Hubby just came back from vacation last Saturday after spending a week in Las Vegas and Grand Canyon with my cousin brother. They were both sick and tired of eating burgers and sandwiches. My cousin brother was in Chicago for one week conference and then flew to Vegas to meet up with my hubby. He was so happy that his vacation is over so he could fly home to have his Asian food like wanton mee, economical bee hoon, prawn noodles, etc for his meals.
So after all the feasting hubby had while on vacation, I decided to make healthy dinner tonight. This is my first time making summer rolls and I was not sure if I could handle it especially the rice paper wraps. I struggled for quite awhile trying to wrap and roll with the wet and sticky rice paper.
Here’s the final results… did not look as pretty as those made in restaurants but at least in hubby’s eyes, it’s presentable and most importantly edible, healthy and yummy especially when you eat it with peanut sauce and/or sweet chili sauce.
I did not have the time to make the peanut sauce so I used the ready made sauce which I picked up from Wegmans’ grocery store. You can also find the peanut sauce in Asian grocery store or even on Amazon.
After finishing our dinner, I decided to make more for tomorrow’s lunch. The more rolls I make, the better I get. It is still not as pretty as those from the restaurants but getting a little prettier. It is all about practice practice practice…
I usedthe original recipe from watchwhatueat as my reference and modified it for my own consumption 🙂
Ingredients:
- 10-12 cocktail shrimps
- 1 cucumber cut into strips about 4″ long
- 1 medium carrot cut into strips about 4″ long
- 3 – 6oz of buckwheat noodles (Depending on how many rolls you want to make, you can also use korean sweet potatoes starch noodles, glass noodles instead)
- Some lettuce cut into small pieces
- Some fresh mint leaves
- Some fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 packet of rice paper wraps
Instructions:
- Damp or sprinkle some water on your cutting board.
- Prepare a large plate with some warm water. Dip your rice paper wrap in the water for 10-15 seconds and then spread it carefully on the cutting board. Note: if the rice paper wrap is too sticky after dipping into the water. You can also try to wipe it with a wet cloth. Different brands/kinds of rice paper wraps has different thickness and if it is too wet, it will affect your wrapping process.
- Place your ingredients (cocktail shrimps, 2-3 pieces of cucumber strips, 2-3 pieces of carrot strips, some noodles, lettuce, 3-4 pieces of mint leaves, 3-4 pieces of cilantro leaves). Note: adjust the ingredients portion according to your own likes
- Gently fold the rice paper wrap from the top towards the middle, then tuck in the side edges, and continue to fold and roll until the seam is sealed.
- Dip the rolls with peanut sauce and/or sweet chili sauce. Note: for homemade peanut sauce instructions, refer to the link to the original recipe by watchwhatueat.
Anne 