Hello friends! How are you doing on this fine Monday? I have been taking it easy the last few weeks, work is normally slow around tax time, so I took advantage of this and did a few small home projects. The front door has been re-stained, I added some decorations to brighten things up a bit also. Cleaned out little girl’s closet and dressers, switched out Winter clothes with Summer wear. Had a little time to do that to my closet last weekend also; I always feel much “lighter” after organizing. Another great thing about switching Winter/Summer clothes is finding some long lost “friends”, figure out new outfits in my mind is like free shopping, with the help of “Pinterst” boards, I’ve realized how versatile just a few key pieces of clothing with accessories can be. BTW do you Pinterest? Here is my board if you are interested!
With the temperature getting near 90’s, and swimsuit season coming FAST, I have been cooking lighter meals. Less red meat and more vegi! One trick I found is use shabu meat slices. They can be found in your local Asian market’s frozen isles, pretty inexpensive, and when they are incorporated into various dishes, the slices tricks the eyes to think you are eating lots of meat, when in reality you are eating lots of vegi, haha!
For tonight’s super simple and healthy meal, there really isn’t a recipe, just find whatever vegetables/herbs you have on hand, wash them and cut them into thin slivers (I used Green Onions, Carrots, Cucumbers, bean sprouts and Thai Basil). For the protein plate, I pan fried some Vietnamese ham (cut into thin slices), made thin egg crepe then sliced them thinly. Cut shabu pork into thin strings, marinate with some soy sauce, sesame oil and sprinkle with corn starch, pan fry for 3-4 minutes.
Here are a few more ingredients:
Rice Noodles (Cook according to package directions)
Spring Roll Wraps
Hot Water
Dipping Sauce (I had hoison sauce and Vietnames Fish Sauce, you can add Sriracha sauce to both for some heat)
Instructions:
- Dip the Spring roll wrap into hot water bowl, make sure the whole sheet is dampened, place onto a clean plate right away flatly (We normally use 2 sheets for each roll to ensure no breakage)
- Select your desired filling, make sure don’t over do it or the wrap may burst.
- Carefully pick up 1 side of the damp wrap and cover filling tightly, then close the rest of the edges up.
- Dip using your favorite sauce, enjoy!
Weeknite Meals 
Jeno, I love spring rolls! In fact you will not believe me, but I have planned to write about spring rolls this week too 😉 (Does it remind you of something? We have already had this telepathic post link with Korean noodles…). Your spring roll looks gorgeous, the presentation on the table looks amazing and I absolutely love the chopped omelet idea. I eat lots of eggs and am always open to new recipes where I can include them. I also agree about the thinly cut meat slices. (Here they are incredibly expensive, also sold frozen in Japanese shops, but I simply ask my butcher to cut some pork into slices with the machine he uses for ham.) One its less meat and more vegetables without thinking.
Hi Sissi! Ha we must be connected some how, it’s funny we keep on cooking the same type of food! Thank you so much for the kind words, I actually thought the photos were not ideal, but it was difficult to take time on the photography, when I had hungry family members circling around the table waiting for me to be done. The eggs were kind of an after thought, but they worked out well and gave us more variety of protein. It’s great to have a good butcher who can slice up the shabu meat for you, much better than paying over priced frozen ones!
ooh yum Jeno! I like the look of those – sI thought spring rolls were always deep fried, so I tend not to think about them – but that looks really healthy, and fun to eat. Great recipe!
Hi Jenny! Thank you so much! Actually Spring Rolls are the transparent ones without frying, eggs rolls are the fattening ones that get deep fried, I normally refrain from those unless it’s some special occasion. There is actually another type of roll called Summer Roll, I have yet to find a good recipe, it’s similar to Spring Roll, but normally eaten warm and dipped in this wonderful garlic sauce, yum!
Hello Jeno 🙂 it’s nice to have a couple of relaxing weeks and get those annoying things done that you simply don’t have the time otherwise ~ I’ve joined Pinterest but simply haven’t had the time to use it yet hahaha and i’m a little worried that once i start i’m gonna be SO addicted to it 😛
This is a wonderful and healthy recipe! I’ve been meaning to roll my own spring rolls for some time now, but some how never got around to it ~ maybe this weekend! Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe!
