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This recipe features microgreens, a fresh and fun ingredient you can grow at home. For more information and microgreen resources, read Microgreens: Grow Them on Your Sunny Windowsill.
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RECIPE: Pea Shoot Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce
- Yield: Makes 20 1x
Description
Light, refreshing, and full of veggies, these spring rolls will disappear quickly. Serve on mini-appetizer or salad plates with this homemade peanut sauce or a prepared sweet chili sauce (or both sauces), so people can dip in their own sauce before each bite. These are best enjoyed the day they are made.
Ingredients
The spring rolls
- 8 oz rice noodles or Chinese rice vermicelli
- 20 spring roll rice wrappers (8- or 9-inch round or square)
- 4–5 cups pea shoots, washed and spun dry
- 2–3 carrots, peeled and shredded using food processor shredding disc
- 1 English cucumber, peeled, cut into matchsticks
- 1 cup red cabbage, sliced razor-thin
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
- 1/4 cup mint leaves, thinly sliced or chopped, but not minced
The peanut dipping sauce
- 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/4 cup water or coconut milk, or more for consistency
- 1 tsp fresh minced ginger
- 2 tsps fresh lime juice
- 2 tsps soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar or honey
- 4 to 5 drops hot sauce, or to taste
Instructions
- Have all ingredients cut and ready in bowls. Wet a clean dishtowel, wring out, and place on a cutting board.
- Cooking rice noodles is like cooking regular pasta. Boil them in a pot of salted water and taste until the noodles are the right consistency, a bit al dente, usually 2 to 3 minutes. After straining, run cool water over the noodles to stop the cooking.
- Fill a skillet with water and bring to a simmer. Once it simmers, turn heat off. Quickly dip 1 rice paper wrapper in warm water, making sure it’s submerged. When flimsy, in a few seconds, transfer wrapper to the dampened dishtowel.
- Place a small handful of pea shoots on the bottom third of the wrapper. Top with a line of rice noodles, some shredded carrots, 5 to 6 matchstick cucumbers, a few pieces of red cabbage, and generous pinches of both the cilantro and mint. Starting with the end closest to you, roll the wrapper tightly around the filling. When it’s rolled halfway up, fold the sides of the wrapper toward the center and continue rolling to the end of the wrapper.
- Place the spring rolls on a plate, and cover immediately with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best consumed the same day as making.
- To make the peanut dipping sauce, mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add more water or coconut milk until a dipping consistency is reached. Don’t refrigerate the day you are using, or it will thicken too much.
Notes
Cooking rice noodles is like cooking regular pasta. Boil them in a pot of salted water and taste until the noodles are the right consistency, a bit al dente, usually 2 to 3 minutes. After straining, run cool water over the noodles to stop the cooking.
Waste-Saving Salad
Use any leftover vegetables from making the spring rolls or any other dish to make a colorful salad. Add slivers of chicken or tofu, and top with pea shoots or other microgreens and no one will be able to tell those veggies were ever leftovers.
