Thai Veggie Spring Rolls (vegan)

I have always wanted to make spring rolls, the kind you don't fry or bake, and finally made time to do it! I've had the rice paper wrappers in my cupboard forever.

The recipe I used comes from Everyday Greens, recipes from the vegetarian restaurant Greens in San Francisco. Some of the recipes are beyond my capabilities, unless I want to make substitutions, because I just don't have the same ingredients available to me. For instance, even the jicama required in the recipe was nowhere to be found. I'm not opposed to substituting or eliminiating ingredients, but I like to try and make a recipe as written the first time. Not all of the recipes were like this, but I would say a good amount.

I'm not going to include the recipe in this post, because making spring rolls is more of a technique.

1. Get a bunch of veggies. Julienne them or chop them. Steam them or decide eating them fresh is okay.

2. Get some kind of protein. Baked or fried tofu works great, or I often see them in the stores with shrimp (not, of course, an appropriate vegetarian ingredient).

3. Toss some or all the filler ingredients with some kind of sauce - hoisin, vinaigrette, peanut sauce, etc.

4. Boil some water or use very hot tap water, and put in pie plate. Soak rice paper wrappers one by one (leaving damp towel on top of rest). Dry briefly on paper towel. Add ingredients, and roll up rice paper wrapper, folding in sides as you go.

5. Serve with complimentary sauce.

For these spring rolls, I used carrots, red peppers, lettuce, shallots, peanut sauce, and cilantro. They were great! I'll definitely make something like this again. I wish I had taken the time to prepare some kind of tofu; it would have filled out the rolls. I served them with Tom Khai Yum soup from our local Thai restaurant.

Categories: Carrots, Cilantro, Peppers, Rice, Thai, Vegan