Green Papaya Salad Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls are quickly becoming a weeknight staple for Neil and I. They are not only soooo easy to make, but are easy to change-up with little effort. You may remember last time we made Pork Spring Rolls with PB Dipping Sauce with veggies leftover from our Bun. This time we wanted to go a little Thai and a little sweeter, so we adapted a simple Green Papaya Salad recipe for our spring rolls.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon dried or frozen shrimp shrimp (optional)
1 to 2 teaspoons coarsely chopped fresh hot green chilies, such as Thai chilies, serranos, or jalapenos
1 1/2 cups shredded green papaya
12 green beans or 3 asian yard long beans, trimmed to 1-inch lengths
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
6 to 8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped roasted, salted peanuts
1 cup crispy chow mein noodles (optional)
6 lettuce leaves (optional)

Directions:

Obviously this one was Neil’s!

To Prepare Green Papaya Salad:
1. Mince the garlic and chilies and place them in a food processor along with the shrimp (optional).
2. Cut the papaya into 1-inch chunks and spread out on a cutting board. Using a rolling pin, lightly roll over the papaya back and forth for 1-2 minutes. Stop to gather up the shreds, squeeze them, and spread them out again for another pass or two. When the shreds are wilted, transfer them to the food processor. Add to the garlic and chillies in the food processor, then add fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar and peanuts.
3. “Chop” until thoroughly blended.

To Assemble Spring Rolls:
1. Dip each rice paper wrapper in a bowl of warm water for about 3-4 seconds (up to 6 seconds depending on the thickness of your paper). DO NOT over soak! Once removed, place on a staging surface and allow to sit for 30 seconds to one minute. Your rice paper should be gelatinous but pliable.
2. On the side closest to you, add first a layer of beans on the bottom. Then add papaya salad and top with tomatoes and crunchy noodles (if desired). Now would also be the time to add any additional sriracha or hoisin sauce if you so choose. Lift side closest to you and begin rolling spring roll, about 1/3 of the way through, and fold in sides. Refrigerate as you assemble the rest of the rolls.
3. Serve with hoisin, sweet and sour or our fabulous peanut butter dipping sauce.

Fruit in Spring Rolls for the win! So sweet and yummy, We can’t wait to pair more fruits with veggies and fun sauces. Maybe something paired with banana?

Speaking of pairing, someone yesterday on Twitter was admiring the Jack Daniels on our counter. Well, it’s not Jack Daniels. It’s actually homemade wine from Neil’s Uncle Roger. He worked at the Sappington Fruit Market in St. Louis for years, and always had access to mountains of fruit. What better than to take up winemaking! This particular bottle is actually an elderberry wine, and it tastes phenomenal. Not too sweet, not too dry, and perfect for a little weekday unwinding when your ex-coworker, who never did his job to begin with, thinks punishing you is going to get him somewhere. Ah work, it’s always…work.