Vegetarian spring rolls are one of the most delicious appetizers you could make for a party of people. They are easy to share and everyone loves them. In the past, I have made spring rolls with meat in them and honestly I prefer vegetarian spring rolls. They provide a better texture and more than enough flavor.
Ingredients in vegetarian spring rolls
Shitake and wood ear mushrooms
I added two types of mushrooms into the mix, shitake and wood ear mushrooms. These two mushrooms can be commonly found in Asian grocery stores and are also dried. To prepare them, soak the mushrooms in boiling hot water and cover for 30 minutes. I cut them up into more manageable pieces as you can see and used about 1/2 cup of each.
Carrots
Carrots are one of my favorite ingredients in my spring rolls. They add texture, flavor, and color which is everything you want in spring rolls. I cut them into thin strips and used about 1 large handful of them.
Cabbage
An underrated ingredient in spring rolls is cabbage. Many people don’t like the flavor, but I think it absorbs the seasonings extremely well. Cabbage also adds texture and color. For this recipe, I used regular round green cabbage which I cut into smaller pieces. In total, there was 1 cup of chopped cabbage.
Rice noodles
The reason I add rice noodles into my spring rolls is because they absorb a lot of the seasonings. Many restaurant spring rolls will use way too much noodles in the spring rolls. Since we are making them at home, add as much as you would like. I used about 50g – 100g of noodles which I just soaked in boiling water. I would also recommend cutting the noodles into 2 inch segments so that they mix better with the rest of the ingredients when cooked.
Chilies used for sweet chili sauce
The chilies I used are a combination of long red chilies and birds eye chilies. The long red chilies are not very spicy which is why I use 4 of those compared to only 1 birds eye chili. I would say 1 birds eye chili is a mild level of spice so if you want it spicier, add 1 more.
How to wrap vegetarian spring rolls
- Lay out the spring roll wrapper so that a corner is pointing towards your body. It should look like a diamond instead of a square.
- Add 4-5 tbsp of filling onto the wrapper. Keep it as compact as possible and positioned closer towards your body than it is in the middle.
- Fold the corner closest to your body over the filling, just enough to that the corner touches the middle of the spring roll wrapper.
- Keeping the middle corner tucked, fold the left and right corners towards the middle.
- Spread your corn starch + water mixture along the edge of the final corner farthest away from your body and roll the spring roll towards it to seal
- Optionally you can double wrap to be sure nothing falls out and I also found it results in a crispier final product
Vegetarian Spring Rolls
Ingredients
Spring rolls
- 8 inch spring roll wrappers
- 1 tbsp oil
- ½ cup shitake mushrooms (sliced)
- ½ cup wood ear mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 handful carrots (julienned)
- 1 cup cabbage (chopped)
- 1 stalk green onions
- 75 g rice noodles
- 1½ tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce (vegetarian)
- ½ tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp water
Sweet chili sauce
- 4 long red chilies
- 1 birds eye chili
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ½ tbsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
Making filling
- Soak dried shitake and wood ear mushrooms in hot water and cover for 30 minutes then slice into smaller strips. You can also just use already hydrated mushrooms.½ cup shitake mushrooms, ½ cup wood ear mushrooms
- Julienne carrots, chopped cabbage, chopped green onions.1 handful carrots, 1 cup cabbage, 1 stalk green onions
- Soak rice noodles in boiling water until softened then cut them into 2 inch segments.75 g rice noodles
- In a pan over high heat add some oil along with all the ingredients we just prepared. Stir for 1 minute.1 tbsp oil, ½ cup shitake mushrooms, ½ cup wood ear mushrooms, 1 handful carrots, 1 cup cabbage, 1 stalk green onions, 75 g rice noodles
- Season with soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and white pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.1½ tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, ½ tbsp sugar, 1 tsp white pepper
Wrapping & cook
- Mix together corn starch and water. This will be the glue for our spring rolls1 tbsp corn starch, 2 tbsp water
- Add 4-5 tbsp of filling onto 1 corner of the spring roll wrapper.8 inch spring roll wrappers
- Fold the corner pointing at you over the filling until it touches the center of the wrapper.
- Fold the left and right corners towards the middle.
- Spread the corn starch slurry along the edges of the final corner pointing away from you then roll the spring roll towards that corner to seal.
- Optionally repeat this again to double wrap which results in extra crispy final product.
- Fry in 375F oil for 5 minutes or until golden brown.
Sweet chili sauce
- Give chilies and garlic an extremely fine dice then place into a saucepan over medium heat.4 long red chilies, 1 birds eye chili, 3 cloves garlic
- Add sugar, water, rice vinegar, and let this simmer over medium heat.¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup water, ¼ cup rice vinegar
- Mix together corn starch and water, then add it to the pan to thicken the sauce.½ tbsp corn starch, 2 tbsp water
- Set aside and allow to cool before serving.
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