Thai Fresh Spring Rolls

These little spring rolls (cups) are healthy and nice looking food. They are good for a party like cocktail party or the mood that you want to make something special for yourself. The party season is coming so I had this idea came up making something nice and healthy. It basically is a bite salad.

This healthy dish can be served all seasons as all the ingredients are available at the market. If you are allergic to seafood you can simply change shrimp to be grilled breast chicken, and if you are vegetarian you can just use grilled firm tofu sticks instead.

In this recipe, I use Thai brown rice vermicelli but if it is not available in your area then you can just use ordinary one.

Ingredients

30               Shrimp, peeled and deveined (size 31 – 40)

1 tbsp         Soy sauce

2 tbsp         Water

1 tbsp         Vegetable oil

150 g.          Thai brown rice vermicelli or rice vermicelli

5 pieces       Rice paper (for size 22 x 22 cm) or 7 pieces (size 15 x 15 cm.)

1                  Green or red lettuce

1                  Small carrot, cut into long thin sticks or julienne, 1 ½ - 1 ¾ inch long

1                  Small cucumber, cut into less than ½ x 1 ½ - 1 ¾ inch long (60 sticks)

60 leaves      Mint

1 tsp             Salt

Peanut Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)

Instructions

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over medium high heat. Add salt and noodles, and cook until noodles are tender. Drain and transfer to a bowl. Put aside.
2. Combine shrimp, soy sauce and oil.
3. Place a frying pan on medium high heat. Add shrimp and water, and cover the frying pan with a lid while the shrimp is cooking, cook shrimp 1 minute each side until it is cooked or turn pink.  Remove from heat and transfer to a plate.
4. Dip rice papers in room temperature water and cut into 1 ¼ inch strips with scissors. And lay rice paper strips flat on wooded cutting board.
5. Cut green lettuce leaf 1 ½ inch from the ruffly edge of lettuce leaf by 3 inches long. Place a small bundle of noodles on top of mint leaves, and top with 2 cucumber sticks, 7 - 8 carrot sticks and shrimp. Roll lettuce around it tightly and secure the roll by wrapping around with a rice paper strip. Repeat with remaining ingredients.  Serve with peanut dipping sauce.

Peanut dipping sauce 

1 cake            Palm sugar (see the picture on "Herbs" page)

2 tbsp            Water

½ cup            Roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed

½ - 1              Fresh Thai chili or Prik Kee Noo, finely chopped

1 ½ tbsp        Fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 ¾ tbsp        Fish sauce (or soy sauce, if seafood is an issue)

1 ¾ tbsp        Lime juice

 Instructions

1. Place palm sugar and water in a small pot over medium heat. And cook until palm sugar dissolved, and remove from heat. Add fish sauce and lime juice, and mix well.
2. Add crushed peanut, chopped chili and chopped coriander, and mix well.