Shrimp and Veggie Spring Rolls

Start by chopping all your ingredients in long thin strips for the larger contents or diced for the smaller. The possibilities are pretty much endless for your fillings, but the items above were particularly good together: mango, carrots, mint, hot peppers (habanero, jalapeño or cayenne), red cabbage, green onions and a little lime juice. Shrimp optional, you could buy pre-cooked or boil your own. Some recipes call for rice noodles for filling, but I used a small amount of spaghetti squash I had cooked earlier. These noodles/squash help to fill out the texture of the roll.

Now that you have your veggies and/or shrimp ready, you will need to prep your rice paper. I order mine on Amazon, Dynasty brand, in the 22cm size. They come in packs of 40 to 50 sheets, so you will have plenty left over for future meals Don’t make too large of a batch, basically just what you want to eat/serve. These are best fresh but still good stored in the fridge for a day. The rice paper will be stiff and you will need to soak the paper briefly, piece by piece, making it soft enough to roll.

To soak your rice paper, use a small amount of water on a plate and only soak for 5-7 seconds. Removing the rice paper before its 100% soft is key, because the moisture still on the paper will continue to soften while you fill and roll. I thought it would be helpful to include a picture of an oversoaked rice paper(above). This will make rolling very difficult. I use the typical burrito style rolling method: contents in the middle, fold over the right side, tuck in both ends, then tightly roll to the left.

Once you have successfully filled your spring rolls, prepare a spicy peanut sauce. Just like the fillings, this sauce is very adaptable to whatever you have on hand. All natural peanut butter is the base ingredient, adding the following ingredients per your personal taste: apple cider vinegar, sarachi sauce, hoisin, soy, amino acids, agave nectar or additional hot sauce for heat.

Serve with a mint and lime wedge garnish.

Summary