I wish i had taken the time to make a photo that did more justice to the crispy, fresh, nutty, soft-yet-crunchy bite of these darlings.
The truth is i didn’t realy make these spring rolls myself; i just put all the ingredients on the table and had people have their own way with stuffing the Vietnamese rice paper sheets. So in order take a nice picture, i had to grab their creations from their plates and hold them up into the last sun rays of the day… well. You get the picture. The above is the best i could come up with ;).
Now i’ll keep this short and dive straight into the secrets of rolling spring rolls. The idea is: anything goes. I especially like combining two or more vegetables with some green leafs, sesame seeds, sprouts and avocado and then dip them in soy or sweet chili sauce.
For these (almost) raw vegan spring rolls, i made three colorful vegetable combinations:
- Zucchini with thyme
- Carrot with hemp and black mustard seeds
- Turnip with roasted sesame seeds
We also had three dip varieties: spicy chili, tahin (= sesame paste) with olive oil and lemon, and soy sauce.
And instead of using avocado (which is really definitely very great for adding creaminess to spring rolls), we enjoyed these with a store-bought lentil sauce that i spiced up a bit.
After all, there was already enough avocado going on inside the avocado lemon pie we’d have for dessert..
Zucchini with thyme
Grate the zucchini or cut it using a julienne cutter. Add a little bit of salt and leave to drain for 20 minutes. The salt will draw the excess water from the zucchini. You may want to catch the fluid and add it to a sauce or soup.
Add thyme to the zucchini to taste, preferably fresh but dried is also ok.
Carrot with hemp and mustard seeds
Grate the carrot or cut it using a julienne cutter. Meanwhile, slowly heat the mustard seeds in a tablespoon of coconut or olive oil. The seeds are ready when they pop rather enthusiastically (whatever that means – just be careful not to burn them and you’ll develop a feeling for it).
Add hemp and mustard seeds including the oil to the carrot. Stir.
Turnip with sesame seeds
Grate the carrot or cut it using a julienne cutter. Add a little bit of olive oil and the sesame seeds. Mine were ready-roasted. Freshly roasted is even more tasty. Roasting obviously makes this dish non-raw, so if raw is a must for you, don’t roast ;). Same goes for the mustard seeds above, by the way.
Rice paper sheets
Soak each sheet in hot water for 10-20 seconds. Take out, spread on plate, fill with desired filling, make sure it has both creaminess and crunch. It’s a nice effect when you see little black sesame or mustard seeds shining through. Roll up while also folding at least one side in, so that sauce inside will not spill all over the place.
Eating with hands and double dipping are allowed.
