Chilli Rice Paper Rolls

The next meal from Donna Hay’s Flavors was Asian influenced and came from the chilli chapter. Her chilli rice paper rolls and chilli tofu in coconut broth both looked so irresistible I had to give them a try. I’ve been candid about my inabilities in the realm of preparing Asian cuisine, so I treaded cautiously into these recipes. I took my time, made sure I mostly followed the instructions, and guess what? Everything turned out fine. Better than fine. These shrimp rolls were definitely the best I’ve ever made. That’s not saying much, but the chilli salad filling in these rolls was really fantastic.

Shrimp was sauteed with ginger and thinly sliced chillis which were supposed to be red. Oddly enough, there were no red chillis, which I usually spell chiles but I’m going with the spelling used in the book, at the store so I used green. The salad filling consisted of very thinly sliced green onion, cucumber, mint, lime juice, and fish sauce. Because the chillis were green, and everything else in the salad was green, I added some tiny carrot matchsticks just to contribute a little color variety. The mixture was tart, fresh-tasting, and crunchy. For a dipping sauce, I used soy sauce with some green onion and ginger.

The rolls can sit in the refrigerator covered with a damp towel, so advance preparation is a definite possibility. We didn’t have leftovers, so I don’t know what they would be like after overnight refrigeration but a few hours would be fine. The cool, crisp lightness, the combination of salty and spicy flavors, and the fresh, sweet shrimp made these addictive. And, then they were gone, and I’m already craving them again.