Smoked Salmon Spring Rolls

For me, the best of summertime eating always involves making plenty of spring rolls.  In hot weather, there’s nothing better than enjoying a light, fresh meal that won’t leave you feeling heavy or guilty.

This Matcha Monday, I’ve created Smoked Salmon Spring Rolls with a savory Matcha Dipping Sauce.  A few weeks ago, I created a recipe for Rainbow Spring Rolls served with an oolong tea-based Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce.  Today’s recipe highlights the umami flavors of matcha green tea in another spring roll recipe.  Where my oolong dipping sauce is fruity and bright, today’s matcha dipping sauce is earthy and rich.

When you think of smoked salmon you might be thinking about bagels or tea sandwiches, but it’s actually perfect for using in spring rolls too.  With its brilliant orangey-pink color and salty flavor, it can transform your everyday spring roll into a unique delicacy.  An added bonus is that it’s ready to use straight out of the package.  In today’s recipe, smoked salmon adds savory richness the same way that fish sauce does when you make Vietnamese Spring Rolls the traditional way.

What I love most about these Smoked Salmon Spring Rolls is their texture.  When you bite into these rolls, you’ll sink your teeth into a variety of soft textures first.  The rice wrapper, mung bean noodles, and salmon give the rolls a tender, bouncy bite.  After you’ve gotten through the softer layers, you’ll reach the thin, snappy stalks of haricot vert, otherwise known as French string beans.  These stalky, bright green veggies basically taste like less-starchy green beans. Here, they add an unexpected fresh crunch to the rolls and help to balance out the saltiness of the smoked salmon.

If you want to mix the dipping sauce up using proper culinary technique, you’d want to drizzle the olive oil into the other ingredients slowly, using a wire whisk.  The lazy way is throw all the ingredients into a jam jar and shake away.  The dipping sauce won’t be as thick and emulsified as if you had done it the correct way, but if fast and easy is the name of the game (hey, it’s Monday) this is the way to go.  Any fan of smoked salmon will love these spring rolls.  Feel free to play around with the proportions of the dipping sauce to make sure it’s just the right balance of flavors to suit your palette.  The sauce should be light, bright, and slightly thick, just like a good cup of matcha is.

Smoked Salmon Spring Rolls with Matcha Dipping Sauce

Makes 16 spring rolls.

Ingredients:

{Spring Rolls}

8 oz.smoked salmon, sliced

4 oz. mung bean noodles

8 oz. haricot vert, rough edges trimmed

16 large basil leaves

16 spring roll wrappers

{Matcha Dipping Sauce}

2 Tbsp olive oil

few drops sesame oil

juice of 1 lemon

1 Tbsp mirin

1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 Tsp low-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp water

1 tsp matcha powder

1/4 tsp salt

cracked black pepper to taste

Equipment:

work surface

large casserole or deep, large dish

medium pot

medium bowl with ice-cold water

wire mesh sieve

strainer

small bowl and whisk or jam jar

Directions:

1.)  Fill a medium pot with water, then bring to a full boil.  Boil the noodles for 2 minutes, then remove from hot water with wire mesh sieve.  Place in strainer, rinse with cold water, and set aside.  Blanch the haricot vert by throwing them into the same boiling water for 1 minute.  Remove the haricot vert with a wire mesh sieve, then plunge into another bowl filled with ice-cold water.  Drain the haricot vert and set aside.

2.)  Fill a large casserole or deep, large dish with about 1″ of warm water.  Submerge 1 spring roll wrapper in the water completely, wait for it to soften for about 10 seconds, then place the sheet on a clean work surface.

3.)  Stack 3-4 stalks of haricot vert in the lower 1/3 section of each sheet, towards the center. Add some mung bean noodles on top of the haricot vert, then top with a piece of smoked salmon and one basil leaf.  Roll up spring roll and fold right and left sides of the wrapper in towards the center of the roll.  Continue rolling upwards (away from you) until you get a completed roll. If you prefer visuals, please check out Andrea Nguyen’s instructions on how to wrap rice paper rolls.  Repeat this step for the rest of the 15 rolls.

4.)  In a small bowl, mix all of the dipping sauce ingredients together, except the olive oil.  Use whisk to stir the ingredients together, then gradually add the olive oil in a stream.  Alternatively, throw all the sauce ingredients in a jam jar and shake well.  Serve the dipping sauce along with the rolls.

 

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