Finally

When my mom comes into town I put her to work. She cooks and cooks and cooks the best Thai food ever. I can't cook nearly as well as she can, so she ends up cooking a lot and we eat a lot. Then we freeze the rest. One of my favorites are these spring rolls. You can grow most of your ingredients in your garden, so make plans now for next year! Let's make some spring rolls.

Shred up your cabbage nice and thin, kind of like coleslaw. 

Grab a cheese grater to shred up your carrots. This will make things a bit easier. Slice up your celery as well. You can include all of the celery. We don't want any waste.

You can try and shred and slice equal amounts of all the veggies. If they aren't exact that's okay. We'll never know.

Place them all in together in a large mixing bowl. Throw in a few tablespoons of salt and mix well. Then let it sit for a few hours.

While the veggies are sucking in the salt open a package of noodles and soak them in water. We want to soften up a bit.

After a few hours water should be streaming out. Squeeze out as much excess liquid as you can. Use your muscles.

Once you squeeze everything out it will look like all of your hard work shredding and slicing didn't leave much to admire, but don't worry it will taste wonderful, so let's keep going.

You noodles should be soft by now, so we're going to cut them up. We don't want them too long and stringy.

Next, heat up a skillet and throw your veggies and noodles in together. Stir fry until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is warm.

These are the spring roll wrappers that I use. There are several different sizes on the market, but I like these because I usually cut them into quarters and make little spring rolls. You can leave them whole and make larger ones as well. We've made many different sizes. Visit your local asian grocery store and you will most likely find these in the freezer section. When you're ready to use them make sure they are thawed, but not dried out.

Grab a wrapper and place some of your veggie mixture on your wrapper. Roll it up like a burrito.

Make sure to tuck the sides in nicely or you'll have wings, Batman.

Brush a little egg wash at the end of the wrapper to close the wrapper.

Add a little oil to a pot or use a deep fryer. Cook the spring rolls until lightly browned on both sides, flipping if needed.

Serve warm with sweet n' sour sauce. Oh, my! I think I'll have to make some of these today. Now, if you have an abundance of cabbage, carrots, and celery and you want to make some spring rolls to freeze, shred and slice up all of your vegetables. Let them sit in a bowl with salt and then squeeze the liquid out. Then place the mixute in freezer bags. I usually use quart size bags. When you're ready to make spring rolls just thaw out your veggies, add your soaked noodles and satay it all together in a skillet. Linda, you better get cracking! Enjoy!

Spring Rolls

Spring Roll Wrappers

Head of cabbage, shredded

5ish carrots, shredded

5ish stalks of celery, sliced

5 oz package of bean thread noodles

Salt

Cooking oil

1 egg

Shred cabbage and carrots. Slice celery. There should be equal amounts of each vegetable. Place in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt. Let sit for a couple hours. 

Soak bean thread noodles in a bowl of water until soft.

After a few hours squeeze liquid out of cabbage mixture. Add noodles.

In a large skillet cook cabbage and noodle mixture. Toss around until well combined and liquid has evaporated.

Wrap spring rolls. To keep closed, brush a little egg wash at the end of spring roll wrapper. 

Heat oil in a small sauce pan or deep fryer. Fry until golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool.

Serve with sweet n’ sour sauce.

Sweet n’ Sour Sauce

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup sugar 

A few drops of Sricha hot sauce (to taste)

1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

Heat vinegar and sugar together until sugar has dissolved and mixture has come to a rolling boil. Boil until mixture thickens up a bit.

Let mixture cool add hot sauce and garlic.