Tag Archives: mung bean noodles

Korean Vietnamese spring rolls

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by in gluten free, healthy, Korean, party bites, peanut free, rice noodles, Sauces, vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese

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Sadly, I’m down to my last jar of kim chi. I started with five jars, but when you put kim chi on everything it tends to disappear pretty quickly. Recently I’ve made kimbap, kim chi eggs with goat cheese, kim chi quesadillas, kim chi and avocado toast, kim chi pizza bagels, kim chi tartine, kim chi on tomato barley stew (gross), and kim chi in my ramen (well, naturally). This morning it was kim chi in my spring rolls. YES!

These are so light, fresh and tasty it’s like biting into a salad of nutritious goodness. I felt like every bite was doing my body good. And really so needed after the wintery, snowy weekend of excess. I had to shield my eyes from all the empty wine bottles in the recycling bin. Oh dear.

I used my homemade vegan radish kim chi for these, but any kim chi will do.

Ingredients
Spring roll skins
rice, glass or mung bean noodles
tofu
kim chi
soft lettuce

Vietnamese dipping sauce
soy sauce (or fish sauce if not vegetarian)
vinegar or lime juice
sugar
red onion
red chili
fresh garlic
cilantro (optional)

First make the dipping sauce

1) I’m sorry I make these sauces so often that I don’t measure anything. Start a small portion and add more ingredients to make it to your taste.
2) Add some soy sauce to a small bowl (perhaps 1/4 cup) and then about half that of rice vinegar or a tsp of fresh squeezed lime juice.
3) Add 1/2 tsp sugar, one thinly sliced chili, about 1 tsp of minced onion and 1 clove of minced garlic.
4) Stir to combine and taste. Should have a nice balance of salty/sour/sweet/spicy. If it’s not quite right, add more soy or vinegar or chili to correct it. There’s no cement rule about these sauces.

To make the kim chi spring rolls

1) Cut the tofu into thin slices and shallow fry in oil until crispy and golden.
2) Wash lettuce and cut away any hard stems. I used the green soft parts of gem lettuce.
3) Soften the noodles according to the recipe on the packet. I used mung bean threads which only had to be soaked in hot water for 10 minutes. Then drained.
4) Prepare a small plate of cold water and a clean flat area for rolling.
5) Take a spring roll skin and dip it into the cold water briefly. Shake away excess water and lay on rolling surface. It will start to soften very quickly.
6) My technique is to start with lettuce, then a pile of noodles, the tofu and then the kim chi. Carefully and as tightly as possible, roll up the sides. Then fold the bottom of the spring roll skin over. This may take a few tries to get right. I have made probably a hundred spring rolls and I’m still crap at rolling. The main thing is you don’t want them too baggy or it will all fall apart when you take a bite.

Serve with the dipping sauce and enjoy!!
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Veggie spring rolls and peanut sauce

12 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by in gluten free, healthy, party bites, vegan, Vegetarian, Vietnamese

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veggie spring rolls with peanut sauce

Spring rolls have the old sushi magic whereby you can really stuff yourself and still feel light as air and like you’ve given your body pure nourishment. The thin strands of chewy rice (or mung bean) noodles, crunchy vegetables, fresh herbs and savory sweet peanut sauce combine for some pretty awesome soul food.

Spring roll Ingredients:

spring roll wrappers
Any of the following: rice noodles, rice sticks, rice vermicelli, mung bean thread noodles
Assorted fresh raw vegetables, sliced thinly such as: carrots, cucumbers, water chestnuts, bell peppers, mushrooms, spring onion
bean sprouts
Fresh mint, basil and cilantro
avocado sliced
tofu sliced
green leaf lettuce

spring rolls
spring rolls
rice sticks, rice noodles

1. Cook the noodles according to their instructions, drain and set aside to cool.

2. Wash and prep your vegetables. You can use whatever variation of vegetables you fancy. As a minimum, you should have noodles, green lettuce, tofu or avocado, a crispy vegetable and a couple leaves of fresh mint and basil.

3. Boil water, pour into a bowl and let cool. If it is hot the rice paper wrappers will practically melt. Have a clean plate in front of you as your ‘workbench’. Dip the wrapper into the water to coat, flip over and then shake off the water. This takes only a few seconds. (If the wrapper is already quite limp, sticky or mushy then you soaked it too long.) The spring roll wrapper should seem a little ‘undercooked’ when you take it out of the water. Don’t worry, in a few seconds it will be completely soft.

4. Place the wrapper on your plate, grab a small handful of rice noodles and set them in the middle of the wrapper. Layer your sliced vegetables and a piece of soft green lettuce over the noodles. Fold up the very bottom of the wrapper as though you were about to fold a burrito. Then take one side and fold it over, holding the filling tightly together, and continue to roll up the spring roll into a tight, neat little package. The top can be left open. *If you are using large spring roll wrappers, fold up both ends and then cut the roll in half to form two spring rolls.

5. Set aside and repeat until you have as many spring rolls as you like. Don’t worry if you are as crappy at this as I am! Practice, practice, practice.

Peanut Sauce Ingredients:

I got this recipe from chowhound but there are many different variations. There is no need to buy a bottle of pre-made peanut sauce. Making your own is simple: dump all this into a bowl and whisk together with a fork. If there is any left it is delicious over cold noodles. Just like I used to have on my lunch break when I worked in a thai restaurant in Greenwich Village eons ago!

3/4 cup natural-style creamy peanut butter (I used sunflower seed butter)
1/4 cup of water
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 1 1/2 medium limes)
4-5 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2-3 teaspoons chile-garlic paste (I used sriracha)
1 medium garlic clove, mashed to a paste (I forgot this step but will try it next time)
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil