Whenever Mr. Gaunt and I go to Pho, we always get the Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce. they are really fresh and yummy. Not that a deep-fried spring roll isnt yummy every now and then, these ones are just so guilt free.
I have been wanting to try to make them for a long time, but could never find the right wrappers. I could always find the kind you fry, but not the fresh ones. Last week I was at Whole Foods looking at the Asian Noodles, and there they were! I guess I assumed they would be in the refrigerator section like the frying kind. They aren’t, they are dried on the shelf in the asian aisle.
A few days later Mr. Gaunt and I walked (yup we walked 3+ miles 3 times this week!) to Whole Foods and got some veggies to make these rolls. I didnt really have a specific recipe, but a number of them said to use the following:
-Cucumber
-Cilantro
-Carrots
-Sprouts (that we got in our Door to Door Organics box)
-Cabage
-Shrimp (optional if you are doing Vegan or Vegetarian version)
Off on our walk
Wearing my new "Habitualize Kale" shirt! So bad ass!
Things are blooming and all the streets smell like cherry blossoms.
My new produce bags that I purchased on Etsy. Awesome!
I definitely wouldn’t say these are easy or fast. Theres a lot of prep work, and a lot of mess because you cut everything into tiny match sticks. You have to thaw shrimp and you dip the rice paper wrap in water to make it soft. I think these are well worth paying for. Still kind of fun to make.
All the veggies prepped and ready to go.
Rice paper ready to soak and get soft.
Ready to Wrap
The wrapping was the hardest part. I imagine its like learning to swaddle a baby, the first time you do it its all messy and not tight. I struggled to not tear or tangle the rice paper. In the end a few were ok looking, but most of them were saggy and wrinkled. Oh well. Also we didn’t do peanut sauce, so we just dipped it in Hoisin Sauce that we already had on hand.
The Family Chapters 