Monday, July 2, 2012

Spring Rolls.



 The Hawthornes are having dinner guests
and Mr. Hawthorne is making spring rolls.




I prepared the mise en place
for Mr. Hawthorne to make these
and I forgot the sushi rice.

Rosie sometimes forgets important elements,
but it's still good. 

Actually, rice is not in Mr. Hawthorne's diet,
so I probably automatically,
 sub-consciously excluded it.


Let's do the prep work for Spring Rolls.
Mr. Hawthorne is julienning carrots.
He has a new gadget.
He bought this at an upscale kitchen shop
(Is there any other type?)
in Red Lodge, Montana.

It works quite well.

 I am pleased with this device.

Check it out.

Mr. Hawthorne loves his gadgets.

Works well with zucchini too.




Filling:
 nice lettuce leaves
alfalfa sprouts
avocado, which Mr. Hawthorne didn't use
faux crab
beans sprouts
julienned zuke and carrots
pickled ginger



I made the sauce:
2 parts Tamari
1 part rice vinegar
garlic
ginger

Throw in some scallions.

Toast some sesame seeds and add to the mix.

Place filling ingredients
on soaked rice sheets.
Roll up, tightly and evenly.
Refrigerate for an hour or so.
Then slice on the diagonal.

Serve with the soy sauce mixture
and some more sprouts and sesame seeds.

Add a few strips of ginger
and a plop of wasabi.

This was lovely.
Pretty and it tastes good.


Fast forward a couple of days.
The Hawthornes have company again.

Twice in three days we have guests.
We're so popular!
We're making Spring Rolls again.
This time, I remembered the rice.

Wasabi and pickled ginger.

Wasabi, ginger, and dipping sauce.

Dampen a rice sheet.
Lay a lettuce leaf down.
Add some sushi rice.

Sushi rice is a short grain rice 
that gets slightly sticky when you cook it.
(Long grain rice is drier and doesn't stick together.)
After cooking the rice,
sprinkle some rice vinegar over it and stir.


I like to add a little tamari sauce to the rice.

Add a slice of faux crab
and some alfalfa sprouts.

Add in some julienned zucchini, red onion, carrot,
red and/or green, yellow, orange pepper, and cucumber
and roll away.
 Refrigerate,
then slice.

Other fillings you might enjoy are
radishes, shrimp, avocado, peppers, water chestnuts,
 bamboo shoots, basil leaves, especially Thai basil,
mushrooms, cabbage, and cilantro.


These are always fun to make and
you can pretty much put in whatever you want.
Have fun with them.
Experiment with different dipping sauces.

Enjoy!




3 comments:

Catherine said...

Dear Rosie, I hope you have been well!! I love spring rolls! What a delightful and elegant dish to serve for dinner. It is so light and refreshing especially in this hot summer weather! I hope you and your family have a beautiful holiday! Blessings my dear, your friend, Catherine xoxo

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Hello, Catherine. Thank you. Happy Fourth to you and yours!

zzzadig said...

Fine hot weather fare. Ms.Z took some for lunch today. May I recommend marinated green papaya strips as another/alternate addition. The Thai/Lao/Viet store uses them in theirs.