In Los Angeles its spring in full motion, the clouds are peaking from the top of the sky for the weekend with a bit of rain but the weather reached over 100 one day this week and in the last couple of days it has been at least 85 degrees and I’ve been sun bathing and taking in the glory of the season.

I love cooking for the weather. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s hot heavy foods that stick to your ribs when its 100 degrees out.

I’ve been looking for very light delicious options for food these days that are fast and clean up easy. Having a new baby in the house has dramatically affected my kitchen situation. She is so beautiful and worth it but its very hard to food blog at times and devote the time to cooking, writing, photographing so all you out there doing so with your busy lives I commend you on all your hard work.

I think I’m starting to get the hang of it a bit. I’m still looking for kitchens to use whenever possible so if you’re in the LA area and would like to cook or have someone cook for you let me know.

These spring rolls are something my sister in laws mother had made around Christmas time. I thought the flavor of the peanut sauce and the ingredients were so wonderful that I would have to make them sometime. I knew that I would probably make them for cooking class which I did but also ended up making some for friends at a dinner party, vegetarian ones for my best friend, and some sausage and shrimp for my family. The ingredients are fairly simple there is a different way to prepare them for everyone so I definitely believe this is something anyone herbivore carnivore alike should try. This is a pretty inexpensive appetizer or light meal you can make these beautiful spring time rolls and stun your family and friends. I hope you enjoy.

Spring Rolls with pickled vegetables, fresh herbs, shrimp, and longanizas

Medium sized Rice Paper
Vermicelli noodles
2 Carrots peeled and cut into ¼ inch strips
½ small Cucumber cut into ¼ inch strips
Small piece of Dikon radish peeled and cut into ¼ inch strips
½ cup of rice wine vinegar (you can use seasoned if you want a simple way to pickle the vegetables)
If using unseasoned add about a teaspoon and ½ of salt and 3 tablespoons of sugar to vinegar and dissolve then add carrots dikon and cucumber let soak at least an hour in fridge or for longer if you want a more intense pickling . This step can be omitted and the carrots and dikon can just be steamed or boiled for about 5 minutes instead then placed in a ice bath.
Shrimp Peeled Deveined and sautéed in oil salt and pepper to taste
Longanizas (philipino chorizo) grilled or baked till warmed through, then cooled, and sliced into strips or omitted
Cilantro picked from stems
Mint leaves picked from stems

Once you prepared all vegetables and meats that you want in your spring rolls

place vermicelli noodles in extremely hot water and let soak till pliable about 3-4 minutes drain

In a dish large enough to hold your rice paper place hot- very warm water. Make sure it’s not too hot that you are unable to place your hands in the water to soften the rice paper.

Take a piece of rice paper and place the 1st edge of the paper in the water then rotate the rice paper around so that its outer edges have been soaked all the way around in one rotation. Then place the paper completely submerged in the water and flip once. The paper should now seem very pliable, be care to not have it stick to itself when taking out from water. Place on a flat surface so that the paper is not folding over on itself.

About ½ way in the middle of the paper put down 3 or 4 shrimp on the wrapper

Then place rice noodles

pickled vegetables

herbs

and sausage

Then to roll the spring roll

Lift the edge of the rice paper closest to you and cover the ingredients you placed in the center of the roll.

Be careful not to pull the wrapper too hard or it will tear, cover the ingredients with the rice paper and tuck the one side under

Then tuck the right side of the paper over toward the center And then the left

Continue to roll the center closed and press the sides of the spring roll in tightly
Finally you’ll reach the other side and the roll will be complete

Peanut sauce
¾ cup peanut better smooth or chunky depending on your preference of smooth or chunky sauce. I made it with both its good each way
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of sambal chile sauce or Sriracha (change this for your preference of heat)
½ to 1 cup of water (depending on how thick you want your sauce to be)So I Mix these ingredients together to form a slightly thick sauce that is sweet spicy and salty the combination of flavors goes very well with this spring roll.

These can also be done vegetarian no meat inside and some roasted peanuts for crunch.

I hope these seem a little more approachable to you all

Cheers

Unrivaledkitch

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