My New Best Friend

One of my favorite side dishes at Vietnamese restaurants is the vegetable-stuffed rolls that are wrapped in rice/tapioca skins. It never occurred to me I could make them myself until recently when I thought I'd give it a try. Ok...it takes some practice, but it's worth the effort of a few failed "logs" because these things are so tasty! Rice paper (see image) is sold in a dry, paper-like form in most grocery stores. You dip each sheet individually in a bowl of warm water, and the inedible rice paper sheet miraculously  turns into the flexible, tender skin that you recognize at once. I just couldn't believe that the dry form could ever turn into anything edible...I thought maybe the ones I'd purchased were old. They come out of the package brittle and plastic-like. A quick dip in warm water, though, and they're ready to stretch over whatever you choose to stuff them with. I put everything in the center, fold opposite edges in first, then just roll, dip and eat.
Ingredient List
Purslane
Avocado slices
Spinach
Cauliflower--diced fairly small
Cilantro
Carrot
Sea salt
Quinoa (I added just a little in each roll, you could use rice or amaranth as well)

Dipping Sauce
(I could have gotten more creative here, but this was delicious and very easy)
Mixture of Balsamic Vinegar and Local Olive Oil (I source both of these from Temecula Olive Oil Company, they have a website for mail order, as well as a CSA for their farm's olive oils.)


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