Teriyaki chicken summer rolls make a perfect light but flavourful meal. Delicious teriyaki chicken is wrapped in rice papers with carrots, peppery arugula, fresh coriander and rice noodles and served with a light yogurt dip.
I love summer rolls. They taste fresh and light. The best part is that you can make them in less than 30 minutes and combine them with any ingredients you like most. In fact, they can be savoury, fruity, sweet, with meat, fish or vegetarian.
As the main ingredient, I chose chicken and combined it with teriyaki sauce. This is a perfect blend of savoury, salty and sweet chicken. Delicious! Since these summer rolls don’t need to be fried or cooked, they make a lovely light dinner or lunch.
Rice paper
Rice paper or rice paper wrapper is a very thin starchy paper, which is made out of tapioca and rice flour. Most often you find them in a round form, dry in a package. After you soak them in hot water, they transform into a pliable and sticky, almost transparent “paper”.
Tips
Once the rice paper is soaked and becomes soft it also gets sticky. Therefore, to prevent the paper from sticking on your surface while making the roll, lightly wet the surface you are working on. It can be a large plate or a silicon mat.
These chicken summer rolls taste best when fresh. However, you can prepare them in advance and then keep them in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
When cutting the rolls, make sure you lightly wet the knife blade. This will prevent the rice paper from sticking to the blade or from tearing it apart.
Be generous with the stuffing, but at the same time try not to exaggerate, or you won’t be able to roll it properly.
Fresh greens and noodles
The cilantro keeps things fresh, while ingredients like arugula and carrots keep it peppery and crunchy. It seems like every summer roll includes some kind of rice noodles, either vermicelli, flat rice noodles or wide flat rice noodles. I used the later ones.
Also, if you fancy a summer roll with a bold combination, then you have to try these asparagus strawberry summer rolls. They are combined with rice instead of noodles. A fantastic summer meal.
Another must, along with summer rolls is a dip. It can be any kind of dip. For instance, a creamy cheese, a light yogurt dip, a spicy dip or a nutty one. Simply pick one that you like and that pairs well with the summer roll ingredients.
Since the yogurt dip is light in favour, I added some pep to it. Garlic, ginger, coriander and some lemon juice give that extra kick to it and they all taste great with chicken.
Ingredients for 8 (16 halved) teriyaki chicken summer rolls:
400 g chicken breast
3 Tbsp of Teriyaki sauce
2 medium carrots (shredded)
a handful of arugula
150 g wide flat rice noodles (or vermicelli or any other)
16 fresh coriander sprigs
8 rice papers
200 ml hot water for soaking
Ingredients for the yogurt dip:
4 Tbsp plain yogurt
3-4 stems of fresh coriander (finely chopped)
half a garlic clove (grated)
1/2 tsp of grated ginger
2 tsp of lemon juice
a pinch of sea salt
To begin, bring a small pot of water to boil. Add the rice noodles and cook them for 2 minutes or until soft. Then, transfer the noodles to a strainer to completely drain the excess water. Wash and grate the carrots and sprinkle them with some lemon juice.
Afterwards, prepare the chicken. In a non-sticking pan, drizzle some olive oil. Once hot, add the chicken and let it brown on the bottom side. Then, flip it and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes or until cooked throughout.
Next, remove the chicken from the pan and pull it apart. Transfer the pulled chicken back into the pan, add the Teriyaki sauce and cook for a couple more minutes. Allow to chill off.
Prepare the yogurt dip. In a small bowl combine yogurt, chopped coriander, grated ginger and garlic, fresh lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine, transfer in a small serving dip bowl and set aside.
Rolling the summer rolls
Pour the hot water into a larger shallow bowl with a flat bottom, about 1,5 cm high. Take one rice paper at a time and dip it into the water for 5 seconds or until pliable. After the paper softens, transfer it onto a clean, slightly wet plate or silicone mat.
Start adding the ingredients. Firstly, by leaving about 2-3 cm of space on each side, place some arugula and carrots on the bottom third of the rice paper into a log shape. Secondly, top with pulled chicken, a couple of coriander sprigs and about 3-4 noodles.
Roll the rice paper up over the stuffing starting from the bottom. Then, fold the paper from left and right, in order to seal the gaps, and continue to tightly roll to keep the stuffing inside the summer roll. Cut each summer roll crosswise in half and place it, cut side up, next to or around the yogurt dip on a serving plate.
Finally, serve the teriyaki chicken summer rolls with a yogurt dip any day you are craving a light but flavourful meal.
Enjoy.
