Vegetable Recipes- Spring rolls

If you look carefully you’ll see one side of the spring-roll wrapper is smoother – this side faces outward. Cover the wrappers with a damp tea towel while you’re prepping or they’ll dry out and crack.

Ingredients:

      40 g dried Asian mushrooms
      50 g vermicelli noodles
      200 g Chinese cabbage, finely sliced
      1 carrot, peeled and julienne
     3 spring onions, white parts sliced on the diagonal, green parts finely sliced into ribbons
       1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated
       1 red chilli, finely chopped
      1 large bunch of Thai basil, roughly chopped
      1 large bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
      20 ml sesame oil
      75 g beansprouts
      3 tablespoons toasted peanuts, crushed

    2 tablespoons reduced-salt soy sauce
    2 tablespoons oyster sauce
    1 tablespoon cornflour
    16 large spring roll wrappers, thawed if frozen
    1 tablespoon five spice powder
    1 liter groundnut oil
     Sweet chilli sauce, to serve


Method
Recipe by Emily Ezekiel

Put your mushrooms in a medium-sized bowl, cover with hot water and leave for 10 minutes, or until soft. Meanwhile, place the noodles in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and leave for 1 minute. Drain, rinse under cold water, then set aside.

For the filling, put the cabbage, carrot, white part of the spring onion, ginger, chilli and herbs in a large bowl along with the rice noodles. Add the sesame oil, beansprouts, peanuts, soy and oyster sauces, and mix well. When they're ready, drain the mushrooms, then chop them and stir into the filling. Season to taste.

In a small bowl, blend the cornflour and 2 tablespoons of cold water.

Next, lay one spring-roll wrapper, smooth-side down, on a clean surface as a diamond shape, with one corner pointing down towards you. Sprinkle a little of the five spice powder over it, then place another wrapper on top (the extra thickness will stop the rolls from breaking open while cooking).

Spoon 2 tablespoons of the filling on the bottom corner of the double wrapper. Brush each corner with the cornflour mixture, then start rolling up from the bottom. When the filling is covered, pull the corners in from each side (to seal the ends as you go). Continue rolling until the filling is tightly covered, then press to seal the top corner.

Lay the finished roll on a large baking tray and cover with a damp tea towel. Continue until you've filled all the wrappers.

Heat the groundnut oil in a large wok or saucepan over a medium heat. To check whether the oil is ready, drop in a piece of potato; it should sizzle and start to turn golden. In small batches, carefully lower the spring rolls into the oil and deep-fry for 2–3 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve with the sweet chilli sauce and sliced spring-onion tops.