As you prep to make spring rolls you can go two ways: chop up the ingredients, add them to a bowl and drizzle the sauce over it, or wrap them up in a fresh lettuce leaf, island style, and dip in the sauce.
I'm not a fan of rice wraps for a few reasons. The texture and flavor is just not my favorite, it seems like empty carbs to me, and there's solid scientific evidence that rice carries an unhealthy amount of arsenic. Rice naturally soaks up arsenic from the soil and water it's grown in.
My favorite thing about this salad is the mix of herbs. I always add some fresh mint, cilantro, and basil. Sprouted greens and chives are also a nice addition, but any greens you have around will work. I usually default to shrimp because it reminds me of shrimp spring rolls, but feel free to add your favorite protein here.
For the dressing or sauce, I go with peanut sauce (recipe below) because it's clean and easy to pull together with ingredients I usually have around. It's also easy to sub the peanut butter with almond butter or another seed or nut butter. All that said, feel free to use a more orange-based sauce like this Thai dipping sauce, or the umami dressing from this Thai chicken salad.
If you decide to roll the ingredients in lettuce leaves, all the veggies tuck in nicely when sliced long and thin so they can be tightly rolled up. And it helps to choose wide lettuce leaves. I slice the shrimp in half the long way to make the roll less bulky and easier to fold and I use toothpicks to secure them. You can also use the cilantro stems to tie the rolls together.
Spring Roll Salad
Ingredients
- 1 romaine lettuce head
- ½ small red cabbage quartered and sliced thinly
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 1 cup mint leaves
- small cilantro bunch or handful
- 2 carrots shredded into thin strips
- 2 Persian cucumbers sliced into long strips
- 4 green onions trimmed and sliced into long strips or diced for a salad
- 16 large shrimp cooked devained, and shelled
Instructions
Salad bowl
- Dice the cucumbers, green onions, and greens chopped salad style.
- Drizzle dressing or sauce when ready to eat.
Spring rolls
- Gather the ingredients, a la mise en place.
- Lay a lettuce leaf on a flat surface. Add small amounts of each ingredient and the gently roll the leaf around the ingredients into a long roll. Secure with toothpicks and/or cilantro stems tired around the middle.
Video
Nutrition
Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup peanut butter smooth with no additives
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar or other mild vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a blender and pulse or blend until smooth.
- Store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for a few weeks.
suzanne says
Have u ever tried almond butter in place of the peanut butter?
suzanne says
Oops, now I see you do make that suggestion for almond butter. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Suzanne, yes and you're welcome! I love almond butter but any nut or seed butter will work.