We were inspired to make these because of some green pickled star fruit we had made a few days prior. This is the beauty of a spring roll wrapper, it is a blank canvas, we can put anything our hearts imagine into them!
We tossed some thinly sliced cabbage with Loquat vinegar and salt for a few hours prior to rolling for a nice flavor and color pop. We had turmeric and a blooming rose in the garden, Thai basil and lemon balm for fragrant additions. You can use whatever herbaceous fun things available in your zone. Shannon suggested the fried crushed Hilo side peanuts which added a nice touch, highly recommended! And we had bought heart of palm and lettuce from Jenny at the market over the weekend. So let your abundance do the creating for you!
There are a few key pointers for rolling pretty spring rolls where you can see all the beauty through the translucent part of the wrap.
Process:
- Gather all our fillings and place out in front of the area you plan to do your wrapping
- First you need a tapioca based spring roll wrapper, the ones that pure rice are opaque and will not make a beautiful see through roll.
- Dip in hot water then place flat on a well oiled surface
- Roll the bulky fillings first and start to roll about one turn so that they are fully encased
- Place your pretty fun fragrant things that you want to see through the roll in this next section
- Tuck everything in nicely, give it one more roll and fold over the left and right edges
- Either cut off the tail end so it does not double fold over the top translucent section or snuggly roll the whole thing up if your wrap is pretty full
- For the dipping sauce, we used our Sour Flower Vietnamese Dipping Sauce mixed with some tahini. If you want to make your own Vietnamese Sauce, see the sauce recipe in Pomelo Salad https://sourflowervinegar.net/blogs/recipes/pomelo-papaya-salad
Local Fillings we have in Hawaii:
Green Star Fruit (see Quick Pickles recipe)
Turmeric thinly sliced
Garden Roses
Thai Basil
Lemon Balm
Hilo side Peanuts
Purple Cabbage
Heart of Palm
Lettuce
.
.
this list is limitless. Let your creative freedom set sail!!
