Meet my favorite food in the universe. The one I will always opt for over any other meal (except fries) and the one that is the most fun to make with friends or family. Just prepare a plate full of chopped vegetables and any cooked protein that you like – from stir-fried tofu to chicken pieces, omelet, to chopped meat and/or noodles – and have a huge bowl of water and rice paper on the side.
From there, the road to amazing spring rolls is short and fun – dip the rice paper in water for 10 seconds (and no more), place on the work surface and fill with whatever you like.
Roll up and it’s ready! You won’t believe how satisfying, healthy, low-calorie and delicious it turns out. And when you make spring rolls with others, it brings you together, is full of laughs and super intriguing (it’s super cool to see how the others’ turned out and which vegetable’s colors pop out through the transparent rice sheets).
In short, this is the most versatile recipe in the world, and you can experiment with it to create a million flavors as long as you follow a few important rules (important as far as I’m concerned, of course):
- 60% fresh vegetables and 40% hot, cooked proteins. In my experience, if you only add vegetables, it comes out bland and too much like a salad, and if you add too much of the hot additions, it softens and tears the rice paper and you lose the crunchiness of the vegetables. In short, play with the vegetables and proteins, the main thing is to keep the ratio more or less the same. Oh, and lots of cilantro! Lots and lots of cilantro. And if you don’t like cilantro? Then other herbs like mint, green onions, chives, Thai basil or regular basil.
- Dip the rice sheets in water for 10 seconds at most. When you place the rice sheet on the plate or cutting board, it will still be a little hard, which is okay. Any more than 10 seconds and you will end up with a rag that you can’t roll up.
- I recommend you make one spring roll and taste as the combination of flavors and amounts of each vegetable are different and vary according to person. For example, I like a lot of thin carrot strips and a lot of cilantro, but some people prefer more cabbage.
Yalla! Let’s get started!
Oh wait, note that below the recipe you’ll find a recipe for a thick, rich peanut sauce (for those who like it). The original recipe has a sauce made with soy and chili.
Also, in case you have leftover veggies and/or noodles, I left some suggestions for those leftovers. You won’t believe how delicious it turns out. Two dishes for the price of one!