Fresh Spring Rolls

Ingredients

• 1
  
  carrot
  
• 1
  
  english or japanese cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise
  
• 1
  
  head boston or red leaf lettuce
  
• 1
  
  red pepper, thinly sliced
  
• 1
  
  bunch green onions, slivered
  
• 8
  
  ounces pea sprouts
  
• 1
  
  bunch cilantro
  
• 10
  
  leaves fresh mint
  
• 10
  
  fresh thai or regular basil
  
• 20
  
  Rice wrappers, medium size
  
• optional
  
  Rice Vermicelli
  

Directions

1. Prepare: Thinly slice the Carrot, Cucumber, Red Pepper, and Green Onions, into slivers. Set each aside, kept separately. Pick herbs and set leaves aside. Boil water for Vermicelli, then pour water over desired amount of vermicelli. Let stand a few minutes, then drain and run cold water over to cool. Cool and press as much water out as you can.

2. For the Rice wrappers: Fill a big enough bowl or baking dish with warm water. Dunk two sheets at a time into the warm water and let “cook.” These will only take about two minutes to absorb the liquid.
   Gently take out and lay one at a time, overlapping quite a bit in the middle. Pat dry the wrappers lightly.
   First lay the lettuce down on the overlapped rice wrappers so that it acts like a small internal blanket to wrap up the rolls in. It will help to support the ingredients. Lay a few ingredients of each into the lettuce. Don’t overload or they wrapper will break. Taking one side fold over the ingredients and tuck a little under while keeping a tight roll and fold over as you go until the wrapper ends and is “stuck” to the other side. That is it! Let stand for a few minutes until a little firm and it is ready. Now, set a side and do the rest until all the ingredients are used up. When you are ready to serve, cut on the diagonal in the middle and sit upright to show off the pretty colors of all the vegetables inside. Dipping sauce can be a store bought version, but it is really easy to boil 2 cups of water with 1 cup sugar, then add the bright orange spicy garlic sauce from the store. Enjoy.