Spring rolls are the perfect food for the warm spring or hot summer days that are coming soon (just a little bit left). They’re easy to take with you on the road, on a picnic, or to the beach: the rice paper will serve you as both food and a sturdy, clear envelope at the same time. The toppings can be very diverse, as well as the sauces. And for aesthetes, I recommend using edible flowers along with the vegetables – it’s very pretty and “Instagrammable.” Spring rolls can easily be made vegan or zoned, fruity or, as the British say, savoury. They can be eaten with sticks or hands, with or without sauces, children or adults. Prepare a basic version according to the recipe, and then create without stopping!
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Number of servings: 4
Difficulty of preparation: medium
Food type: snack
utensils: knife, handmade vegetable slicer Mandolin
Cuisine: Asian
INGREDIENTS
12 sheets of rice paper
1 mango
18 tiger prawn tails
1 carrot
1 cucumber (long)
½ bunch of cilantro
100 g cream cheese
50 g rice
For the sauce:
20 g fresh ginger
¼ chili pepper
¼ red onion
1 garlic clove
1 sprig of coriander
100 ml soy sauce
2 tbsp. sesame oil
½ lime juice
zest of ½ lime
1 tbsp. honey
COOKING METHOD
STEP 1.
Prepare the sauce. Rinse and peel the ginger with a spoon and cut into small cubes. Peel and finely chop the chili pepper, onion, garlic and coriander. Place in a bowl and stir together. Stir in the soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, lime juice and lime zest. Set aside.
STEP 2
Boil rice: Pour it into a small pan, add cold 1:2 water and salt. Then put it on the heat and let the rice come to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, put the lid on and cook rice until tender. Leave the rice on the stove, without stirring throughout cooking. Put aside the cooked rice.
STEP 3.
Prepare the shrimp. Peel each shrimp from the shell and remove the oesophagus. Pour oil into a pan. Lightly fry the shrimp over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. When cool, cut each shrimp lengthwise in half. Set aside.
STEP 4.
Peel the mango and cut into thin slices. Place on a plate. Separate cilantro leaves from stems. Peel carrots and cucumber, cut in half and cut into fine julienne strips. Place on a plate.
STEP 5
Pour cold water into a large bowl. Dip one sheet of rice paper in the water for 2-3 seconds and remove when the paper is still not completely clear and slightly stiff. Place the paper on a work surface. On the bottom edge of the paper, a little away from the edge, place in layers of rice, cucumber, carrots, cream cheese, mango, cilantro. In the center of the paper put 3 shrimp halves, cut side down. There should be enough stuffing to roll up comfortably, completely covering the stuffing. Roll up the roll from yourself first, then fold the edges of the sides inward and roll up again. Try to roll up so that the roll is tight. Spray the finished roll lightly with water from the sprayer and place it on a plate. Repeat the process for the remaining rolls. Serve the finished spring rolls with the sauce.
My tips and tricks:
The sauce we made for spring rolls can be a very cool marinade for Asian-style chicken. Try marinating chicken thighs in it. I promise it will be delicious! Spring rolls can also be deep-fried or just pan-fried on both sides with a generous amount of vegetable oil. If you like rice noodles, put them instead of rice. You can use any kind of seafood and greens: leaves of different salads, parsley, spinach. You can play with vegetables too: use fennel, fresh zucchini, red cabbage, radish, avocado. Rice paper is very neutral in taste, so you can make spring rolls and serve them as a dessert, for this, use a fruit filling. Most importantly, remember the golden rule: one of the fruits should sound the loudest in this orchestra. And the best sauce with this dessert would be honey with lime juice.