Sunday 3 August 2014

Foodie Feature-My Take on Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls

Hello! 

As mentioned in a previous post, I am beginning a series called Foodie Feature, where I try out different recipes from my cookbook arsenal. 

This week's Foodie Feature is a recipe inspired by this cookbook: 
The Good, the Bad and the Yummy, by Adina Steiman

I picked up this book at a discount bookstore in the States a few years back, and I love it! True to its title, it gives recipes that are "good" (healthy pick-me-ups) and "bad" (delicious treats), with the focus on every recipe being delicious.

This week, I wanted to make something for a girl's day sitting poolside. I was looking for something light, healthy-ish and easy to make. I decided to use this book because I remembered that there was a fresh rice paper roll recipe in it.

However, true to my Sarina style- I can't just follow a recipe. I absolutely have to tweak it in some way.
The original recipe called for shrimp, rice noodles, cilantro and cucumber.

What did I do?
...
...
I decided to make dessert rolls. 

Following true rice paper roll form, I had a carb- homemade sweet rice with condensed milk, something crunchy- a Pink Lady apple, and something herby- mint leaves. I also added in slice of mango and strawberries, just for some beautiful colours. These flavours together just screamed summertime to me!

The tricky thing about this recipe is prepping the rice paper. Each piece needs to soak in water for a bit beforehand, so that it becomes pliable. Too short of a soak time and the rice paper is brittle, too long and it becomes a mushy mess. I slowly got the hang of it though, and somewhat mastered the rolling technique. 

Look at these beautiful colours! So summery

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls-makes 8
 (adapted from The Good, The Bad and the Yummy)

8 sheets of rice paper
a bowl filled with water- must be large enough to fit the rice paper into 
1/3 cup rice
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup condensed milk
1 mango, seeded, peeled and sliced
1 apple, cored and sliced (I didn't peel mine, but if you want to you can)
1/2 pint of strawberries, washed and sliced into quarters
2 sprigs mint leaves, taken off the stem

  • First prepare the rice- in a small saucepan, combine rice and milk. Over high heat, let rice boil. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 15 min, stirring occasionally. After, stir the condensed milk into the rice. Set aside. 
  • To make rolls
    • Soak a sheet of rice paper in water for 30-40 seconds, or until pliable. 
    • Lay rice paper onto a flat surface. Put a teaspoon of rice mixture down the middle. Top with 2 slices each of apple and mango, 4 strawberry quarters and 2 mint leaves. 
    • To roll. Fold top and bottom towards each other. Pull one side of rice paper towards the middle, making sure all ingredients are tight together. Roll. 
  • Repeat process for all 8 rolls
Have you have fresh rice paper rolls before?

Sarina












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