Reader Recipe

Johnna Perry's Spring Rolls

Reader Johnna Perry sent us this easy vegetarian recipe and says, “It's my favorite lunch because it travels well AND it's nice and cool for those weeks when it’s just too hot to cook.” 

Veggie Spring Rolls
Makes 20 servings

10 pieces Rice Paper (round, cellophane sheets found on the Asian aisle of the grocery or Asian markets)
2 cups cooked brown rice, chilled
1 carrot
3 to 4 green onions
1/2 large cucumber
1 avocado
1/4 cup almond butter
gluten-free soy sauce

Cut carrot, green onion and cucumber into matchsticks (or small pieces). Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit; slice each half into 10 thin slices. Remove from peel.

Fill a pie pan with warm water.  You'll use this to soften the rice papers.  Place one paper in the water for about 15 seconds, until it softens. Then build the spring roll:  place 2 or 3 tablespoons of rice in the center of the paper. Top with a few pieces of carrot. Then add cucumbers and green onions. Now add a couple pieces of avocado. Finally, add a couple dollops of almond butter, about 1 1/2 teaspoons per roll.

To roll it up, I pull the edge nearest me up and over the filling.  Then I fold in the sides in, first the left and then the right.  Then I tightly roll to the end.  Do the same with the remaining papers until you have 10 spring rolls. That's it!

I cut these in half before serving.  They are great with a side of gluten-free soy sauce.  I like to add a little sriracha to mine, but use whatever sauce you'd like.  Feel free to mix up the veggies, too.  Sometimes I add red peppers, cabbage, bean sprouts, whatever I need to use up in the crisper drawer.  The rolls are best chilled before serving (and easier to cut, too) but you can certainly eat them right away.  It's hard not to...