My daughter saw spring rolls on a magazine cover and wanted to try making them. She read the ingredients and we didn’t have many of them; I think it was to the point where we hadn’t heard of a few. To simplify things, we bought some basic ingredients, and she gave them an Asian twist and turned out some nice rolls. We never made these before and were pleasantly surprised to find the rice paper right at a small, local market (Weis).
She wants to forget the Weis trip because she was driving with her learner’s permit, and got pulled over for the first time on the way home for not using her turn signal. If everyone who didn’t use their turn signal got pulled over, we’d need a couple million more cops. I think he may have been suspicious about the Student Driver magnet on the bumper. But at least she only got a warning, so I think it was a good experience; she does not.
She used celery and carrots for the vegetables because we had it in the refrigerator, but you can use what you have like onions, pepper, cabbage, or squash. Throw in your herbs too. You can certainly substitute more vegetables for the meat and go vegan; she loves chicken so it’s in there.
Chicken Spring Rolls
2 pounds of boneless chicken
1 T sesame oil
1 T lemon or lime juice
2 crushed garlic cloves
2-3 chopped stalks of celery
1-2 shredded carrots
1 C uncooked rice
Fresh lettuce or spinach leaves
1 pkg. rice paper
Cook the rice according to the instructions on the container.
Combine chicken, oil, juice, and garlic. Cover to marinate while you cut and chop vegetables.
Put chicken in a hot pan and cook through, stirring, to remove all the pink. Cut the chicken in cubes when it’s cool enough to handle; stir in celery and carrots.
Have your cooked rice, chicken mixture, and greens ready to wrap, then fill a bowl with very warm water. Dip each rice paper in the water for about 10-20 seconds to soften then lift it out and set it on the counter. Put some leaves and rice in the middle of the rice paper; add a scoop of the chicken mixture.
Roll the wrap over the fillings away from you, folding in the sides and making sure the filling is compact within the rice paper (like a burrito). Serve with soy sauce to dip.
