Vegetable Spring Rolls

Vegetable Spring Rolls

I was pretty sure I was going to keep this recipe to add to my FAIL list, but it ended up being surprisingly OK, which is why I don't have a great after photo.

I love, love, love Spring Rolls.

I had my first Spring Rolls in Hawaii - my friend's mom was Vietnamese and would make them a lot, from vegetables and herbs (like mint) from her garden.

I have made lots of Egg Rolls, but had never tried Spring Rolls, so picked up a packet of Spring Roll Skins to try my hand.

Once we sat down to lunch, I reminded the family that (like always) I appreciated them trying the new dishes I was making, but they could help themselves to a peanut butter sandwich if they didn't care for the meal.  I was already planning my own peanut butter sandwich.

Surprisingly - everyone liked the Spring Rolls. 

David even said he thought he liked them better than Egg Rolls.  Well, what do you know?

My main concern with Spring Rolls was that I found conflicting information online about how to prepare them.  Basically - do they need to be cooked after assembling?

A couple of sites said they did, so I fried them like Egg Rolls.

Then I found a couple of recipes where you don't cook them after assembling.

Bottom line - I'm trying them again, following different recipes, to see if I can come up with an even better way to make these.  But for now, he's how I made:

Batch #1 of Vegetable Spring Rolls.

I started by asking my helper to make a delicious filling.

We sauteed cabbage, carrots, and chopped garlic in a little olive oil until it was tender.

Then we added left over Chana Dal and cooked Japanese noodles.

As with our recent Egg Roll recipe, Brennan then added a mixture of corn starch, molasses, and soy sauce to the vegetables and combined it well.

Our filling was ready.

Spring Roll skins are made from rice flour, where Egg Roll wrappers are made from wheat, water, and eggs.  They need a little extra prep before they're ready to use.

Aren't they cool?

You prep them by soaking them for a minutes in hot water.

One website recommended a pie plate, perfect.

Can you see it in there?

Then we placed them on a paper towel to fill.

They tear easily so you have to be careful.

You just fill and roll them up like an egg roll.

At this point, according to some online recipes, you can eat them as is.

I'm not so sure - I plan to do more investigating.

But we cooked them in olive oil on the stove and served them with soy sauce and Sweet and Sour Sauce as we did egg rolls.  I was surprised but they were actually very good.

Again, no great after shots here, because they seemed like quite a mess to me as we were cooking them.  But looks can be deceiving, apparently!

You can add a variety of cooked meats, vegetables, noodles, grains, rice, and seasonings to your filling.

The combinations are endless - which is half the fun.

Double click to print as a 5x7 recipe card.

Ăn ngon nhé

Vietnamese for Bon Appetit!



Daikon and Carrot Pickles

Vietnamese Daikon and Carrot Pickles

So my guess is you're not thinking this dish sounds all that delicious?
It really is though!

Homemade refrigerator pickles are supposed to be really good for your immune system.
Many vegetarians, vegans, and others on medically-recommended diets (like those recovering from chemo) eat them daily.

I made up a jar and we've all been eating them for the past couple of days.
I've never made cooked pickles before (through the canning process), so I was happy to see how easy this refrigerated pickles recipe was.

This version is traditionally Vietnamese.  I modified several recipes I found on various recipe sites.

You start by julienning 3 carrots and Daikon radish and placing them in a bowl.

Sprinkle 2 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of salt over the vegetables.  Toss them until they are tender enough that you can bend a piece of Daikon without it snapping.  It took about 5 minutes.

Then place the vegetables in a collander and rinse and drain them well.
In the bowl add 1/2 c sugar, 1 c white vinegar, and 1 c warm water.
Mix it well to dissolve the sugar.

Pack the vegetables in a clean glass jar and pour the vinegar mixture in.
Seal and refrigerate 24 hours before eating.

I am sure you can substitute a sugar alternative for the real sugar in this recipe, but I just followed the normal directions. 

Ways recommended to enjoy the pickles:

**In place of coleslaw or sauerkraut
**As a side dish with your meal
**On pork or beef sandwiches
**Chopped up in fried rice
**Chopped up on a salad
**In a spring roll

Double click to print as a 5x7 recipe card.

Ăn ngon nhé Vietnamese for Bon Appetit!