spring rolls

I discovered these by accident with my father and I've been in love with them ever since. They have everything all at once; sweet and sour, tart, salt, bitter, umami, the capsicum heat, herbal aromatics, the freshness of good carbohydrates, protein ...  

Hey! It doesn't have any fat. Does shrimp have fat? 

It occurs to me this can all be done quite simply by forgoing these fragile rice paper wrappers, but where's the fun in that?  

I learned something by watching a guy on a YouTube video. These wrappers are brittle. They soften when soaked in hot water. I've been over-soaking them. I learned from the video that they can be made wet then removed while still a bit stiff. They continue to soften but it makes rolling them up a lot easier. 

Okay, let's see if I can remember all this. You can put anything you want inside including mushrooms, tofu, chicken, shredded pork, calamari, weird vegetables, any type of noodle you like. 

* lettuce

* napa cabbage

* Julienne carrot

* barely cooked shrimp

* mung bean sprouts, 

* green onion

* mint

* cilantro

I didn't have the proper rice noodles, and do not care to use those precooked soup-bowl noodles, so I used angel hair pasta instead. 

There are about a billion variations on sauces, or possibly ten. This is the most common. Heat in a pan:

1/3 cup Three Crabs fish sauce

1/3 cup water

2 rounded tablespoons sugar

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 diced Thai chiles, or any red chile flakes (something hot)

1 large  garlic clove or 2 medium size garlic cloves crushed and finely diced

1 squeezed lime, or 2 Tablespoons  rice vinegar or white wine vinegar. 

You know what? I didn't even taste-test this sauce. I'm just that arrogant about being positive it has all the things that work. Plus I can smell it. 

I'm a spaz about rolling these things. You can probably do better than I do. I tend to overstuff them.