When I left Asia, I knew I would be homesick. It was hitting me hard yesterday, so I made these spring rolls. Are they authentic? Who the heck knows. Did they make me feel better? You betcha.
(With a big nod to the movie, Fargo. If you haven’t seen it (nothing to do with
Asia, by the way) it’s a classic. Find a
way to see it.)
Ingredients
12 rice papers or spring roll skins
4 1/2 oz or 125g bean thread noodles (sometimes called glass noodles)
1 cucumber
Big bunch of cilantro or fresh coriander
12 large shrimp or prawns
For the dipping sauce:
1/2 cup or 120ml rice vinegar
1/2 cup or 120ml water
1/3 cup or 75g sugar
3 hot red peppers
Pinch of sea salt
Method
Shell and clean your shrimp. Hold them down straight with one hand and then push a satay stick up their
hinies. This will keep the shrimp from
curling up as they cook.
Gently steam
them for just a few minutes, with the lid on, until they are cooked through.
Rinse them in cool water and then remove the
stick. Slice them in half lengthwise.
Cut your cucumbers into quarters lengthwise and then cut out
the seedy part with a sharp knife. Cut
the cucumber into skinny lengths. You
are looking for 12 skinny bits ideally.
Soak your bean thread noodles in very warm water for about
10 minutes. Rinse them with cold tap
water and set aside.
Wash your cilantro thoroughly and spin dry.
To make the sauce, chop your peppers finely and then put all
the ingredients into a small pot.
Bring
to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, until it is reduced by more than
half. Turn the fire off. It will thicken even more as it cools. Meanwhile, you can get on with assembling the
spring rolls.
Start soaking the rice papers one at a time in a large plate
just deep enough to submerge the rice paper.
It's hard to see, but it's there! |
Once it is soft enough to fold easily (do not oversoak or it
will also rip easily) transfer the rice paper – dripping excess water back into
the original plate - to another plate.
Add one twelfth of your bean thread noodles into the rice
paper. Top it with one shrimp (two
halves), a thin of cucumber and a goodly bunch of cilantro.
Roll up from the bottom halfway. Fold over the two sides. Then roll up the whole thing. Voila!
One fresh healthy spring roll.
How we eat them: Bite
off one end of the spring roll, and spoon the sauce into the open end. Repeat with each bite.
Enjoy!
Hey, see that little green Facebook symbol up in the
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Facebook page. I mean, just if you want to. Thanks!
These look absolutely yummy! I cannot wait to try them. So glad I found your site from "an Appetizer Roundup" at Katherine Martinelli's site. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Rosana Santos Calambichis
BIG CHEF ONLINE
I'm glad you found me too, Rosana! And thank you so much for your kind words.
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