Friday, March 5, 2010

Salad Rolls with Peanut Sauce


A few years ago, I tried out a few peanut sauce recipes, and gave up after none of them turned out as I had hoped.  But recently, one of my friends asked me to make salad rolls for this blog, and I was newly inspired to find a great peanut sauce recipe.  She came over to help, and after some experimenting, we settled on this recipe.  And I'm happy to report that it's yummy!

This recipe makes use of many of the ingredients necessary for my stir fry.  So, if you've got the leftover ingredients lying around, put them to good use here!  The rolls may seem tricky, but once you get the first couple done, they'll get easier and quicker to make.  I plan to whip these up as a snack on the weekends when I need to tide myself over until dinner.

I rate this recipe 5 Spoons.  I will definitely be making it again and often!

Enjoy!


Salad Rolls
rice paper spring roll wrappers
bean sprouts
sliced carrots
rice noodles, cooked and drained
fresh basil (Thai basil is the coarser variety and tastes fantastic in Asian dishes)
fresh mint
cooked shrimp, sliced in half
crushed peanuts

Peanut Sauce
makes about 1 cup
1 tsp. vegetable or sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. chili garlic paste (or more if you like some heat)
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
3 Tbsp. hoisin
3/4 c. low-sodium chicken broth
dash sugar

Add oil to a small sauce pan over medium heat.  Cook the garlic and chili paste until garlic is golden.  Whisk in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring often.  Simmer sauce, stirring often, until thickened, about 1 minute.  Cool to room temperature.  Sauce may be made 3 days ahead.  Store covered in the refrigerator.


Roll ingredient lineup:


Peanut Sauce ingredient lineup:


Place a piece of rice paper into the warm water.  It will immediately start to soften.


The rice paper will completely soften in the warm water.


When the paper is soft, it gets really sticky.  This was the easiest way I
 found to let the water drip off without the edges sticking to themselves.


Carefully lay the rice paper down on a smooth surface.

And begin layering the ingredients.
Bean sprouts.

Carrot sticks.

Rice noodles.

Thai basil.
Mint leaves.

Shrimp halves.

Crushed peanuts.

Begin rolling like you would a burrito.

The rice paper is sticky and tricky, but try to roll it tightly.

6 comments:

  1. That looks so yummy...

    Have a great weekend ladies..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sara;

    I look forward to your posts every week because they are so different and adventuresome. I've never tried spring rolls and watching you put these together took the scariness out of trying something new.
    (and I am so craving anyting "Spring" right now :)

    Teresa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh yes and did I mentions shrimp is in season right now?!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ohhh, thank you, M! That's really nice to hear! These really do go together quickly and taste so fresh and healthy. Hmmm...I might just have to make these again tomorrow! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This really looks great! I've had these before (in Seattle) and loved them, wondering what they were called and how to make them. In fact, just a few days ago, I was wishing I had some. I will definitely try this. Thanks for the helpful pics.

    ReplyDelete

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