Springing for Shrimp Spring Rolls

For dinner the other night, I thought I would go with an Asian theme. I found a simple recipe for shrimp spring rolls on Food Network's website. It was a Guy Fieri recipe so I knew it had to be good!! I ahve never made anything like these before so I knew this was going to be a little bit of a challenge.  

Shrimp Spring Rolls

 First of all, the recipes ingredients were easy to find with the exception of the rice paper. I went to Publix to look for it in their Asian and ethic food section, but no luck. We talked with the manager and said to either try the area that they make sushi or World Market. The sushi area didn't have it so we decided to take a trip to World Market. Well, lets just say that it will definitely not be my last time there!! That place was amazing! But anyways, we looked through the food area and there they were. Now, the package did not say "rice paper," but "spring roll wrappers."

When it came to actually making the rolls, it was fairly simple. Since it was my first time using rice paper, I was not sure what to expect. Once the paper was soaked in the water (one piece at a time for no more than 10 seconds) it turned pretty sticky. I worked kind of fast that way the wraps wouldn't stick to the surface. I would absolutely do what the recipe says and line up your ingredients in the order they are added to the roll. It made everything go a lot smoother. Rolling the shrimp rolls was fun, but took a little practice to make them look really good. Now, I will warn you, the rolls did taste a little bland without a sauce or something else to go with it.

The recipe did not have anything to go with them, so I came up with my own thing! That is fun of cooking if I do say so myself!  I chose to just cook some Minute Rice to have with the rolls. There also was a recipe for a sauce, but it called for peanut butter and pomegranate juice (along with other things), but I just wasn't sure about it. So, I made my own sweet 'n sour sauce (I'll put the recipe below). The rice and sweet 'n sour sauce went perfectly with the shrimp rolls!

Hope you enjoy making these cute little shrimp spring rolls! Bon A Petit!

-Kym's Kitchen

"Springing Shrimp Rolls" 

(From: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/springing-shrimp-rolls-recipe/index.html)  

Ingredients:

1 pound (21/25 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 ounces maifun noodles (thin dried Chinese noodles)
1/2 English cucumber, seeded and julienned matchstick-size (about 3/4 cup)
1 carrot, peeled, julienned matchstick size carrots (1/2 cup)
3/4 cup julienned matchstick size jicama
2 green onions julienned, matchstick size to about 1/2 cup
2 cups thinly sliced crosswise Napa cabbage from about 1/2 of a head
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
12 (8-inch round) sheets dried rice paper

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

5 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons pomegranate juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup mirin

2 teaspoons garlic sambal

Directions: 

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, add shrimp and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until cooked through, but not tough. Set in an ice bath. Slice shrimp in half from tip to tip and set aside. In a small bowl, pour hot tap water over noodles and set aside to soften, about 10 to 15 minutes. While noodles are soaking, prepare vegetables and herbs. Drain the noodles and cut with kitchen shears into 4-inch lengths. Set aside.

 2. Prepare an area to work easily for assembly of rolls. Line all vegetables and herbs in front of you along with shrimp and noodles. Have a roll of clear plastic wrap handy. A silicone baking sheet works well as a nonstick surface to work on, but you can use a clean cutting board as well. Fill a shallow bowl (a pie dish works great) with warm tap water and submerge 1 rice paper round into water for 10 to 15 seconds to soften.

3. Gently remove rice paper sheet from water, place on work surface. In the center of rice paper, place 3 shrimp halves (striped side down) on rice paper. Top with 1/4 cup noodles. Top with 2 sticks cucumber, 2 sticks carrots, 2 sticks jicama, 3 pieces green onion, 3 tablespoons napa cabbage, 4 tablespoons bean sprouts, and a pinch of basil and cilantro. Finish with 3 more pieces of shrimp, striped side up. Fold rice paper up tightly over filling, fold in ends, and continue rolling, finishing seam side down. Place in plastic wrap and roll so that the rolls can set up and not stick to each other.

4. Repeat to create the rest of the rolls. Refrigerate rolls for 20 to 30 minutes, before serving.


Sauce With Recipe

1. In a small bowl, vigorously whip peanut butter with a fork until easy to stir. Stir in hoisin sauce, pomegranate juice, soy sauce, mirin and sambal until combined well. Cover and let stand at room temperature until ready to serve.

2. When ready to serve, evenly spread remaining napa cabbage on serving platter. Remove rolls from refrigerator. Remove plastic wrap and slice in half on the diagonal. Place half the rolls on their sides on the platter and the other half on their ends, standing up. Serve with peanut sauce.

Sweet 'N Sour Sauce

Ingredients:

4 tbs Brown Sugar (light tastes the best) 

2 1/2 tbs Ketchup

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1/2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp cornstarch + 5 tsp water

Directions:

1. Mix Ketchup, Brown Sugar, Soy sauce, and Vinegar

2. Heat until it boils

3. Mix the cornstarch with the water

4. Add the cornstarch until thick

5. Serve