S is for Summer Rolls

I am an enormous fan of egg rolls.  Each time Peter has ordered Chinese take-out over the past five years, he has saved me his egg roll.  It's a wonderful arrangement.  I have never made egg rolls, but I was recently inspired to make summer rolls (the egg roll's rather nutritious cousin) after reading a recipe in Health magazine.  

My summer roll adventure involved a trip to several grocery stores and then eventually the Asian market to find rice paper.  Rice paper is a little hard to come by around here, but I found some.  It comes in a disc shape and it's translucent; you dip the rounds into warm water to soften them and then fill them up with your favorite sweet or savory ingredients.  

I also had a little trouble finding cellophane noodles, or bean threads.  You may also know of these by the name of "glass noodles" or Chinese vermicelli.  The cellophane noodles serve as a nice texture in the summer rolls and generally don't have much flavor.  I boiled some water and covered the noodles for a few minutes until they became soft and completely translucent.  Then I drained the water and patted the noodles dry with paper towels.  

This recipe sounded a lot better to me than it actually tasted.  I think if my mango had been more ripe and if I had used less mint, I may have enjoyed the summer rolls a bit more.  Actually, maybe if it were summer I would have enjoyed the summer rolls a bit more.  They'd be a wonderful appetizer at a dinner party or a cookout.  They sure looked appetizing!  I treated the summer rolls as a quick dinner and after Peter and I shared a plate of them, we were both still hungry.  I don't think this needs to be said, but don't serve these as an entrée; they're not as satisfying as sushi.  

Mango Shrimp Summer Rolls

adapted from Health magazine

Rice paper 

1 tsp. butter or oil  

1 lb. shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 mango, sliced into matchsticks 

1 c. cellophane noodles

2 c. red leaf lettuce, torn into small pieces

10 basil leaves

10 mint leaves

1/4 c. sweet chili sauce

1 Tbsp. rice vinegar 

1 scallion, diced 

soy sauce (optional)

Heat a tsp. of butter or oil in a skillet and toss the shrimp in to cook for a few minutes on medium heat.  When they turn pink, take them off the heat and cut each shrimp into two or three bite-sized pieces.  Sprinkle the shrimp with a bit of salt.  Peel and slice the mango into matchsticks.  Boil a few cups of water and pour it over the cellophane noodles in a bowl so they can soften.  After a couple minutes, drain the water and then pat the noodles dry.  Wash and tear the red leaf lettuce into 2 or 3 inch pieces.  Wash and pat dry the basil and mint leaves.  

Combine the chili sauce, vinegar, and scallion in a small bowl.  Add a splash of soy sauce if you'd like a more savory dipping sauce.  Set this aside.

Spread out a damp kitchen towel to use as a work space for creating your summer rolls.  Make sure all your ingredients are close by so that you can build the rolls quickly.  Fill a shallow pan with warm water and drop in a sheet of rice paper.  It only takes about 10-30 seconds for it to soften and become clear.  Carefully remove the rice paper disc and put it on the damp kitchen towel.  Top with a piece of basil, a few mango matchsticks, several pieces of shrimp, 2 Tbsp. of cellophane noodles, a handful of red leaf lettuce, and a spearmint leaf.  Position this pile neatly and then pull the left side of the rice paper over the top of your pile.  Fold in the top and the bottom like an envelope, and then roll up the rest of the roll carefully.  You should be able to see through the rice paper whatever topping you put down first, so choose something "pretty" to show through when you're layering.  Set the summer roll on a plate and repeat each step until you've run out of filling.  

I made about 8 rolls and then cut each in half before serving with the dipping sauce.