Tasty Tuesday!

If you have never made any type of Asian food before these rolls may seem imitating, but they are a lot of fun and really not much work.  The ingredients can be adjusted if you prefer chicken, mushrooms or zucchini add anything you wish and take out what you do not.  The most important part is to make sure you do not over fill the rolls and keep them moist as I personally find they are not appealing dry (of course unless they are deep-fried)

Shrimp Rice Paper Rolls

12 8- to- 9-inch round rice-paper sheets
1 cup fresh mint leaves
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 cup small fresh basil leaves
1 cup finely shredded iceberg lettuce or green cabbage 

1 cup mung bean sprouts (use vermicelli if you prefer)
1 cup matchstick-size cucumber
1 cup matchstick-size strips peeled carrot or jicama
8 ounces cooked peeled deveined medium shrimp, cut lengthwise in half 

Fill large bowl with warm water. Add 1 rice-paper sheet and turn until it isbeginning to soften, about 30 seconds. Remove from water; drain on kitchen towel.  If you prefer you can also soak the towel in the water and wrap 1 rice-paper sheet and cover it completely by the tea towel so it can absorb the water. (if you do this second step you can make a roll while the other roll is softening up)

Divide half of mint, cilantro, and basil among softened rice-paper sheets, arranging across lower half of each sheet and leaving about an inch border on each end.

You can then top with half of lettuce, sprouts, cucumber, carrot, shrimp. Fold bottom of each rice sheet over filling, then fold in ends and roll into tight cylinder.

When placing them on a platter be sure to have the seams facing down so it can look neat for display purposes.

Repeat soaking with remaining rice-paper sheets, then top with remaining filling to form 6 more rolls.

You can make these ahead but be sure to cover to a moist towel so they do not dry out!


As for sauce you can find various recipes but I love the peanut sauce we use for ours and you can find the sauce ready made at any local Asian grocery store (as well as any other ingredients above)