Farmers’ Market Spring Rolls

From What’s in Season?

 

 

By Barbara Kobsar | Illustrations By Charmaine Koehler-Lodge

Strips of fresh market vegetables make these spring rolls delicious and gorgeous! Serve with a sweet chili sauce or the peanut sauce included here. —BK

Makes 12–15 rolls

• 4 ounces rice noodles (optional)
• 4 watermelon radishes, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, cut into thin julienne strips
• 12–15 snow peas (whole or sliced)
• 1 cup finely shredded red cabbage
• 4 spring onions trimmed to leave a few inches of greens, thinly sliced into 2-inch lengths
• 1–2 green garlic bulbs with tender greens, trimmed and thinly sliced into 2-inch lengths
• ¼ cup minced cilantro (or mint)
• 12–15 spring roll rice papers
• Peanut Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)If using rice noodles, cook according to package instructions.Prepare all the vegetables and set them out in a row.

Working one at a time, soak a sheet of rice paper in a shallow dish of warm water for 3 to 5 seconds to soften. Lay sheet on a cutting board and on the bottom third of the rice paper, artfully arrange some of each vegetable plus cilantro (or mint) and rice noodles, leaving about 1½ inches open on each side. Lift the rice paper from the edge at the bottom and cover the filling, fold the sides up over the vegetables, and roll it up! Practice makes perfect. Do not overfill or the paper will rip! Serve with Peanut Dipping Sauce or other sauces of choice.

Peanut Dipping Sauce

In a small bowl, whisk together ½ cup creamy peanut butter, 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, 2 tablespoons honey, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, 1 tablespoon minced green garlic, and 2 tablespoons water.

 

Veteran journalist Barbara Kobsar has authored two cookbooks focusing on traditional home-cooked meals using local produce. You’ll find her each Sunday at the Walnut Creek market and on Saturdays at the Orinda and San Ramon markets selling her Cottage Kitchen jams and jellies made from farmers’ market produce.

Artist Charmaine Koehler-Lodge grows most of her family’s food in their rural Pennsylvania garden.