Recently I had a hankering for one of those rice paper rolls stuffed with veggies.
You know the ones.
They’re the transparent, sticky spring rolls that are usually in the premade section of the grocery store in one of those clear-lidded-plastic-sushi-type containers.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to take that route though. I needed to make my own.
So, I set out to find the ingredients, most importantly the rice paper.
After hitting three grocery stores, I ended up at Whole Foods. And just as I was about to put one point in the “Pro Column” for Whole Foods–I got to the register and they scanned for $8.99. Grrrr. Now I won’t go into my hatred for this store again, if you’re interested in reading more on that you can go to my cauliflower rice post.
When I got home, I took the rice paper out of the packaging and was confused to find that the soft, sticky sheets I was going to burrito wrap my veggies with was actually a dry, hard circular sheet that resembled plastic. I flipped the packaging over to read the directions… Turns out I don’t speak Vietnamese!
This was clearly a job for Google.
It was pretty simple actually. All I had to do was soak the sheets in a bit of water. Rice paper is essentially just flour, water, and salt that’s been dried, so by dipping it in water it becomes pliable again. What DID we do without the internet?! (I suppose I would’ve had to learn Vietnamese!).
Yields: 8 rolls
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
½ red pepper, julienned
½ cucumber, seeded and julienned
½ carrot, peeled and julienned
1 tsp sesame seeds
8 leaves of lettuce
16 small/medium shrimp
1 scallion, julienned
½ cup bean sprouts
8 sheets of rice paper
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup water
2 tbsp peanut sauce for dipping, recipe to follow
For the sauce: Sauce yields: ~1 cup
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
¼ cup reduced fat peanut butter
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
½ cup HOT water
1/8 tsp garlic powder
pinch red pepper flakes
1. Whisk sauce ingredients together and set aside.
2. Add water, garlic, shrimp, and lemon juice to pan. Cover and cook over medium heat ~3-4 minutes until done. They’ll be pink throughout when completely cooked. Cut shrimp in half.
3. Divide all ingredients into 8 portions.
4. Fill a large bowl with water.
5. Dip one sheet of rice paper at a time into the water X ~15-20 seconds until it becomes pliable.
6. Place rice paper sheet on a large, flat work surface. Place lettuce leaf in middle of sheet. Fill the lettuce leaf with vegetables and sesame seeds. Place shrimp next to the lettuce.
7. Fold sides of rice paper in and roll up tightly, while taking care to roll the vegetables in the lettuce leaf as you roll the paper up.
8. Repeat with remaining rolls.
9. Serve with peanut sauce.
The Cook’s 2 Cents:
· When dipping the rice paper in the water, make sure not to keep it submerged for too long. You want it to be softer, but not completely soaked. If it gets too soft, it will fold over and stick to itself, making it impossible to work with.
· I recommend wrapping the vegetables in the lettuce, otherwise the firm vegetable ends will poke through the rice paper, tearing it.
· I like to use a crispy lettuce like romaine or red leaf, but try and either remove the rib of the leaf or just use the top part of the leaf so it doesn’t tear the paper.
Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size: 4 rolls Servings per Recipe: 2
Calories: 205 Fat: 2g Sodium: 412mg Carbs: 27g Fiber: 3g Sugars: 3g Protein: 20g
