Fresh Spring Rolls & Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

A rainbow of fresh cut veggies bundled into a soft and sticky gluten-free rice wrap. Summer goodness and mandoline fun!

This is a bright eye-catching dish that requires some fun prep work with a fancy- schmancy mandoline slicer. You could hand-cut these veggies but I highly recommend buying yourself a safety mandoline with several blade options for other uses because you will seriously loveit! It's 100% worth the $42 when you have uniform cuts needed for your different recipes and always looks impressive to your guests! You will even impress yourself! Just make sure to read all safety precautions and use this cool tool carefully.

Rice paper fun!

Spring rolls and rice paper are an interesting finger food and feel a little bit like a science experiment when using for the first time. These wrappers come in a round flat container and feel like a plastic disc making it a little hard to believe that they transform into a gelatinous edible rice wrap that holds yummy crunchy and dunkable goodness.

INSIDE

A spring roll can vary on ingredients, there's no rules and you get to be the artist. Make it vegan, vegetarian or whatever your heart desires. For my filling, I decided to use some shredded crab stick, red cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, red peppers, romaine lettuce, avocado, and a chopped mixture of basil, mint and cilantro for sprinkling inside before wrapping.

OUTSIDE

When ready to roll, you should have a cutting board in front of you for a clean work surface. Fill a 9" or larger round container with about 1" of cool water just above your cutting board. Your filling ingredients should be arranged neatly on a large plate or pan on your dominant hand side for easy reaching.

When ready, you start by submerging one disc for about 20 seconds in the water. It will still feel tough but it continues to absorb very quickly so count your seconds. As a matter of fact, go ahead and sacrifice one sheet and see what happens after 30 secs or more. It becomes unusable and needs to be tossed in the trash.

A TEST RUN

Soak a wrapper for 20 seconds. Plan on placing your ingredients in the order that gives color variation, starting first with a soft texture that won't puncture through the paper's delicate skin. The skin sticks to itself, so work gently.

Lay your desired ingredients across in a horizontal row in the lower middle section as seen in the image below, then fold in left side, right side, then fold bottom over snuggly tucking under the filling and begin to roll semi-tightly. That's it! You can cut them in half if desired for a beautiful presentation but make sure to use a sharp knife and wet the blade to help prevent sticking. Repeat and arrange on festive platter with a side of Sky Valley plant-based and gluten-free Thai Peanut Sauce or the Sweet Chili Sauce.

SERVING SIZE - 4

YIELD: 8 whole rolls, 16 halves

PREP TIME: 30 min

COOK TIME: 0 min

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ea. Carrots, peeled, julienned

• 2 ea. Avocados, firm with slight depression when pressed, hand sliced thin (too messy for mandoline)

• 1/2 ea. Red cabbage, halved then julienned

• 1 ea. Red pepper seeded and hand sliced thin

• 1 ea. Cucumber, peeled, cut in 3" sections, halved, scoop out seeds with spoon, then julienne on mandoline

• 1/2 ea. Cucumber, slice on 1/8" thickness flat blade mandoline attachment

• 1 ea. Romaine lettuce, sliced into narrow 1" wide strips

• 1/4 cup Fresh basil, measure whole then rough chop

• 1/4 cup Fresh cilantro, measure whole then rough chop

• 1/4 cup Fresh mint, measure whole then rough chop

• 1 pack Crab stick, shredded with forks (optional)

• 1 pack Spring roll wrappers - 9 wrappers (one is a sacrificial tester to see how it behaves in water)

• 1/2 cup Thai Peanut Sauce or Sweet Chili Sauce or both
  

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place cutting board in front of you for a clean work surface

2. Fill a 9" or larger round container with about 1" of cool water above the cutting board

3. Place plate with all prepped fillings on your dominant hand side for easy reaching

4. Mix the roughly chopped basil, cilantro, and mint in one bowl and set next to the other fillings

5. Submerge one wrapper in the water for about 20 seconds

6. Carefully lay soaked wrapper on cutting board flat

7. Layer filling ingredients of choice toward bottom middle and in a horizontal row (diagram shown in images above) 

8. Fold in left, then right, then fold bottom up and over center filling while tucking and rolling semi-tightly

9. Repeat for all 8 wrappers total

10. Using a sharp knife, wet the blade with water and cut the roll in half

11. Arrange on platter and serve with sauces or cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Enjoy!