I have wanted to make some spring rolls for a while because the whole family loves them. I had seen a recipe online that I wanted to try, but I was menu planning with magazines last week. However, I found this recipe in my Taste of home magazine. Funny thing is it says in the magazine that the original recipe came from watching Elmo make them on sesame street. Ha.
I loved them. It is a great way to get veggies into my kids because they all love them. However, they were extremely time consuming. The recipe said it was 30 min. prep and 15 minutes cook, but I was working on these for more like 2 hours. Part of it is my fault - my sprouts had gone bad and I had to sent Brandon to get some new ones. Then I couldn't find the piece I needed for my food processor to julienne cut my carrots, so really a good portion of the time delay was my fault. However, part of the major time consumer was wrapping the rolls up. You have to let the wrappers soak in water, then fill and roll. (Again here I made some errors that added to my time - like not remembering more often than not to put a wrapper in the water while I was filling a wrapper.) Anyway, all said and done, without mistakes, this would probably still take an hour. I did double the recipe though too, so that took a bit longer as well. All that being said, maybe a single batch would only take 45 minutes :) I also rewrote the directions a little to have them get everything ready at the same time.
Because of the time factor for making the double batch I am writing this out as a single batch. I did double it and serve it as dinner rather than a side though.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, finely chopped (this also took a while to chop.)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup light coconut milk
- 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)
- 1 green onion, sliced
- 1 Tablespoon minced fresh gingerroot (I used the stuff in a jar)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- 1 cup fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed and chopped
- 1/2 cup carrot
- 2 oz. uncooked thick rice noodles (I used thin because that is what I found)
- 12 spring roll wrappers or rice papers (8 in.)
- 1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
Directions (try to do 1, 2, and 3 at the same time.)
- In a large skillet, combine the first 9 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, bring 8 cups water to a boil (I did not measure.) Add bean sprouts, peas and carrot; cover and boil for 3-4 minutes or just until tender. Drain and immediately place vegetables in ice water. (I actually just threw ice on them in the drainer and ran water over the ice and veggies.) Drain and bat dry (I didn't pat them, but probably should have.)
- Meanwhile, In another saucepan, cook noodles according to package directions.
- Soak a spring roll wrapper in water for 30 seconds; place on a flat surface and pat dry (I only patted the first one. It made it get really sticky, then it started sticking to itself... I patted them dry when I was done rolling them up. I also tried to soak one on one plate while rolling another on another plate.) Place 1 heaping Tablespoon chicken mixture down the center of the wrapper. Top with 3 Tablespoons veggie mix. Top with noodles and cabbage.
- Fold both ends over filling; fold one long side over filling, then roll up tightly. Place seam side down on a plate. repeat. Cover with damp paper towels until serving. (I didn't have to do that, I started serving as I made them. The ate them faster than I could keep up.)
