Spring rolls...

We went on a trip to Morgantown last month and while there went to a small Oriental Food store.  We love going to exotic food marts and frequent World Oasis in Blacksburg quite often.  That is where I get all my Chinese cooking supplies.   Anyway, back to Morgantown...we went to this little store and they had the spring rolls I have heard them talk about on Food Network.  The ones that you dip in water to soften up and then fill and roll.  You can eat them raw or fry them up.  I had not been able to find those before and so I snatched up a  pack.  They also had the rice noodles we like in small, almost individual serving, size packs.  Snatched them up also!  I had been wanting to use them and today was the day.  We had left over nappa cabbage from when Nick and I made pot stickers and some left over veggies from big salad day.  It seems we always have flank steak in the fridge so we had the makings of some good steak spring rolls.  My darling husband/best friend got in on the cutting up session which made it lots more fun!!  I love having him in the kitchen with me.

Steak Spring Rolls

Marinade for the meat:
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs grated ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbs red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp corn starch
1/4 cup water

Combine

I took about a pound of flank steak and cut it as thin as possible against the grain.  I then cut the strips into small pieces (about four pieces per strip).  Put the meat in a glass bowl and pour the marinade on it and let it sit while you get everything else ready, or 20 minutes, whichever comes first. :)

Veggies for spring roll-all cut into matchstick size pieces:
1/2 Cucumber
1 Carrot (Darling husband/best friend used the veggie peeler to get the carrot nice and thin)
1/2 Green Pepper
small piece of ginger
2 cups of nappa cabbage (cut as thinly as you can off the head)
4 scallions sliced thin

The good thing about doing this is you can use whatever you have on hand.  If there is a veggie you like,  throw it in there.  You can't go wrong.

Take a small package of rice noodles and soak in warm beef broth until softened then drain well

If you want a dipping sauce we use light soy, water, minced garlic and sesame oil. My darling husband/best friend made this sauce and said the soy to water ratio is two to one and the sesame oil is just a trace because it is strong stuff.  All this is to taste, so taste it as you go.  If you want more sesame oil taste then put it in there.  It' your kitchen!  That's why we cook at home, so we can have it like we like it!  Right?

At this point I pulled out the wok and put a Tbs of olive oil in and put it on medium high heat.  Cook the meat about 2 minutes per batch.  When it is cut this small it doesn't take long and is easy to over cook.  When you see the pink start leaving pull it out.  It will continue to cook on the plate for a sec and it will be perfect.

Now it was time to dip and roll.  You dip the rice paper in water for just a couple of seconds then lay it down and fill it up.  I still need practice at the rolling part.  I did a burrito roll because that is what I know.  Put the filling in the center, bring the two sides to the middle and then tuck and roll.  As they sat on the plate the rice paper softened up nicely,  When you eat it raw it has a slightly chewy texture.  I like it.

They were a little messy but OH SO GOOD!!  Once I get that rolling technique down we will most assuredly have these more often.  Satisfied once again...