Happy Friday Everyone! Are you as excited about the weekend as I am? Rob and I are off to a Bay called Marigot in St. Lucia that has one of our favourite restaurants in the Caribbean and I can’t wait
I LOVE LOVE LOVE fresh spring rolls, can’t get enough of them. I am continuously making them at home (apparently too many vegetarian versions my boyfriend tells me) and when living in Vancouver, B.C twice a week for lunch I would buy a couple spring rolls from the most amazing food stand in Granville Island. Note to you, if you are ever in Vancouver going to Granville Island market is a must. Not just for the spring roll stand but the market in General, you could spend half a day there … easily. Oh and the ferry boat, one of my all-time favourite things to do. They are small and the trip only lasts a couple minutes shuttling you from Granville Island to Downtown but something about it just makes me smile.
Last year I was fortunate to be in the land of the Spring Roll, Vietnam but for some strange reason I was unbelievably unlucky when it came to ordering them and there is no doubt that a lot of people have had an amazing experience eating them in Vietnam, but we had no such luck. Half the time when ordered Spring Rolls the the rice paper wasn’t completely softened in water so it was basically like eating raw rice paper wrapper. Mmmm Chewy. Another few times they were so thin I thought they forgot to put any filing in. Sigh
I did have a few good experiences but oddly enough it was all while in Laos. They sold them at the markets in packs of around 5 or more and they were only a couple bites each and great for travelling with, cheap and really delicious. Can someone build a teleportation device already so I can go back and forth to Asia in the blink of an eye. Someone? Anyone?
Spring rolls are such a versatile item. They are a blank canvas you can pretty much fill with whatever you are in the mood for. Chicken, Beef, Duck (Yum!), seafood, vegetarian, noodles and fresh herbs. Peanut Sauce, hoisin, nouc cham, sweet chill sauce or plain. A desert spring roll or even an indian samosa roll. Baked, fried or fresh they are all equally delicious. See, tons of options
Why do I think you will love these so much?
- Quick and Easy
- Delicious
- Healthy
- Gluten Free
- Light
- Portable
If you have extra filling when you are done making the rolls, just throw all the ingredients in a bowl, toss with a little nouc cham or a light dressing and you have a nice side salad. Please enjoy and if you haven’t had one before believe me, it will be love at first bite.
Tips on Rolling Spring Rolls:
- If you are making spring rolls for the first time be prepared to throw away a couple wrappers. It takes a bit of practice to soak the wrappers correctly. If they are too hot they start to fall apart and if not cooked enough you will be left with very chewy Spring Rolls
- Less is more. Don’t over stuff your spring rolls. No now wants what we refer to as a “Godzilla Roll”
- Eat them the day you make them. They are fine in the fridge for a couple hours but don’t sit well overnight
- If making in advance, make sure they are wrapped in plastic wrap. If not the wrappers will dry out and again, you will get stuck with chewy rolls
- 4 Spring Roll Wrappers
- 8 Shrimp, Cooked and Halved length wise
- 1/2 Carrot, Julienned
- 1/4 Cucumber, Julienned
- 1 Black Radish, Julienned
- 2 Spring Onions, Sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
- 1/4 Package Bean Thread noodles, cooked and cooled
- Lettuce
- Mint
- Basil
- Coriander (Cilantro)
- Dipping Sauce (To Serve)
- Start by arranging all your vegetables, noodles and herbs on a plate and then place a clean tea towel over a cutting board
- Heat a medium – large frying pan filled with 1 inch of water over high heat and bring up to a medium temperature. You want to be able to put your finger in the water a hold it for a few seconds before it gets hot
- Place one spring roll wrapper in the water for a few seconds and place on the tea towel. It should still feel somewhat hard at this point. It will soften as it sits. This will come with practice knowing how soft to make the spring roll
- Now, start to assemble. Place a small piece of lettuce near the middle of the spring roll and top with noodles and vegetables. Tuck the two sides into the middle and take the piece of the wrapper closest to you and fold it over the filling.
- Take two halved shrimps and lay them down just in front of the fold so that the outer pink side is facing down and continue to roll the spring roll tight until all sealed
- Repeat with remaining rolls
- Serve with dipping sauce of choice (Hoisin, Peanut or Nouc Cham)
Liz, thank you for posting this recipe!
I learned how to make Spring rolls during a visit to Laos last year but when I tried to make them at home they weren’t quite right.
I can’t wait to try your recipe. I know they’ll be great.
If you need me to send additional photos of making them let me know I can do it step by step. And once you start making them it will be hard to stop. They are so good!