Rainbow Spring Rolls

The Foodies' KitchenApril 3, 2017

This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)

Summer has arrived in Guatemala, the days are getting hotter and to welcome the season we have a fresh and colorful recipe ideal for outdoor meals. They are easy to make if you follow our tips. To make them you need a variety of vegetables, you may choose the ones you like best. We chose: purple cabbage, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, mango, cucumber, carrot, mint and romaine lettuce.

The combination of these ingredients with such vibrant colors is spectacular! All the vegetables are used raw, and are cut into thin strips of similar length, except for the lettuce which is used like a bed for our strips and it all goes on top of a rice wrapper. You can find the rice wrapper in Asian food stores, and you will find there are small and large ones. We recommend using the large ones.

Rice wrappers are hard and not flexible at all. To form our rolls we need to wet the wrapper, to make them translucent and flexible. When we got ours, the salesperson recommended a way to prepare them. He said we should place a clean and wet kitchen cloth folded in half on the counter, then you place a rice wrapper on one of the halves, and cover it with the other, leaving it there for about 1 minute. Remember the cloth has to be wet (rather than just damp). Then you open the cloth, and you can begin adding the ingredients to your wrapper to form the roll, right there on top of the cloth. This tip worked very well for us, if possible we recommend you use hot water from the faucet to wet the kitchen cloth.

We prepared a peanut sauce for dipping, which combined perfectly with these rolls. We hope you give this recipe a try, it will come in handy for upcoming summer days! Our last recommendation is, don’t skip the mint in the ingredients. It does make a difference and it gives these rolls and amazing flavor.

At Almacenes Siman we found a bamboo tray with three plates in the middle, perfect to serve the sauce and extra sesame seeds! We also have our handy kitchen cloths and our trusty bamboo cutting board with silicone corners so it doesn’t move when we’re preparing the food!

Helga & Kitty

Rainbow Spring Rolls

Recipe adapted from Jessica in the Kitchen
Makes 9 to 10 spring rolls

Ingredients, for the rolls:
9 to 10 Rice paper rolls
7 to 8 leaves of lettuce
1 carrot, julienned
¼ cup chopped mint
2 cups sliced purple cabbage
½ cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup chopped yellow bell pepper
½ mango, chopped
sesame seeds

Ingredients, for the sauce:
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
½ teaspoon sesame seeds
⅓ cup natural peanut butter
¼ cup warm water
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Procedure:

For the sauce, whisk all the ingredients together in a deep bowl until combined. If the peanut butter makes it hard for it to mix completely, you can heat it for 15 seconds in the microwave. Set aside until ready to use.
Chop up your veggies and place on a cutting board.
Place a clean and wet kitchen cloth folded in half on the counter, place a rice wrapper on one of the halves, and cover it with the other, leaving it there between 30 seconds to 1 minute. The cloth has to be wet, rather than just damp.
Open the cloth, and you can begin adding the ingredients to your wrapper to form the roll, right there on top of the cloth.
Place in the middle of the rice paper the lettuce, a few slices of cucumber, 2-3 slices of bell peppers, a few strips of mango, a few slices of carrots, cabbage and top with a few mint leaves and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Roll the top and bottom of the rolls over the filling, fold the sides into the roll and finish rolling the spring rolls sealing the end to the rice paper bellow.
Serve on a plate with the dipping sauce and enjoy!

Have you made this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture with the hashtag #thefoodieskitchen!

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