Cold rolls! Vietnamese rice paper rolls! Fresh spring rolls! Call em’ whatever you want, they’re delicious. I love cold rolls because it’s a great way to smash healthy, delicious ingredients together and deliver them into your mouth in one perfect parcel. If bread is the vehicle for the contents of a sandwich, then rice paper is the BOSS of transporting the goods without interference. Cold rolls are perfect when you want something light that doesn’t skimp on flavour.

Here’s how to make these bad boys.

Julia’s shrimp, avocado and mango cold rolls

Ingredients (Makes 6 rolls. serves 2. double or triple the recipe if needed!)

Half a large mango, peeled and thinly sliced
1 thinly sliced medium carrot
Large handful spinach
24 small shrimp (fresh or frozen)
1/4 package of thin rice noodles/vermicelli
Avocado, thinly sliced
6 sheets of rice paper
hot water
Sweet red chili sauce

Directions

First you’re going to want to prep all your veg. Squeeze some lemon or lime over the avocado so it doesn’t brown while you’re assembling the rest of the meal

Cook your shrimp for a few minutes with a glug of avocado oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Set aside to cool slightly.

Cook noodles according to the package. Drain under cold water.

Add hot water (not so hot that you can’t touch it) into a large pie plate or something big and shallow enough to fit the rice paper. Immerse the rice paper into the warm water until it becomes pliable (but not too thin and goopy or it’ll be a nightmare to work with). Transfer to a cutting board and start assembling your roll. Spinach, noodles, carrot, mango, avocado, shrimp. Close the side of the rice paper and roll the rest like you would a burrito. Put seam side down on a plate. Cut in half if you want.

Serve with sweet chili sauce, or dipping sauce of your choice!

YUMMY! My husband usually doesn’t like these things but he LOVED these ones. The key to good cold rolls is not adding too many noodles in my opinion. The kind you can buy ready made at the grocery store are 75% noodle and they’re bullshit. I love the creaminess of the avocado, with the sweetness of the mango and shrimp, the crunch of the carrot finished off with a bit of heat from the sauce. If you’re serving these for company maybe watch a tutorial on how to wrap them better. Some of mine looked like stretched out condoms. Maybe not the best imagery for a food blog, but I’m being honest! They were so so good but could have been tighter.

If you don’t have/don’t like sweet chili sauce you can use something different or make your own quick sauce. You can make an easy peanut sauce by combining a few scoops of melted peanut butter, sriracha to taste, lime juice and soy sauce. Mmmmm.

Also, you can literally put anything into a cold roll. Try leftover chicken, bacon, tomato and spinach dipped in a garlic aioli. Or steak, red pepper, rice noodles and avocado dipped in a ginger soy dressing. The possibilities are endless! Get creative and see what leftovers you have that can be transformed into a beautiful fresh spring roll. They’re the perfect meal for a hot summer day when you don’t feel like turning on an oven. Fast, easy and healthy.

Let me know what kind of creations you come up with! I’m always looking for more inspiration. Stay cool out there and eat good food. Until next week!

Julia