Hi Daisy! You must be gearing up for Thursday, Woo Hoo!
Yes it is nice to have some relaxing days, too bad my mind goes a mile a minute when business is slower, instead of chilling I scramble to find things to do, this is why I started on those home projects. The funny thing is I am not very good at them, so the end result looks good from afar, as long as you don’t inspect too closely. Hahah!
can i have one of those spring rolls?! it’s not quite as hot here in NYC as down there but I can the summer already so your refreshing spring rolls would have made a great item on my dinner table! I love all the fresh veggies you are using. For me I’d definitely enjoy more with a splash Sriracha sauce lol.
Just followed one your pinterest boards!
Hi Yi! Yes you can definitely have one of those rolls! I hear NYC gets real hot during Summer also, though not for 6 months like we have it here… I am incorporating more vegetables now a days, try to cut out as much red meat as possible. Little girl loves fish and chicken, and hubby has not complained yet, so yay!
I just started follow your food porn board also, love Pinterest!
Hi Cindy! We love spring rolls. I love it especially because it’s easy for me to prepare. Just prepare the ingredients and the family will roll their own food. =D Your story about switching clothes reminded me of my life in Japan. We switch clothes like 4 times. Every season! And here, in SF, we never switch clothes… Pretty much t-shirt/long-shirt + Jacket all year around (well except for some hot days or cold days). I kind of forgot about changing clothes in closet. We can’t wait to start having some light meal. It’s cold here again today. I don’t know this weather….I just came back from volunteering in class. 1/3 of kids are sick again. The changing weather back and forth is not good. I even envy Houston 90F weather…
Hi Nami! I was a bit concerned while preparing Spring Roll ingredients, because Jon is a meat and potatoes type of guy, and Spring rolls might be a bit too light… Well all 3 of us each rolled and devoured 3 rolls, and he didn’t end up cooking instant noodles or anything, so this is considered successful!
You know how much I LOVE San Francisco, but if the weather is consistently cold, I might not enjoy it as much. On my iPhone weather app, I still have SF as one of the destinations, when it gets extremely cold, I look at the weather in your area and dream about having spicy ramen, pretty pathetic huh? Haha!
I’m happy you’re improving your home. Always feels so good to get things like doors and such done! 😀
The spring rolls look awesome! In fact I even have rice paper sheets here so I think I’ll make some soon!
Hi Kath, yes I have another small home project starring at me as I type, bought a floating IKEA shelf last week that needs to be installed, hopefully it will be leveled correctly so I can display some nice family photos!
Hope you enjoy some Spring rolls soon!
What a fun idea to have your guests roll their own. What is your favorite kind of dipping sauce?
Hi Bam! I absolutely love Vietnamese fish dipping sauce, Nami also introduced me to ponzu, which is just wonderful!
Your post reminded me of the spring rolls that i had bought long time back but never really made it. It’s time! 🙂
Hi Kankana! Thank you! If you do have a chance to make the spring rolls, I CAN NOT wait to see the gorgeous photos you will take!
Wow, I had no idea this was so easy Jeno! Thanks for sharing your tutorial and photos. Very helpful and inspiring!
Thank you Georgia! Springs Rolls are fun to make and cooling to eat in the hot weather we’ve been having!
superb i love spring rolls.
Thank you for visiting Machisan! Going to explore your blog now, you are so lucky to have grandma cooking yummy food for you!
I did my Spring Cleaning yesterday..and try to do it once a month like going through every single corner:)) even of winter:)
Your Spring rolls options are wonderful, and yes great for our waist lines too:)) Thank you for sharing and have a wonderful Mother’s day!
Good for you Sandra! It is much better to do a deep clean on a monthly basis, though most of the time I just try to clean one corner a day, so it doesn’t get too overwhelming. We both know we rather be cooking! Happy Mother’s Day again!
I actually call these rice paper rolls and spring rolls for me are the deep fried ones, but not sure if that’s just an Australian way of calling things? Either way, these rolls look superb, looks so fresh and delicious!
Hi Jenny! You know I think different country must refer to the rolls differently, I find this piece of info very interesting! We have been watching Undercover Boss Australia, looks to be a great place to live!!!