Healthy Living: Spring Rolls Recipe

I've grown to love Asian food over the last few years. I was really picky as a child when it came to food and figured it was going to continue into adulthood, but I reckon it was my 3.5 years in South Korea that really opened me up to other cuisines and flavors. Now that I live in the country in New Zealand, takeaway food is pretty limited and if I want decent Asian food, I have to cook it myself (or travel a great distance). Twice now I have made spring rolls at home. Both times have I had problems.

The problem I have is locating spring roll wrappers in the supermarket. The first time I got some which turned out to be impossible to fry. They were the thin rice paper ones which dissolved in the oil. The second time I found wonton wrappers and thought that would work, but the size caused me to be making mini spring rolls (not really a big issue, but still a pain). So I'm still on the lookout for the proper sized wrappers for this recipe otherwise I might not make them again. But here you go-

Spring Rolls

one onion, sliced
one red pepper, sliced
one carrot, sliced (I used a mandolin cutter to get it tiny)
large handful of mung bean sprouts
1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
400 grams ground pork
100 grams of rice vermicelli noodles
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS white rice vinegar
1 tspn salt
wonton wrappers (or spring roll wrappers if you can find them!)

Cook all the veggies on a medium heat until soft (about 5-7 minutes). Add the pork mince and cook all together until finished. Boil water and then add the rice noodles to it. Boil for 3 minutes and then drain the noodles and rinse with cold water and let sit until the meat is done. While the noodles are sitting, add the soy sauce, vinegar and salt in a small dish. Mix well and then add to the finished meat and veggies. Reduce the heat on the meat and add the noodles to the pan. Turn off and remove from heat. Stir well. Take your wonton wrappers and wet three edges of the wrapper. Take a small spoonful of the filling and place it near the dry edge. roll and tuck and roll until the wonton wrapper completely encloses the filling. This was impossible to photograph, but you know what a spring roll is supposed to look like, so keep going until you get it. :) Place the roll on a greased baking sheet and continue to make spring rolls until you run out of filling or run out of wrappers. Spray the rolls with some grease and then bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

all set up

I lived on these in SK when I went off gluten

cooking noodles, so much fun

this stoneware skillet is great- nothing sticks to it!

look at all those veggies, Mom would be proud!

added the pork

Sauce time

the filling is all done

ready to wrap

all done

Served with sweet chili sauce

Yum!

These were healthier because of the veggies in them and the fact that they weren't fried. I only cooked these for 15 minutes, but I should have gone an extra five minutes so I adjusted the recipe above. The filling was enough for 50 spring rolls using the wonton wrappers, but I only made 24 and put the rest of the filling in a container for Jeff's lunch the next day. Still tasted pretty darn good if you asked him. Well, there's always room for improvement, especially when I am cooking asian cuisine. There really are no shortcuts or cheats when it comes to this kind of cooking. All the work really is worth it though, when you get to sit down and eat something new you made at home. :)