I get a lot of people asking me for lunch ideas if they no longer eat wheat and/or dairy. The odd thing is, because I was wheat and dairy free for so long (fifteen years) it's sort of my default position.
I just happened to make such a thing this week. I thought it might make a nice treat for Mr Strongman Fitness, who, I presumed, may never have had Vietnamese spring rolls before. Apparently he had, a lot, due to his impressively culturally diverse primary school, and Min's mum making them for him. Ah well.
You can get the spring roll wrappers from Ocado and Tesco (and any oriental supermarket if you happen to have such a thing). Be warned though, if you've never used them before they can be a bit fiddly to rehydrate. I recommend a large bowl of near-boiling water and a dip-and-rotate strategy. Expect the first one to be a disaster (much like pancakes...).
Anyway, enough waffling.
Basically you need to find tasty veggies that won't wilt (if you're doing this for packed lunch anyway). So I used chopped spring onions, mange tout (sliced lengthwise so they look pretty), cucumber, beansprouts, chilli, carrots and peppers. All veggies sliced thinly into matchsticks. I also added some coriander (leaves left whole, stalks chopped finely). The pink things in my piccie are crayfish tails (which they sell in Morrisons, Co-op and Waitrose), prawns and tofu are both very good too. Mix up as you see fit, place into wrapper and roll. These will keep fine in a lunchbox and will make work colleagues very jealous. Two rolls were plenty for me for lunch, the other half had three.
You can pimp it from there depending on how filthy you'd like it to be. Mr Strongman Fitness had his with some pre-made sweet and sour sauce. I made my own satay sauce with a spoon of peanut butter and some fermented soy beans.
As with all my recipes, it's about keeping it simple and you being in control. You choose. You can even deep fry these if you feel the urge (though stick something like chicken in there rather than crayfish?).
Him indoors says that they're not as good as Min's mums. But they're probably a lot healthier.
I'll take that.
I just happened to make such a thing this week. I thought it might make a nice treat for Mr Strongman Fitness, who, I presumed, may never have had Vietnamese spring rolls before. Apparently he had, a lot, due to his impressively culturally diverse primary school, and Min's mum making them for him. Ah well.
You can get the spring roll wrappers from Ocado and Tesco (and any oriental supermarket if you happen to have such a thing). Be warned though, if you've never used them before they can be a bit fiddly to rehydrate. I recommend a large bowl of near-boiling water and a dip-and-rotate strategy. Expect the first one to be a disaster (much like pancakes...).
Anyway, enough waffling.
Basically you need to find tasty veggies that won't wilt (if you're doing this for packed lunch anyway). So I used chopped spring onions, mange tout (sliced lengthwise so they look pretty), cucumber, beansprouts, chilli, carrots and peppers. All veggies sliced thinly into matchsticks. I also added some coriander (leaves left whole, stalks chopped finely). The pink things in my piccie are crayfish tails (which they sell in Morrisons, Co-op and Waitrose), prawns and tofu are both very good too. Mix up as you see fit, place into wrapper and roll. These will keep fine in a lunchbox and will make work colleagues very jealous. Two rolls were plenty for me for lunch, the other half had three.
You can pimp it from there depending on how filthy you'd like it to be. Mr Strongman Fitness had his with some pre-made sweet and sour sauce. I made my own satay sauce with a spoon of peanut butter and some fermented soy beans.
As with all my recipes, it's about keeping it simple and you being in control. You choose. You can even deep fry these if you feel the urge (though stick something like chicken in there rather than crayfish?).
Him indoors says that they're not as good as Min's mums. But they're probably a lot healthier.
I'll take that.
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