One word to describe these spring rolls — fresh! I’ve enjoyed fresh spring rolls for years at some of my favorite Asian restaurants, but for some reason I always thought there was some mystery in preparing them myself.
When I came across the rice paper the other day, I discovered that all that is needed to prepare the rice paper is to dip them in water! As much as I like to cook, I loooove easy. So I gathered up the freshest ingredients so I could build my favorite kind of fresh spring rolls.
I thought the rice paper would be tricky to roll and work with, but that wasn’t the case at all. The best part about these rolls is that you can add your favorite ingredients, leave out your least favorite, and add more of just what you like! You are the master!
So without further ado, here is the easy recipe for these scrumptious and healthy little spring rolls.
Here is the kind of rice paper I used. I think they are all pretty much the same.
| Fresh Spring Rolls with Homemade Peanut Sauce |
Prep time: 60 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 1 hour 15 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- Note: Add or delete ingredients according to your taste. Some people prefer pork, cucumber, noodles etc.
- 1 chicken breast, cooked, cooled and thinly sliced
- 1 dozen prawns, cleaned, deveined, cooked and thinly sliced
- 8 lettuce leaves, cleaned and torn in large pieces (I prefer green leaf lettuce)
- 1 bunch cilantro, stemmed
- 1 bunchThai basil, stemmed
- 1 bunch fresh mint, stemmed
- Rice paper (can be found at most Asian stores, see photo below)
- Peanut Sauce
- Note: there are so many variations of this sauce, but this one is simple and tasty.
- 1/4 cup roasted peanuts, roughly ground or crushed
- 1 cup Hoisin Sauce
- 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- a little water
Instructions
- Clean and prepare fresh ingredients; arrange on a large plate so everything is easy to access for rolling.
- Cook the chicken and the prawns using your favorite method. I oven-roasted the chicken and quickly steamed the prawns.
- To assemble, dip the rice paper in warm water for a few seconds and place on dry, clean surface. The paper will quickly become soft and pliable. Place a couple slices of the prawns and chicken in the center, and then lightly layer the other ingredients on top. Avoid adding too much; just a lettuce leaf or two, a few leaves of the herbs, a sprinke of carrots, and so on.
- Now roll your little package up like a little burritto.
- For the peanut sauce, combine all ingredients (except crushed peanuts) in small saucepan and bring to light boil, turn off heat and stir for a minute or so. Place in small dipping bowl and garnish with crushed peanuts.
Serving Suggestion: Perfect as a starter to any meal and as a light snack or meal. Dip them in the peanut sauce or your favorite dipping sauce. I like a mixture of a little soy sauce and a little rice wine vinegar.
Enjoy!
