photos).

Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment and let me know how it went!