Crispy Shrimp Spring Rolls

Shrimp Spring Rolls
1 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cups cabbage, shredded
1 cup carrot, shredded
1 cup red bell pepper, julienned

4 ounces shrimp, cooked and chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 Tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 package spring roll wrappers
oil to coat the spring rolls

Sweet Chili Sauce:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha
3/4 teaspoon cornstarch

To make the sweet chili sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Whisk them together so that the sugar and cornstarch dissolve. Place the saucepan on a burner set to medium-high heat. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil, stirring the entire time. Lower the heat and continue cooking until the liquid just begins to thicken. Remove from the heat.
Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables and sautee them for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Toss the vegetable mixture with the remaining ingredients (minus the wrappers and sweet chili sauce).
Remove one wrapper at a time from the package to ensure that they don’t dry out and crack. Place the wrapper on the counter so that you see it as a diamond shape. Spead 1/4 cup filling in a three-inch-long strip in the middle. Fold the sides in to meet, then fold up the bottom also to the middle; it should look like an open envelope at this point. Brush the top triangle edges with water. Starting at the bottom, roll the spring roll upwards. Press to seal. If the wrapper is thin and the filling threatens to break through, use a second wrapper to reinforce.

Brush the outside with oil. Place on a baking pan. Repeat the process until you run out of filling and/or wrappers.
Preheat the oven to 400*F. Bake the spring rolls for about ten minutes, turning them after five minutes. The outside should be crisp: brown but not burnt.

Lucky Cabbage

There was only one individual packet of instant ramen noodles left on the shelves at Walmart Wednesday morning. If you were “lucky” enough to get some for your pantry here is a recipe to consider.

This is also a good use for cabbage that was on sale for St. Patrick’s day.

Rotisserie chicken would work well if you aren’t handy at cooking it yourself. I add sliced green onion and I don’t use the whole amount in the flavor packets that come with the ramen noodles.

This time, I only used one package of ramen and I only had 1/4 a bag of coleslaw mix leftover to work with. You can play with the amounts in the recipe to suit your taste. Leftovers are tasty, but you lose the crunch of the raw noodles, because they soak up the liquid.

Thanks to Mrs. Coblentz for the recipe September 2015.

Bangers and Mash

There’s plenty of time to plan how you will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

If you aren’t eager to buy the whole cut of corned beef or to turn on the oven to bake shepherd’s pie, stove-top colcannon might be a good choice.

Although the word coleslaw probably doesn’t have anything to do with the etymology of this potato dish, cabbage (or kale) as an ingredient does play an important part in the recipe.