Monday, September 22, 2008

Spring Rolls ARE Vegan

I was strolling thru my local Barnes and Nobel this weekend. I spend far too much time in that joint. A nice tea and my iPod blocking out the riff raff and I could get lost there. One of my favorite things is to flip thru cook books. I know this is strange but I often read cook books like best sellers, from cover to cover. You learn a lot in cook books, not only technique, but interesting flavor pairings. Oh and one of the other rocking things about B&N is their bargain book section. I’ve found tons of super neat things there. So, with iPod a blasting and sans tea, I scooped up two vegetarian cook books from the bargain section and snuggled into a big chair. The cook books, titles forgotten, were a bit of a disappointment as most of the recipes I was interested in contained cheese. One had the most beautiful photography. I have a rule with buying cookbooks these days – there must be three recipes that I want to run out and make this second before I buy them. So I’m flipping thru these cook books, longing fondling the pages of creamy looking mac and cheese, when I spy a recipe for “Vietnamese Spring Rolls”. Since the book did not meet my three recipe criteria, I whipped out my handy note book and copied it down. Save for the rice paper wrappers, I had all the ingredients on hand or could easily obtain (carrots, tofu, rice vermicelli). I knew the rice paper rappers would be a challenge. This town is not hip to the wonders of international food. The “ethnic” section of the main supermarket I shop at is mostly Taco mixes. That is not my idea of ethnic. So Supermarket #1 did not have them. I decided to stop at the slightly upscale super market. They actually have an “Asian” section that’s more than La Choy noodles. And SCORE! They had rice paper wrappers! These suckers were so good, and fun to make. They just might have to become a staple in my vegan house.

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