Spring Rolls

Until recently I felt like spring rolls where one of those fancy dishes you can buy at a restaurant but are too difficult to make at home. Sadly though, most restaurants don’t serve spring rolls that I’m not allergic too, so I guess I had taken it off the menu. Surprisingly one day here in Senegal my friend Meredith Hickson declared she was going to make spring rolls. Hand made spring rolls, here in Senegal, how? However, she pulled it off and they were amazing! Now this has become one of my go to meals that I whip up quickly when I don’t know what else to make. If you are living here in Senegal and want to make these you just have to ask for ‘nem’ wrappers – lots of boutiques and ‘toubob’ stores carry them. Once you get the hang of it, feel free to experiment with different fillers. Let me know what tastes best to you!

makes 10-20 rolls serves about 1 person (for a meal)

Spring Roll Ingredients:

Rice wrappers

1 cup shredded carrots (about 1 carrot)

1 cup shredded cabbage (about half a cabbage)

ginger paste or powder (1/2 – 1 tsp)

salt

pepper

oil

chives or lettuce (optional)

 

Dipping Sauce Ingredients:

olive oil

balsamic vinegar (import from Dakar)

peanut butter

 

 

 

Sautee carrots and cabbage until vegetables are soft. Add ginger, salt, and pepper to taste. To learn how to roll these spring rolls, check out this awesome blog post on spring roll rolling! Basically you will get a couple of spring roll wrappers wet, then one at a time add a little bit of filling and roll them up. If you happen to have chives or lettuce on hand you can stick a little bit in each spring roll along the edge next to the filling.

Make the dipping sauce by combining all ingredients and stirring till emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now you can either fry the spring rolls a second time, or eat them fresh. Either way, serve with dipping sauce and enjoy.

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