Rice Wrapper Spring Rolls

This week, I'm trying to use up food I have in the refrigerator and pantry. As much as I can, I try to use food we have on hand and not go to the grocery or farmer's market and buy more. And I always have a lot of food around since I cook so much for clients and because I always look for new things to cook. Truth be told, we could probably eat for weeks without having to buy more food if we had to. If there was a disaster, we would not go hungry.

Last night, I made rice paper spring rolls using ingredients I had: shrimp, fresh spinach and carrots, green onion and cilantro. And I had two packs of rice wrappers.

These spring rolls are a much healthier version than the fried, doughy kind. The wrappers are made of rice, water and salt and are about 40 calories each. I ate 2 1/2 rolls and was full.




Here's how I did it: First, boil some water and dip each wrapper for only about 15 seconds. Don't let it sit too long in the water or it will be too mushy and will fall apart when you try to work with it. Only do about two at a time.

Then, layer your ingredients and roll it up, folding the sides in then the remainder, like an egg roll or a burrito.

And you're done! The ingredients are up to you. This version was very low calorie. Use fresh vegetables for that nice crunch. I made a dipping sauce, again using what I had on hand by mixing soy sauce, teriyaki, fresh ginger and chili garlic sauce. Delicious!