The Art of Living Apie-ly : Ginger Mushrooms Summer Rolls

Lately I've been feeling like Julie from "Julie and Julia", (if you haven't seen it, it's a great movie. Don't watch it when hungry) trying to cook my way through "Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen".

Not that that's a bad thing. But I have other cookbooks. And they were starting to feel neglected. So I pulled some recipes from "Thug Kitchen" to try out.

I am finding that a each cookbook has a certain consistency to the flavours it produces. Oh She Glows is earthy, filling. Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen is acidic and zesty. Thug Kitchen? Sexy, smokey, spicy.

Thug Kitchen is known as a cookbook that will bully you a bit. There's a lot of swearing in the recipes, which makes for a humourous read. The book also asks you to improvised and do you own thing a lot. It sometimes lacks firm direction. If your comfortable with that, go for it!

I omitted the swearing in the recipe. I also restructured the recipe so it has more steps than in the book. The reason I did this is the recipe is in paragraph form in the book. I feel this is easier to look at.

Ginger Mushroom Summer Rolls -Thug Kitchen pg 56-58

Ingredients

Rolls

8 oz of mushrooms (usually one package of the pre-cut shrooms)
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp of neutral tasting oil like grapeseed
1.5 tsp of soy sauce or tamari
1/3 cup of minced green onion
2 tbsp of fresh minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
6 lettuce leaves
1 cucumber
1 carrot
1 cup of fresh herbs (they suggest mint, basil and cilantro)
1 pack of large spring rolls/rice paper rolls
any other vegetable you want in there - red pepper would add nice colour

Sweet and sour sauce

1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp of sugar
2-3 tsp of garlic chili paste
1 tsp of lime juice
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Directions

Rolls

1) Trim and slice mushroom to strips no bigger than your finger
2) minced ginger
3) heat the oil in a wok or skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute until they begin to release liquid (1-2 minutes)
4) Add the soy sauce, green onion, ginger, and garlic and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (about 2 minutes)
5) add the toasted sesame oil, stir to combine. Place mixture on a plate and let cool
6) chop the vegetable into strips no longer than your index finger. Roughly chop herbs
7) cut lettuce leaves into thee roughly equal parts
8) place a wrapped in about three inches of hot water (not so hot that you can't touch it). Don't let go of it. Soak until it becomes pliable, but not completed soaked. (Note 1: If it absorbs too much water it'll become mush. You get better at feeling this out as you practice)
9) lay wrapper out on a flat surface
10) Fold it in half to create a semi-circle, the straight edge towards you.
11) On the left of the semi-circle, place a section of lettuce leaf, add a scoop of mushroom mixture, two fingers of veggies, and a scoop of herbs
12) Fold. From left to right once, to encase the filling in the wrapper, then continue rolling until the roll is formed.
13) repeated steps 8-11 until you use up the filling or the wrappers. Makes about 15

Sauce

1) Add vinegar and sugar to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat
2) Simmer for about 4 minutes. Stir occasionally
3) Stir in chili paste and lime juice and turn off heat. Let cool
4) place sauce in the fridge until served. Add peanuts prior to serving

Note 2: I REALLY wish Thug Kitchen had added more pictures to this recipe. If you've never worked with rice paper before. This is difficult stuff.

Note 3: I didn't add peanuts to the sauce.

Note 4: In general, this is a light, fresh appetizer to serve. Offensive to no one, easily made gluten free, and super inexpensive. Rice paper rolls are like $2 for 30. It's the sauce that makes it really flavourful