Roll with it

I’m currently studying over at my dad’s house and I bumped on a package of rice paper just the other day, while I was on a hunt for food in the fridge and the kitchen cabinets.

My dad does not keep any ‘real’ food in his house, I swear, it’s like a bachelor’s house! He had a cabinet full of cookies and chocolate and some mayonnaise, hot sauce and coca cola in the fridge…
well, that should make a great and nutritious dinner.

I’m so glad I asked him to do some groceries for me cause now I at least have some veggies, fruit and some rice.

So I decided to just roll with it:

Salad with cherries tomatoes,spinach and carrots.
Rice paper Spring rolls with:

One version is made with spinach, strawberries and half a peach.
The other version is made with a wild rice and quinoa mix, smokes almonds, pine nuts and dried figs.

And in case you never worked with rice paper before, have no fear: it’s super easy and quick. All you need is bowl, fill it with cold water, place the rice paper in and let it soak  for about a minute,take them out, place them on a towel and stuff them.

 

Rice Paper Pockets

Yesterday evening a friend came over and we decided to try out a spring roll recipe with zucchini, carrot, red bell peppers, hot peppers and a dip.

We both weren’t blown away by the ‘rawness’ of it, it just tasted very bland.
For the second batch we first fried the veggies in a skillet and the result was much better.

This lunch I tweaked the recipe a bit more (we still had 16 rice paper rolls over after we finished eating yesterday night, what the hell am I supposed to do with all that rice paper?!).

‘Rice Paper Pockets’
Makes 2 pockets 

You basically have 3 options with this recipe: you can eat it all raw, stir fry the veggies before you fold them into the paper or fry the pockets in a skillet in some olive oil after you added the stir fried veggies to make them a bit crunchy.

• 2 rice paper leaves
• 2 handfuls of soy sprouts
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• half a hot pepper
• a piece of zucchini, about 5 cm
• half a carrot
• (leftover) brown rice (it has to be cooked before you add it!)
• other options: bell peppers
• some soy sauce
• 2 t of Greek yoghurt
• pepper

Chop up the zucchini, carrot and peppers (if you’re using those). Add some olive oil to a skillet on high heat, toss the veggies in and stir fry them (or add them to the rice paper while they are still raw).

Place the rice paper in cold water for about a minute (one by one, otherwise they might stick together), dry them on a paper towel.
Add the veggies to the centre of the rice paper, add a dollop of Greek yoghurt on top and fold it (I just folded them the way I would fold tortillas, I’m sure there are more elegant ways to do this though;)).

Fry the pockets in some olive oil if you want to. Serve with soy sauce.

This is what a fried pocket looks like

Does anyone have any ideas what to do with the remainder of the rice paper, I can’t keep eating spring rolls for lunch and dinner for the rest of the week?!

Love, M.