Summer Rolls

After a very fun weekend in Seattle full of eating and dancing and sightseeing at the wedding of our friends Charley and Andrea, we needed something healthy and veggie-full. Light and crunchy and fresh, summer rolls sounded perfect. I found a tasty recipe and whipped some up. They're not very hard, except it takes some time to assemble everything. They were so good that we ate them two nights in a row. I even found rice paper at the grocery store. They're colorful and full of fresh flavor and the spicy peanut sauce is amazing.

Ingredients:
Sauce:
3 tbsp finely chopped yellow onion
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp water

1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 tsp tomato paste
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sriracha
1 tsp lime juice
pinch of salt

Rolls:
1 oz rice cellophane noodles
1 tbsp rice vinegar
4 rice paper rounds
2 red lettuce leaves, ribs cut out and discarded and leaves halved
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup thinly sliced Napa cabbage
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/3 cup shredded carrot (1 medium)

Directions:
Sauce:
Saute onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes in oil until slightly brown. Add remaining ingredients and whisk together. Turn off heat.

Rolls:
Cover noodles with boiling water and let sit for 15 minutes. Drain and blot noodles with a paper towel. Toss with 1 tsp salt and the vinegar.
Put down some wax paper or parchment paper. Fill a shallow baking pan with warm water and soak rice paper (1 sheet at a time) in the water 30 seconds or until soft. Arrange 1 piece of purple lettuce on bottom half of the soaked rice paper leaving about an inch from the bottom. Spread some of the peanut sauce over the cabbage and top with one fourth of mint, basil, cabbage, and noodles. Roll rice paper tightly around the filling and, after rolling half way, arrange one fourth of cilantro and carrot along the crease. Fold up the sides then finish rolling. Transfer the roll to a plate and cover with dampened paper towel while you assemble the rest. Make the next three the same way. Slice the rolls on the diagonal and serve with the remainder of the sauce (I watered the sauce down a little to make it more conducive to dipper/drizzling). Delish!