Vegetable summer rolls are so amazing either as a snack or a complete meal. They are loaded with fresh, raw and crunchy vegetables. And they come along with a delicious, “finger licking” sauce. Making them can be intimidating at first, but they are surprisingly easy to make at home.
This recipe requires quite some cutting and preparation. Are you familiar with Julienne cut? Well, it’s just a fancy name for cutting food into long, thin strips; like matchsticks. So, just take it easy and make everything perfect. Look at it as a meditation session. Hehehe.
Furthermore, making the summer rolls is super easy. Keep reading to find out how quick you can create a beautiful vegetable summer roll.
I also made a peanut sauce. And because I didn’t use any peanut butter, I can say it is a little “healthier”. Hehehe. Try not to skip making this sauce. Believe me, it is a must!
Ingredients for about 8 vegetable summer rolls:
- 8 round rice papers (ca Ø 22 cm)
- 2-3 handfuls of bean sprouts
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 2 carrots
- 10 cilantro stems
- 2 leaves of purple cabbage
- 1 avocado
- ½ mango
Ingredients for about 300 ml peanut sauce:
- 125-145 g peanuts (salted, roasted)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 Tbsp dark soy sauce
- 80 ml warm water
- 2 tsp peanut oil
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- 100 ml coconut milk (from a can)
- ½ tsp piment de espelettes or cayenne pepper
First of all, prepare the peanut sauce. Omg, this thing is so tasty! It is addictive! In a blender combine peanuts, warm water, chopped garlic, soy sauce, oil, coconut milk, honey, lime juice and the piment. Blend everything until you get a slightly grainy consistency. If it becomes runny (but not less tasty) just place it in the fridge for a couple of hours (or overnight) and you’ll get a thick and delicious peanut sauce.
Next, wash, clean and cut the vegetables. Remember to cut them (carrots, cabbage and bell pepper) into thin strips. The Julienne cut will make them look better and the wrapping will be much easier as well. I picked different vegetables because I wanted a mix of vivid colours.
Wash the cilantro and keep only the leaves. Peel and cut the avocado and mango. Cut them into thin slices. This will prevent the slices to break when folding into the summer roll. You might also spread some lime juice drops on the avocado in order to keep it nice and green.
Now, that your working space is prepared and all of the vegetables are cut and in front of you, let’s talk about the rice paper. I would recommend reading first and then making the rolls. So, I bought the round shaped rice paper. To get started, you’ll need a bowl with a flat bottom (I simply used a large frying pan) with some warm (not boiling) water in it.
How to make vegetable summer rolls?
After you wet the rice paper (one by one, for 3-5 seconds), place it on a plastic cutting board or on a bigger plate. Keep the surface a little bit wet. If you place it on a wooden cutting board, it will stick to it and stay there. So, no wood.
Then start placing the soft cilantro leaves first followed by the crunchy strips on the rice paper. Place them on the bottom third, parallel to you, leaving 2 cm space between filling and edge. Remember to stack the vegetable strips on top of each other and not next to each other. You can use any order you like. There is no rule about that.
Then fold the bottom of the rice paper over the vegetables. While holding it with one hand, fold in the left and then the right side of the sticky paper (it will nicely stick and seal the roll) and then continue rolling (away from you) tightly up until sealed.
I love avocado and mango. Consequently, I used them together with the vegetables. The fruits give a nice touch to the vegetable summer rolls. And the bean sprouts help to fill up the roll, but they also add a nice earthy flavour to it. Try to make rolls with 4-5 cm diameter.
This is an extra tip. If you like to create a nice pattern and add some pretty looks to the roll, along with the “normal” filling, place some slices of avocado or mango in a row in the top third of the rice paper (also 2 cm from the edge). Then roll it up like you would normally do.
Ok, so now that you’ve read it and imagined it in your head, it is time to really do it. Maybe the first roll will look a little funny (but still delicious) but soon you’ll get into the right rhythm.
What do you say now? Was it easy or super easy? Hehehe.
Serve these superb vegetable summer rolls for lunch, snack or dinner. Even though the name says summer, you can eat them all year long. Don’t forget the peanut sauce! Of course, you can also dip them in soy sauce or sweet sour sauce, but the homemade peanut sauce stays number one.
Enjoy!
