Summer Rolls

Looking for a quick-to-make, cost effective, high volume snack?
Summer rolls are the Vietnamese version of enchiladas. It's a burrito with rice paper instead of a flour tortilla, and fresh veggies instead of beans and meat. They're sushi, minus the mess. Hungry yet? Don't fret - they're fast and easy to make for lunch or picnic fare.

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Gui con, or salad roll in Vietnamese, are a wonderful addition to your lunch or dinner time regimen because nothing needs to be fried or cooked (unless you're adding meat)- everything is raw. We made a whole package of them earlier this summer for our family's Fourth of July party and they were a bit hit. Everyone tried them, even the more reserved, with great reviews. Here's our simple recipe that shouldn't take you more than 30 seconds per roll once you're on a roll.

summer roll ingredients:
- rice paper
- leafy greens (we used romaine and spinach)
- bell pepper (cut into strips)
- carrots (julienned)
- mushrooms (julienned)
- bean sprouts
- basil or cilantro

sauce ingredients:
- peanut butter
- hoisin sauce
- sesame oil
- rice vinegar

Creating your "mise-en-place", or work setup is very important for summer rolls, just like sushi. Make sure everything is laid out like an assembly line before you begin.

1) Soak the rice paper in a bowl of water for 5-6 seconds. It should look wet and feel a little tacky once you take it out. Too long and it turns to mush, too short and it's un-rollable.
2) About 1/4 of the way into the paper, add greens, pepper, carrots, mushroom, bean sprouts, and basil. Greens go first to act as a cushion against the harder vegetables that can poke out and tear the paper.
3) Cover the fillings with the empty 1/4 of the paper and "tuck and roll". Your index and middle fingers will help tuck the fillings in, ring and little fingers hold the edges, while thumbs roll forward. It takes a few tries to feel it as a rhythm.
4) Halfway through "tucking and rolling", fold the edges in toward the center.
5) Complete the roll. The tackiness of the rice paper will seal it.

SAUCE:
1) In a small mixing bowl, add 3 parts nut butter to 1 part hoisin sauce and blend.
2) Add small amounts of sesame oil, rice vinegar, and water to thin out the solution until it's less like creamy peanut butter and more like frosting.

We hope you like this recipe as much as we do. It's quickly becoming a favorite in our rotation.

Any questions, requests, or feedback? Let us know in the comments section.

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written by Francesca Loftus
Chatterbox - Clown - Task Juggler

Francesca is a CEO and yogi, on a mission to have the most number of jobs in the world.
francesca [at] iamhom [dot] com

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