Saturday, June 20, 2009

Making spring rolls

I ran out of rice wine vinegar. Normally, I buy it at Megabalcones, which is part of the Mexicana Comercial chain. They were out, Walmart was out, Chedraui was out. Husband suggested Pascadeli. Pascadeli is a wholesale grocery outlet which stocks various foreign food ingredients. I now have what seems like a lifetime supply of whole cardamon seeds in my freezer.
The rice wine vinegar however was available in a normal size bottle. On the shelf were it was located were also some other interesting including Vietnamese Spring roll wrappers.
I looked in my cookbooks, I searched online, then I looked in the refrigerator. Here are my ingredients for Spring Rolls waiting to be combined, minus the soy sauce.
Here are the ingredients for the sauce minus the ginger. The cute little bowls came from the state fair, they have a large metal roofed building where they sell kitchenware and blankets.


I didn't have any bean sprouts, so I left them out. I also only had red cabbage, so I used that. The spring rolls came out a decidedly pink colour.

The results were delicious none the less. There are bean sprouts available at the supermarkets, they just don't appeal to me. I did make some lentil sprouts recently, and they were really,really good. Today, I am going to start some more sprouts. I have Thai Basil growing in the garden and it was a good touch, ideally I would have like to combine some mint, but I can't seem to keep mint growing and the bunches at the market were not worth buying. I'm thinking of using some purslane since it also grows well here and would add a nice crispness and a little bite.
The dipping sauce was okay, Husband thinks we should have had a peanut sauce, so I am going to do that next time too.

13 comments:

  1. Theresa, you are making me so hungry! Wow!

    I am going to have to scout around and see if I can find some wrappers.

    Thanks for the idea.

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  2. Nancy, if you can't find the wrappers, here is a link to a blog post I did on fresh rice noodles, I bet you could adapt it to the wrappers! http://theresacooks.blogspot.com/2008/05/fresh-rice-noodles.html
    regards,
    Theresa

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  3. Pescadeli is one interesting place, no? These look great, and I'll give them a try as soon as I get the ingredients.

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  4. Here, here to vietnamese food in Mexico! I'm going to attempt pho this week in the kitchen. Do you know if Pescadeli is a chain (I live in DF)? And how are the prices?

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  5. OMG! I love Spring Rolls!!!! But I haven't found a good source of oriental ingredients in Puebla yet, but I'm going to Mexico City tomorrow and I'm sure I will find them there..... mmmmmmmmm
    Although I did make Thai BBQ Satays the other day with Peanut Sauce to calm my munchies, but Spring Rolls are it!

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  6. Hi Larry, Pascadeli is really interesting and badddd for my budget!

    Amanda, sorry, we ate them all. But I have wrappers left,but I think real spring rolls are probably closer to you than Mérida!

    Alice, I have never found a Vietnamese place here in Mérida, but the spring roll wrappers make you wonder, don't they? I love pho too.

    Belina, I bet you can find anything you want in Mexico City.

    regards,
    Theresa

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  7. Theresa,

    I made these yesterday, and they were great! I made some modifications but I think that might be the great thing about them.

    I Had lentil sprouts, so I used those, didn't have green onions so I used purple. I added a couple chopped mushrooms, and used mint, basil, and parsley.

    I had a bit of a challenge at first with the rolling but all in all it was fun and good.

    So now I already invited friends to lunch and I am going to make them with chopped roasted tofu in addition to the rest. MMMMM.

    Thank you! All the recipes I had ever seen were for baked or fried, and since I am working on losing weight, fresh is best!

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  8. Hi Nancy, I made more, and I also used red onion since I didn't have any green onions. I love them! Husband made peanut sauce, which is very tasty but heavy on the calorie side! I think that we'll be having more of these. What fun way to eat salad!
    regards,
    Theresa

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  9. i love your site. we went out to holbox to swim with the whale sharks and we met many poeople who had been to merida. i think it is our next trip. any suggestions on b&b's ??

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  10. BWMarie, thank you, I am glad you like both my blogs. I really don't have any recommendations for B&Bs but check Yucatan Today and Yucatan Living for some ideas.
    regards,
    Theresa

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  11. What? Lentil Sprouts!? We love Merida!

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  12. Linda, yes! Lentil sprouts! Lentil sprouts are really tasty. You can sprout all sorts of beans and seeds, each one has a slightly different taste. This is timely because I starting some sprouts today!

    regards,
    Theresa

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