Tori's Spring Rolls

I just discovered the world of spring rolls.  I've had and love egg rolls but never the clear rice paper wrapped spring rolls.  Until about a month ago when I saw my daughter's boyfriend eating some and they looked so good.

Our local Ralph's has a deli and they have a section where they sell sushi and spring rolls.  There is someone behind the counter making them fresh daily and as I reached for my normal cucumber and avocado roll, I saw the package of vegetable spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce and decided to try it.  I was hooked!

Craving these would normally dip into my budget but I decided to learn how to make them myself.  There's an Asian market that just opened around the corner and I decided to buy the rice paper wrappers.  I looked up a couple recipes and decided to give it a try.

I took red cabbage, green lettuce, cucumber, carrots, alfalfa sprouts and cilantro and used that as the stuffing, using my kitchen aid shredding cones to shred the cabbage and carrots.

The rice paper comes in a package and is firm and has a texture to it.  It almost looks like a round sheet of hard plastic.  Don't worry though.  Just fill a pie dish with warm water and place a sheet of the rice paper in the dish for a couple of minutes, turning to moisten thoroughly.  The textured design should disappear and the round should be very thin.  Be careful because they can tear easily.

Once the texture is gone and the paper is super thin and pliable, I laid it on a piece of paper towel to remove the excess water.  Remove from the paper towel, lay it on a plate and fill with your ingredients of choice and roll, tucking in the sides as you go.   The paper will seem a little sticky but that's normal.

For the peanut sauce, I experimented with smooth peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, warm water and sugar (dissolve the sugar in the water) and grated fresh ginger.

Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas

This is a recipe I made that is so refreshing when it's hot.  No cooking, except for the tostada shells, or you could purchase them already done although they aren't nearly as good as homemade.

For this recipe I used:

Large cooked and deveined shrimp
green onion
cilantro
avocado - cut into small squares
tomato - inside and seeds removed
lemon juice
lime juice
cucumber - remove seeds and cut into small squares
jalapeno chili - about 2 or 3 depending how hot you want it
salt
garlic powder
onion powder

I didn't give measurements because it depends how much you want to make.  I used a 32 oz. bag of large shrimp.  Remove the tails and cut into bite size pieces.  Chop 5 green onion stems, cilantro, tomato, cucumber, avocado and jalapeno and add to the shrimp.  Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons and 2 limes into mixture.  Add more if needed.  Add 1 tsp. garlic powder and 1 tsp. onion powder and salt to taste.  Mix and let sit in refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

Meanwhile if you want the homemade tostada shells, heat cooking oil in a frying pan until heated to 350º or until the handle of a wooden spoon inserted in the oil shows bubbles around it.  Make sure your oil is not smoking or it will burn the shells.  Add a corn tortilla watching it to make sure it doesn't burn.  Let tortilla cook in the oil about 1-2 minutes then carefully turn it over.  Continue to cook the shell until it is just golden and crisp.  Drain on paper towels.

Serve with rice and enjoy!