APPS / September 15, 2015

FRESH SPRING ROLLS

Name: FRESH SPRING ROLLS
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: SPRING ROLLS:; 10 Blue Dragon Spring Roll wrappers; 1 bunch of Thai basil leaves (or normal basil); 1 carrot, peeled and julienned; 1/2 cucumber, peeled and julienned; 5 romaine leaves, cut in half; 1 ounce cooked rice vermicelli (rice noodles); 20 medium cooked shrimp, sliced in half; PEANUT SAUCE; 1/4 cup peanut butter; 1 tablespoon hoisin; 3 teaspoons soy sauce; 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar; 2 tablespoons honey; 1 teaspoon sesame oil; 1 teaspoon minced garlic; 1 teaspoon chili sauce; 2 tablespoons water; chopped peanuts for serving

Jump to recipe

I’m doing green again.

I really enjoy a spring roll when I go to Thai Restaurant as a starter to flavorful Pad Thai, Chicken Curry, or even Pho. These days I’m trying to make anything that I try at a restaurant, so I decided to give Fresh Spring Rolls a go.

Naturally, I found out how to make spring rolls at home. And the BIG secret I thought existed, does not. They are easy and simple but they take patience and care. Yes you have to care for your spring rolls and use delicate hands.

I found rice paper at Harris Teeter along with rice noodles. I soaked the rice paper, noodles, chopped my veggies and got to work. The most time consuming thing was slicing all my veggies into thin strips.

As you can see I took pictures of all the steps you need to make spring rolls.

1: Soak the rice paper in warm water for 10-15 seconds, you can feel it get soft and it will go see-through
2: Gently place each paper on a cutting board or wooden board and lay it flat
3: Place 3 basil leaves down first, then some sliced carrots and sliced cucumbers
4: Use a lettuce leaf and fill it with noodles, place on top of the sliced vegetables
5: Cover lettuce with 4 shrimp halves
6: Fold the bottom half over the filling away from you
7: Fold in the two sides and roll up until closed

I served my Fresh Spring Rolls with a thai peanut sauce, I mixed two recipes together to get the best results. The vegetables for these spring rolls need to all be fresh to get the desired result. You really can taste the basil leaves and sliced veggies so make sure the ingredients you use are the freshest they can be.

Spring Rolls are so verstaile, you can use almost any ingredients you want and switch up the ones you do. I love that you can change the vegetables, make them completely vegetarian or add in some tofu or chicken.
Feel free to add or substitute any ingredients. Use cabbage instead of lettuce, use cilantro instead of basil, add in sliced avocado or peppers. Make them how you want to eat them.