No photo here. Yikes. Too unappetizing. My attempts at Thai spring rolls are not pretty, but having tried them twice, I must say the insides are pretty tasty. I just haven't got the knack for making dainty little packages and deep-frying them. So, I think I will end up just making this as a nice noodle stir-fry and get my Spring Rolls from a restaurant.
I got the recipe off of www.cooking.com and changed it a wee bit. I tried it with both rice vermicelli and the cellophane (or glass) noodles and while I think the clear cellophane noodles look pretty cool, they are off-puttingly wormlike to my kids.
Here's the recipe:
Spring Rolls
4 oz. dried Chinese mushrooms
2 oz. cellophane noodles or rice vermicelli
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (I used peanut oil)
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. peeled and grated gingerroot
2 cups shredded green cabbage
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup fresh bean sprouts, rinsed (I used a can of canned bean sprouts)
2 tsp. fish sauce
Place mushrooms in a small bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let steep 10-15 minutes. Drain and chop.
Soak noodles in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain and roughly chop into short lengths.
In a wok or frying pan, heat oil. Add onion, garlic and ginger and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add cabbage and stir-fry until cabbage is softened, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in carrots, bean sprouts, noodles and mushrooms and fish sauce.
*****This is where I stop now, and just eat this as a stir-fry, as my exploding over-stuffed packets of delight did not have too many takers the first time around. But for the experienced and intrepid who would soldier on to spring rolldom, here's the rest of the recipe:
Take 18-20 frozen spring roll wrappers, thawed (I used the dry rice wrappers I found at my health food store which I soaked one at a time for 30 seconds in cold water to soften). Working with one wrapper at a time, place on work surface. Mix together 2 tsp. cornstarch with 2 Tbsp. water to form a paste. Using your fingertips, wet edges with cornstarch paste. Place 1 heaped Tbsp. of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Roll diagonally, tucking in edges. Seal edge with cornstarch paste. Repeat with remaining wrappers.
Heat several inches of oil in wok or frying pan to 375 degrees. Fry spring rolls in batches, for 1-2 minutes until golden. Drain on paper towels.
Enjoy!
2 comments:
I have been working on perfecting spring rolls too - the trick is to brush the dry rice paper with an eggwash on both sides and wait a bit, then fill tightly with ingredients and roll and then put them in the freezer and let the paper dry out a bit - otherwords it is too sticky - or just fry one or two at a time after letting them sit in the fridge for a bit - don't let them touch!
All the restaurants around here use wheat wrappers, if I could I would just eat them out. They freeze really well, put them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and then when frozen transfer to a zip bag.
I did blog about this, but don't think I included a recipe, just a photo or two.
Thanks for the information. I still have some rice wrappers, so I will try this, as the famiglia loves their spring rolls. I also checked out your blog and you have some fantastic recipes. I'll add you to my blog roll and keep checking in.
Thanks again Ginger!
-Rachel
Post a Comment