As the warm weather calmly comes upon us I start to look for recipes using cold veggies, instead of the warmed up ones we have been making during the past few months.
I decided to venture myself with rice paper a couple weeks ago and made some vegetable spring rolls. They came out great and the rice paper was not difficult to use at all.
For these I used zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper and carrots, all sliced into thin strips, and a few fresh spinach leaves. To soften the rice paper as I was making the rolls I simply dipped one sheet at a time in warm water, put them over a flat surface, arranged the veggies in a bundle form near the border and rolled like a wrap, tucking in the sides so nothing would escape.
There was a little prep time for chopping everything, but other than that it was pretty easy to make and quick to put together. I served ours with two kinds of vinaigrette, one made with Dijon mustard and a second made with orange juice - the orange vinaigrette paired up nicely with the vegetables making everything taste super fresh, and ended up being the choice of dipping sauce for the following times I made the rolls. (I know, not Asian or oriental at all, but this is the sort of things we like, Oh well!)
We all loved these rolls, they are light, tasty and very fresh when the temperature is high. I see that we are going to make them a lot during the summer, especially since Matheus already declared this to be his favorite way to eat raw vegetables! He thought it was the funnest dish to eat of all!
Enjoy!
Ana

Another picture of the rolls. The photo above shows one roll sliced in half and standing up.