Let’s be honest… there are days you just want to have peanut sauce for dinner. Well, for me at least. I could just be very odd. But peanut sauce is really delicious.
Last week I wanted peanut sauce for dinner, but I thought I ought to cut it with something, and salad rolls were my first choice. Thai salad rolls are such a beautifully easy (and virtuous) vegetarian meal option. You can clean out your veg drawer with them, and there’s almost no dirty dishes when all is said and done. You don’t even need to turn on the stove. They’re brilliant.
Start with some veggies you like; I tend to choose from carrots, cucumber, bell peppers, and lettuce. Cut them into tiny little strips. You’ll need some rice vermicelli and some rice paper… and then that’s it. Plus the peanut sauce, of course.
The trickiest part of all this is soaking the rice paper. I always use two sheets stacked on top of one another as they are rather delicate, and double-strength is always good when it comes to rice paper (and toilet paper). Don’t use just boiled water. You will scald your fingers (I speak from unfortunate experience here) and the paper will soften so quickly that it will float in and stick to itself, leaving you with some seriously ugly, blobby salad rolls. Just use very hot tap water. You should be able to stick your fingers in it without panicking and dropping your rice papers. Use a wide, shallow bowl so you can angle the papers and immerse a good portion of them at any given time, and then rotate them around until they’re nice and soft.
Thai Salad Rolls & Peanut Sauce
8 rounds rice paper, in pairs
2 small carrots, julienned
3″ cucumber, julienned
1/3 red bell pepper, julienned
1 cup lettuce, torn into chunks
1 bunch rice vermicelli, soaked in hot water until soft & rinsedSoak the rice paper pairs in hot water until soft and pliable. Remove from the water and line one end of the papers with a few strips of each vegetable, some lettuce, and some rice vermicelli. You can fill them as much as you like, really; the rice paper is quite stretchy and will accommodate a lot of filling! Roll up by folding the edges in to seal off the veg, and then rolling up, starting at the end with the veg.
For the peanut sauce
¼ cup natural peanut butter
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
¼ cup light cream or coconut milk
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp sesame oil
¼ cup waterWhisk everything together and serve with the salad rolls!
I am looking forward to trying out this recipe, I am alwyas looking for healthy recipes and this one seems like something my husband and I will enjoy. Thank You so much.
Enjoy it! I absolutely love getting my veggies with a generous side of peanut sauce—yum!
I was think of making something like this for a picnic or lunch…. So they would need to be made a few hours ahead of time.
How long do you think that you could make these ahead of time? Basically, do they dry out, or does the rice paper become weak after time?
The rice paper will dry out and start to crack, so you’ll want to keep them in a sealed tub, with a damp paper towel or cloth draped over top. I find they’re generally good to go for a day or two 🙂
Thank you!!! I’m on my way to the grocery store right now! My new favorite thing to eat has been the salad rolls with peanut dipping sauce, from Whole Foods. I could live on them, and nothing else. But, they’re expensive. I needed to start making my own at home. Your recipe will be the answer. I can relate to you saying that sometimes you need peanut sauce for dinner. I feel like I want it for every meal! The Whole Foods salad rolls have avocado, which goes so well with the peanut sauce. So, I will be adding avocados to your recipe. If you like avocados, I recommend trying it. Scrumptious!!! 🙂
You’re very welcome, Lori! I just had these for lunch yesterday, there must be something about spring that sends us running to the salad rolls 😉 And great idea on the avocado, I’ll have to pick up a few and add one to my next batch—yum!
I like adding cilantro or mint to salad rolls along w/ the usual veggies.
Good call! Thai basil is also delicious 😀