Spring green & sesame rolls
Spring greens are tender and have a sweet flavour, and these Asian rice noodle rolls are a great way to use the inner leaves. Mixing raw and cooked vegetables in your diet can be good for your gut microflora. The time taken for rice wrappers to soften depends on the heat of the water – the warmer the water, the quicker they soften.
Served with a tamari & ginger dipping sauce, you’ll want to make these time and time again.
Ingredients
- 40g thin rice noodles e.g. vermicelli
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 limes
- 2 tbsp tamari (or other soy sauce)
- ½ tbsp rice vinegar
- Small piece fresh ginger
- Chilli flakes (or fresh chilli), to taste
- 100g spring greens (shredded weight)
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- Rice (spring roll) wraps
- Small bowl of veg matchsticks e.g. cucumber, carrot, pepper
Method
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Step 1
Cook the noodles according to the pack instructions, drain, refresh in a bowl of cold water and set aside (drain just before use).
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Step 2
Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan for 2-3 minutes, to release their natural oils and flavour.
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Step 3
Finely zest the limes.
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Step 4
To make the dipping sauce, mix the tamari, rice vinegar, 1 tbsp of lime juice, ¼ - ½ tsp of freshly grated ginger and a pinch of chilli flakes to your taste for heat in a little serving (dipping) bowl.
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Step 5
Prepare your greens – cut out any tough central stems, then layer and roll up the leaves and very thinly shred them.
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Step 6
Lay out a damp clean tea towel. Put some warm (you have to get your hands in, so factor that in!) water in a roasting tin or a large shallow bowl. Lay a rice wrapper into the water, leaving it for a few seconds until it’s pliable. Carefully remove it and lay it on the damp towel.
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Step 7
Scatter over a few sesame seeds, some lime zest, mint and a few chilli flakes, if you like heat. Down the middle of the wrapper, leaving a gap at each end, add some spring greens, a few noodles, a little sesame oil, then a few veg matchsticks. Don’t overfill, as rolling will become tricky!
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Step 8
Bring in both ends, then carefully roll up the wrap, to make a sausage shape. Repeat with the remaining wraps.
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Step 9
Serve them whole or halve them, with the dipping sauce.