So, summer’s coming to an end and with all the rain recently, our basil was getting a little out of control. I already froze off some Green Thai Chili Paste, we’re planning on putting up some pesto, some infused oil and a dried herb blend but that still doesn’t cover all of it. So I decided to go all out and use the whole leaves as actual ingredients, not just flavoring and the best way I know to do that is with fresh Summer rolls.
Like the name would imply, these are cool, crisp and full of some marvelous flavors. They’re also pretty easy, fast and not to tough to make. If you can roll up a burrito, you can make summer rolls. If you can’t, well, learn. It’s good for you.
See how easy it is? A five year old could do it! (Unfortunately no five year olds were available to draw these pictures so I had to do it…)
The best part about Summer rolls is that you can put pretty much anything you want in them. Do you have carrots and zucchini laying around? Julienne them (cut em into little sticks) and they’re ready to go. Ham? Same deal, in it goes. Shrimp? Shitake mushrooms? Cabbage? Bean Sprouts? Really, whatever you have on hand can make a delightful meal. For these I used cabbage stir fried with ginger and carrots, mung bean or cellophane noodles cooked in a little vegetable broth, raw cabbage, smoked tofu and fresh basil leaves. I put all these ingredients in little bowls on the table, soaked the rice papers one at a time and then Cara and I set to work assembling our dinners.
Cara also made this awesome peanut sauce out of some peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce, cider vinegar, a touch of sugar, hot pepper flakes and water. She loosened the peanut butter for a few seconds in the microwave and then just stirred everything else together, adding a little more of this and a little more of that til it tasted good to both of us (she likes sweet, I was looking for hot, the sauce just kinda grew out of that).
We’ve still got a bunch of sheets of rice paper and half a bag of cellophane noodles in the pantry so whenever we find ourselves with an abundance of left overs and the need to play with our food, dinner’s on.
Kim Goes Green 