vietnamese spring rolls

Asian Night

Tonight's meal was a Vietnamese Spring Roll with a quick peanut dipping sauce.

Those papery-spring roll wrappers have had their share of bullying. Many people, including me, have been beaten by them. That is unnecessary, though. You just have to know a few tricks and you can pull off delicious spring rolls. Once you have some easy insight into rice-paper-wrapper-secrets, there is no end to the creative possibilities.

My rolls have jicama, pepper, mint, basil, chive, cucumber, bean thread and carrot in them. You can put anything in them you want: lettuce leaves, tofu, cilantro, nuts, mushrooms, etc. The list goes on.

What tends to be intimidating with the rice paper is the soaking: soak it too long, the sheet literally dissolves. Soak it not long enough and you are eating paper.

You need to have your water pretty warm and dip your rice paper wrapper into it. Only dip it long enough for it to become pliable, so you can roll it and not have it break. There is no need for it to be soft enough to eat at this point. Place it on your board, fill it moderately, wrap half way, folding both ends in, add a few julienned pieces of veggies, sticking out over the edge and finish rolling. The moisture in the veggies will finish softening the paper to a perfect consistency.

No more guesswork.

Cost Breakdown

rice paper, bean thread: $2

carrot, pepper, jicama, cuke: $3

herbs: $1.25

peanut sauce: $.75

Total to make 15 rolls:

$7.00

brewpub tater-tot pie

Rounding off the PPK week of American Vegan Kitchen we nod a bit to homeschoolers - I made Tami's Brewpub Tater-Tot Pie, a variation of which the Duggars are famous for.

When we first started homeschooling, we were enthralled by a show - 14 Kids and Pregnant - or some such title. It was about a homeschooling family (which is what appealed to me). This was shown on TLC and since then the family has had 5 more kids and acquired a TV series, 19 Kids and Counting. Since then I have lost all respect for TLC (hint: Palin, the Wolf-killer). As for the Duggars, their contribution to our family was limited to their Tater-Tot Casserole - a concoction of ground meat, condensed canned mushroom soup and fried, molded potatoes. Surprisingly, they endorse a cookbook titled, Two Sisters Cookbook - a vegan cookbook.

I know I need not say this, but Tami's version dwarfs the Duggars'. In fact, Tami's version is more a play on Sheppard's Pie with tater-tots than a Duggar's version of cheap food.

No offense meant.

I changed up the tots - Tami calls for one pound of tots, cut in half. I used two pounds, whole. I think she specified this in her book to lower the calorie and fat content, but I know my kids and they thought I was being skimpy with the tots as it was.

No surprise there.

So, to warp up the book, Tami's is a must have, something I have stated before; while I have not been tempted by most cookbooks, this one, to my benefit, I was tempted by.

Yum. Period.

Cost Breakdown

tater-tots: $4

TVP, spices: $2

carrot, onion, celery: $1.50

tomato paste, broth: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$8.50