Recipes: Mint Shrimp Summer Rolls

I don't know about the rest of you, but this whole winter-in-March thing is sucking the life out of me. I need the sun! I need the outdoors! I need fresh produce! Thankfully I'm going to San Diego next week, where all of those things flow in abundance during every "season" (let's be real, San Diego doesn't have seasons).

Until then, I decided to bring summer to my kitchen with my white-girl take on summer rolls. I substituted traditional lettuce for kale, and peanuts for almonds. Pretty damn good! And good for you!

Summer Rolls:

spring roll wrappers

rice sticks aka thin rice vermicelli noodles

mint leaves

kale

carrots

cucumber

shrimp (cooked, cleaned & prepared)

Dipping Sauce:

1 Tbsp almond butter

2 Tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tsp rice vinegar

1/2 tsp sesame seed oil

1 tsp soy sauce

Serves 2.

~Julienne carrots and cucumber, and slice the kale in a thin of strips as you can (without turning it into kale confetti).

~Lay out ingredients so you're able to access them easily for each summer roll. Set aside.

~Cook vermicelli noodles according to package directions, about 3 minutes in boiling water. Rinse with cold water until the water runs clean, this helps eliminate leftover starch. After, run hot water over noodles for about a minute, and let sit for about 5 minutes. They should become a little sticky and easy to work with.

~After you've prepared the shrimp (if frozen, according to package directions; if shrimp are raw, cook them!!), pat dry. Pressing down on top of one shrimp on it's side, slice sideways through the middle so you split the shrimp in half evenly. Watch your fingers!!! Make sure you de-vein and get any other yucky parts out of the shrimp, halving them makes this much easier I find.

~I made the sauce before making the summer rolls just so I could dig in immediately after I rolled them. Mix all sauce ingredients and set aside.
   

*Normally this would call for peanut butter, however I only had fresh-ground almond butter on hand and it was still delicious! Almonds have less saturated fat than peanuts, as well as more iron and calcium, and contain good amounts of Vitamin E. Peanuts also contain slightly more calories than almonds, but honestly, fuck calories. Yes, I said it. Calorie counting is a waste of your time, and your sanity! Stick to healthy, nutritious, unprocessed foods and you'll never need to worry about calories.

~Now for the rolls! Wet the rice paper until just covered in water, then shake off excess drips and set down on a plate. In about a minute, the paper will become pliable enough to roll. (Sorry the photo is blurry!)

~I recommend setting up a little station where every ingredient is easily reachable, see above.

~Begin by setting the shrimp with the shell/outside facing down. Line up your other ingredients below the shrimp, in whatever order you like. Feel free to add your own ingredients here, such as bean sprouts, tofu, ginger, or anything else exciting you have on hand. Try to keep all the non-shrimp ingredients stacked on top of one another.

~Start rolling! Once all your ingredients are stacked, tuck the smaller sides of the paper into the roll; I found it helped to press the rice paper down where it overlaps so it sticks and this helps with the rolling. Once the sides are tucked in, take the bottom half of the paper and fold it tightly over the stacked ingredients, making sure they stay stacked. Be gentle! Begin to tuck and roll up, rolling over the shrimp and continuing to roll onto the excess paper above the shrimp. The paper will seal itself and suddenly you have a summer roll! I wish I had a third hand to videotape this, but, you know, I don't. Sorry.

~Serve cold with a side of the dipping sauce, and get ready to eat!!