Spring Rolls, Take Two

I screwed up my spring rolls that were supposed to go with my pork spare ribs for dinner last night. This blog is a correction.

I just bought a new wok, so I decided to make Asian inspired dishes this week to take it for a test run. I wanted to make spring rolls as a healthy, veggie side dish to go along with them. I've never made spring rolls before. I thought they were made similarly to wontons, like you wrapped them, then steamed them.

Nope. After I steamed them, they completely fell apart when I put them on the dish. They were not spring ROLLS - they were veggie BLOBS.



Closeup of not-a-roll:



It was still delicious! But...not a roll.

So back to work. What did I do wrong?

1. The veggies need to be steamed FIRST, then put in the rice wrap. The rice wrap will melt under direct steam.
2. Double wrap. Maybe a spring roll grandmaster can wrap with just one sheet of rice wrapper which are paper thin, but I'm a mere grasshopper.

First, here are the rice wrappers. You should be able to get these at almost any asian grocery.



Cabbage and carrots are steamed in my steamer pan FIRST. Green onions are mixed in after they are steamed.



The rice wraps are dipped in a warm bowl of water for 5 seconds so they can be rolled. Any more than 5 seconds seemed to make them fall apart for me. I dipped 2 sheets at a time to wrap.

Couple of spoonfuls of veggies are placed in the wrap. The temptation is to overstuff, so use less than you think you need to start and adjust.



Fold up the sides.



And roll up!



I made six of them and put them in a container to eat later. I separated layers with wax paper in the container.



And that is a Spring Roll!



Not this.