Vegetable Spring Rolls

This is the first opportunity that I have had to catch up on my blogging recently! I am so sorry for being so quiet! I have had a pretty jam-packed, amazing, crazy month visiting my relatives in Asia. I will be sharing several travel related posts over the next few weeks! As you know, I love travelling – I love immersing myself in the culture of other countries. I also love getting new cooking inspiration! This trip I was lucky to visit not only Malaysia but also Thailand. This recipe is inspired by the delicious street food that we tried in Bangkok.

Now this was my first big trip travelling as a vegetarian. I was a bit worried that our choices of eating out would be limited. But I was pleasantly surprised. There were lots of amazing vegetarian options. One of my favourite things about Thailand were the street markets. You could literally buy anything there. From bikinis to fresh fruit juice, to deep-fried bugs (shudder) to tasty street food. I loved the fast paced nature of the street markets. One of my favourite snacks were these delicious, deep-fried spring rolls. They were filled with vegetables and vermicelli glass noodles. They were served cut up and doused in a sweet chilli sauce. So so yummy, the only downside was that they were fried – so not the healthiest snack!

I had massive cravings for these spring rolls when I got back, but I wanted to make a healthier alternative. Luckily we sell these amazing rice flour pancake wrappers at work. I have been dying to try them out – so thought that this was a good opportunity! See more info on these wrappers here! Traditionally, spring rolls are made from some form of filo type pastry. This is normally baked or fried. The great thing about the wrappers that I used, are that they are lighter and healthier. You can steam, bake or fry them. I tried using them all three ways and personally I prefer baking them. Baking produced a sturdy spring roll that was perfect for dipping!

You can fill them with whatever you like, I chose a simple vegetable filling. You could also use this filling in my steamed bao recipe! I would recommend dicing the vegetables as small as you can, this ensures that you can get a nice mixture of vegetables in each roll. If you cut the vegetables too big, then it can cause the delicate wrappers to rip when you roll them,

These spring rolls can make a nice meal by themselves, or you can serve them as a starter or canape! You get 12 wrappers in each pack, and each spring roll can be chopped into two. I heartily recommend serving them with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce!

Here is how I did it!

Ingredients:

A drizzle of Sesame Oil.
1 pack of Rice Flour Wrappers (plus boiling water to hydrate them)
1 diced Courgette
1 diced Carrot
1 handful of Bean sprouts
2 Diced Spring Onions
2 Minced Garlic Cloves
1 Large Red Chilli
4 Finely Chopped Mushrooms
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice

Method:

Pre heat the oven to gas mark 6. Grease a flat oven tray.
Heat the sesame oil in a wok. Add the garlic, chilli and spring onions and saute until they are softened.
Add the rest of the vegetables, soy sauce and Chinese 5 spice. Cook until the vegetables are semi soft, whilst retaining a slight bite. Set aside and allow to cool before step 3.
Hydrate the rice flour wrappers as directed on the packet. I dipped each wrapper into semi boiling water (carefully) for about 5 seconds. Ensure that the entire wrapper is immersed in the water. I used a flat spatula for this.
Blot the wrapper dry with kitchen towel. Be warned that they can become quite gummy so avoid fiddling with them to much. Put one large tablespoon of mixture into the centre of the wrapper. Form this into a rough rectangle. Fold in the two ends. Then roll the spring roll into a cylinder shape. Gently lay the spring roll onto an oven tray and continue the above steps as many times as required.
Brush all your spring rolls with olive oil. Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes at gas mark 6.

Serve immediately with your favourite dips! You can vary the filling. I think tempeh and seitan would work so well with the vegetable mix! Let me know how you get on with these! Happy Sunday everyone!