Good Eats – Vietnmese Fresh Spring Rolls

My boyfriend used to work in a Thai restaurant, but for some reason he has a soft spot for this Vietnamese Spring rolls. Who doesn’t like a spring roll that is actually made with fresh ingredients. We do not have a lot of farmers market around here in Michigan, but when we do we love to head over there and get some fresh ingredients. You can also get these ingredients in a local supermarket or your local fresh market.

There is one ingredient for the sauce I am not sure where you can get your hands on, my boyfriend actually bought it when he was in Wisconsin. I finished an entire jar of the almond butter from Yumbutter. I love the almond/ peanute butter from Yumbutter, I spread it on my toast, I also included them in some of my cooking. They are just so versatile, and of course they are super yummy too. Hence the name, YUMBUTTER! I will include a link in the ingredients section of where you can get the spicy thai peanut butter with cayenne, tumeric anc cumin. In addition, I also like to dip the spring rolls in a wasabi/soy sauce mixture just to change things up as well as add a kick.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of julliened carrots
• 1 cup of shrimp
• 1 cup of cucumber slices
• A stalk Romaine lettuce
• A pack of rice paper
• 2 tbsp of Spicy thai peanut butter (alternatively you can use regular peanut butter, add some siracha and soy sauce to taste)
• 1 tbsp of water (if the sauce is too thick for your liking you may use 2 tbsp of water)
• A dash of fish sauce

Instructions:

1. Clean, peel and cook your shrimp in boiling water with some salt for about 3 minutes. Set aside for later use.
2. Start by rehydrating the rice paper in a bowl of warm of water until soften. You should be able to tell when they are soften you will be able to bend them and use it as a wrapper.
3. Lay the rice paper flat on a plate or a board of some sort. Arrange your fillings of the spring rolls starting with the lettuce at the bottom. Add a handful of carrots and two slices of cucumber. Lastly, add in your cooked shrimps.
4. Fold the left and right side of the wrap inward, then tightly roll the rice paper forward, to make sure that all the ingredients stayed in the wrapper.
5. Repeat with the above steps until you run out of fillings to wrap.
6. For the sauce, combined the spicy thai peanut butter with water and add a dash of fish sauce. Mixed all the ingredients together and stir well before serving.

I do not feel guilty after eating 6 of these puppies. They taste so good and they are pretty healthy in my opinion, or at the very least better than the deep fried version. Enjoy them on a warm summer day or a cold night.

Have fun wrapping!