5-A-Day Veggie Spring Rolls

While too time-consuming for your everyday meal (unless, like me, you happen to presently be blessed and cursed with unemployment), these spring rolls are just scrumptious and make the perfect weekend experiment for culinary adventurers! Plus, most of the prep time is in the chopping and steaming, as you can roll up these suckers pretty fast once you get a rhythm going, so I highly encourage you to double or triple the recipe– these freeze great and can be popped in the toaster oven for a few minutes for a quick work lunch or dinner in a hurry.

Spring rolls are most commonly filled with rice noodles and bean sprouts, but in keeping with the spirit of using up what I have at hand (not to mention the fact that 95% of my usual pantry stock is either in the compost bin or the chest freezer– darn you, pantry moths! I WILL win this time), my version uses a variety of healthy organic veggies– and you know what? Though it’s been my experience that few healthier recipe versions live up to their sinful counterparts, I can honestly say that I like it better this way! Next time I might throw in some sprouts, but you’ll never catch me stuffing my spring rolls with vermicelli again!

First things first- assemble your ingredients.

What you’ll need:

• 1/3 of a cabbage, finely chopped– about 3 cups
• 1/2 a red pepper, julienned
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1/2 an onion, finely diced
• 1 broccoli stem, julienned
• 1/2 a jalapeno pepper, de-seeded and finely diced
• 1 tbsp. miso
• 2 tsp. fish sauce (available at Asian grocery stores or in the Asian foods section of your supermarket. Don’t worry– it tastes much better than it smells!)
• 1 pkg. (20) spring roll wrappers
• 1 egg white

Steam the first 6 ingredients until soft, about 15 min. I like to use a bamboo steamer, but any old steamer will work, or even the microwave if you prefer. In a large bowl, combine the miso and fish sauce until smooth; add the veggies and stir well to coat evenly.

Lay a spring roll wrapper on a clean work surface,with one corner pointing directly at you. Put some of the filling into the center of the wrapper. As is typical of my laissez-faire cooking approach, I forgot to measure, but around 1/4 cup or so. Maybe… OK, just try to approximate the amount you see in the picture.

Next, fold the corner that’s pointing at you over, then fold each side in, creating a sorta envelope shape, like so:

Now, you see that remaining point? Baste that part (down to where your side folds begin) with your egg white and rrrrrrrrrrrrrrroll up the rim to win! (J/K, J/K. Please don’t sue me, Tim Horton’s). Try to make it nice and snug, but not too tight, or it’ll explode when frying (or so I’m told, anyway; I’m much too seasoned a cook to make foolish mistakes like that).

OK, so now we’ve got to get some oil going. Over medium-high heat (just one notch above medium on my electric stove), heat an inch of oil in a pot. Test for readiness by dipping the corner of a spring roll into the oil; if it sizzles, get your fry on!

We want to fry each of these crispy packets of yum for about a minute on each side, perhaps slightly longer. When done, they should be golden but not brown.Think these are good on their own? Trust me, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Try them with Sweet Ginger & Tamari sauce if you really want your mind blown!