healthy

Despite my absolute and true love for Ina, I'm going to say that her meals are not exactly low fat. Fat = Flavor. There's no getting around it, but we just can't eat like that everyday. So when I'm in the mood for something really delicious and totally light (think hot summer days even though we never have them here, when you can't imagine eating more than watermelon for lunch, it's time to make these spring rolls. I ate the most delicious rolls at Out The Door and these are inspired from that meal. We have the rice paper available at our little local produce store but you might have to search around a bit. Dealing with them is a little intimidating at first, but it gets easier. You'll need a large flat bottom pan with a half inch or so of water kept at a simmer. Place a sheet of rice paper in the water and let it soften, using tongs flip it and it will continue to soften. It will be in the water for less than a minute. Carefully take it out of the water and spread it out on a plate. Center your little pile of filling and roll it up.

I like to fold the sides in first and then roll the whole thing from the bottom. Fillings can be very simple but it's more fun to have lots of flavors and textures.

Here's a list if what I am most likely to use: mango sprinkled with ginger, avocado, red pepper, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, tofu, rice noodles, toasted sesame seeds, daikon sprouts, scallion, mint. By the way, something about all the carefully chopped fillings each their own little bowl makes me extremely happy. Embarrassingly happy.

Peanut sauce is fantastic, or try teriyaki which is what we had here.