Spring Rolls

April-June 2011. Toby age 2 1/2.

I had a craving for spring rolls.

This resulted in watching a bunch of youtube videos to figure out what the heck to do, much like the beginning of the sushi phase.

But finding a recipe proved to me much harder.

It's not as though there's a shortage, on the contrary there seems to be thousands.

But they're all so DIFFERENT.

Some had weird spices and vegetables that I didn't think I'd enjoy eating. Some didn't seem to have enough.

I finally found a few that seemed right, and based what I did off of that.
Off to buy rice paper!
Rice paper, for wrapping, can be found in most major grocery stores, or Asian food markets.
It's round and thin and hard and comes in a package of about 25.
To use, dip the rice paper in a pan of very warm water until soft, lay on your work surface, add filling, and roll up. There are various rolling techniques, I suggest poking around  youtube before you start.

Spring Roll attempt #1

Purple Cabbage

Carrot

Red and green pepper

Mushroom

Tofu strips

Cilantro

Sesame oil.

Looks great. The first few bites were ok. Then I just kind of got sick of the flavour.

I'm not a huge fan of sesame flavour to begin with, and I also think that the tofu didn't pair well with all the other tastes going on. However we had fun trying it out.

Toby picked at some of the innards but didn't really want to hold or take a bite of the whole roll.

Spring Roll attempt #2

Purple cabbage

Carrot

Bean sprouts

Snow peas

Cilantro

Basil

Soy sauce

I think I liked these better than the first ones, but there was still something about them that I got tired of after a while..

Toby ventured to try an actual roll this time, but got frustrated with it and opted for a fork.

Spring Roll attempt #3

Somewhere along the line, while I was eating a salad, that THIS was the kind of thing that needed to be in my spring rolls. Something with a dressing that I didn't get sick of. Something light and crunchy, but not hard to chew.

Then I thought.... Salad rolls... hey why not?

Salad A

Mixed salad greens from the garden

Cucumber

Mushrooms

Asian sesame salad dressing.

Salad B

Mixed greens from the garden

Guacamole(recipe as follows)

2 avocados, juice from half a lime, pinch of salt, pinch of cumin, half a red pepper chopped fine, 2 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro, dollop of vegan mayonnaise (original recipe said to use sour cream).

Mash together until smooth and creamy.

The ones with salad dressing were good, the ones with guacamole were GREAT.

Toby even ate one.

Really, anything goes with spring rolls. Kind of like sushi, just whatever you have and whatever you want to eat. Some people like them crunchy, or with seafood. I guess I prefer mine mooshy.

A great summer dinner that requires no cooking! Very filling!

Happy Eating!