One of the things that I love more about blogging is that I learn about new foods every day, not to mention some of the culture and costumes of the country those foods are from. I had never had spring rolls in my life before. I have seen them everywhere in the blog-o-sphere, but only until yesterday I decided to take the rice paper I bought a couple of months ago from the pantry and make them for lunch.
I must say that I have a new respect for spring rollers. I watched a couple of videos on how to roll them and I thought it was an easy task. Oh, how wrong I was. I ruined the first two sheets of rice paper I soaked. I guess I wasn’t expecting them to become so soft. I had better luck by the third one and by the last two ones I was finally getting the hang of it.
For the filling I sauteed red onions, julienned jicama, green bell peppers and added grilled chicken previously marinated in mustard. What I missed was a dipping sauce. Oh well, I am planning on making more spring rolls in the future. Even though I found the texture of the wrap a little weird. It didn’t taste bad. it’s rice paper, how much of a taste can it have? I guess I just need to get used to the texture to fully enjoy them.
Jicama and chicken filling for Spring Rolls
Makes enough for 6-8 spring rolls
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
For this recipe you will need:
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 TBSP yellow mustard
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1/4 red onion, sliced
- 1 small green bell pepper, deveined and sliced
- 1 small jicama, julienned – approximately 1 lb (1/2 Kg)
- 1 lime
- 2 tsp paprika or chili powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6-8 rice paper sheets
Preparation:
- Seasoned chicken breast and spread mustard on top. Grill until done and cut in medium size cubes. Set apart.
- In a large skillet sautee onion, bell pepper and jicama for 7-9 minutes. You want the vegetables to stay crunchy.
- Add the juice of the lime, paprika and salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Let it cool down.
- Build your spring rolls. Here’s a very good video on how to do this.
- Serve cool and enjoy.
About this recipe:
- There is really not much to say about this easy recipe. Only that the sauteed jicama was amazing with the chicken, onion and bell pepper. I have been trying to find more ways to eat jicama other than just marinated with lime juice and sprinkled with salt and chili powder. I did add lime and chili to this recipe but the flavor was a lot more settled with all the other ingredients.
Any ideas for more spring rolls or jicama dishes?
Buen provecho!
21 Replies
Ben, these look great to me, I was actually thinking of making some spring rolls for a concert in the park we are going to, thanks for the tips on making them.
Posted on July 16th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Ben home made spring rolls, wow. Great job, they sound fantastic. I tried some ready made ones but I didn’t like them and I suppose when you make them yourself they are bound to be good as you can put your favourite ingredients in.
Posted on July 17th, 2008 at 12:44 am
I love these and I like your filling. Another option would be to try it with poached chicken strips, julienned carrot and cucumber, cilantro, cold rice noodles and maybe even a shrimp and some scallions…very Vietnamese..hmmm..I may go make them myself now!
Posted on July 17th, 2008 at 2:43 am
I love spring rolls though have never made them. The addition of jicama is a wonderful idea for that good crunch.
Posted on July 17th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Hooray — you tried the springroll wrappers! I need to explore jicama
Posted on July 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Mmmm…spring rolls. You’ve reminded me of the first time I made them. If I hadn’t seen a friend put them together first, I would have had an even bigger mess on my hands. I never even got around to posting mine, but yours are getting my appetite worked up right now. YUM! The mustard sounds perfect with this combo.
Posted on July 17th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Those spring rolls look good! I am going to have to look for some jicama to try.
Posted on July 17th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
They look terrific! Job well done.
Posted on July 17th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Ben, great job on the summer rolls. (I call them summer rolls because spring rolls are the ones wrapped in flour skins and deep fried) I had a bit of a problem figuring out how much moisture to use to wet the rice paper. Now I just let Annie do it.
Posted on July 18th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I love this recipe Ben. Sounds like a great weekend dinner for us. Thanks for stopping by my site. Nikki wants to make cantelope margaritas because she doesn’t like watermelon. Sounds good,huh?
Posted on July 18th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Great job Ben! They don’t call them spring rolls for nothing, the colours are so spingy. Just like you I haven’t had spring rolls even if I stumbled upon quite a few recipes in the blogosphere
. To be honest I am now feeling a little more intimidated than before as I always thought the rolling would be easy-peasy.
As for more ideas on spring rolls: I’ve see some recipes of deep-fried spring rolls…not as healthy, I know
Posted on July 19th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Yum. I love foodgawker! These beautiful spring rolls caught my eye and I can’t wait to try them. The future of sharing and finding new recipes is here. Thanks for sharing and inspiring! -Chris
Posted on July 20th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
I just bought rice paper sheets and still trying to get ideas on to stuff them them with. This is a great idea.
Posted on July 20th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Spring or Summer rolls? He, he… I could eat them anytime, but, like you, I’ve never made them myself… you are my inspiration, chico
Las fotos son guapísimas
Posted on July 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 am
Oh yum. Giz and I made the Vietnamese style spring roll before. They were quite good. These look delicious as well.
Thanks for highlighting our roundup. I am jealous that you have such flexibility with your blog
.
I also tried out the calendar but couldn’t figure out how to link to an event directly in the calendar as you had. I was only able to add the url in full.
Posted on July 24th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Ben-
Those are so pretty, almost like little presents on a plate. Great job!
Posted on July 28th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
this sounds perfect for summer! we use jicama for fruit salad or pickles in indonesia ^_^ brilliant idea to use it in spring rolls
Posted on July 29th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Thanks for this. We made spring rolls for the first time last Spring, from a bon appetit recipe. They were fabulously good but really time-intensive… mostly because they involved fresh, peeled, deveined, caramelized shrimp. We’ve still got some rice paper wrappers left over, but I haven’t had the courage to repeat the shrimp spring rolls. These chicken ones sound like a fun and faster alternative!
Posted on July 30th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
OMG. Spring rolls are some of my favorite things ever. And these look delicious. Plus, jicama is soo refreshing and perfect for summer. Love it!!!
Posted on August 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Lovely! I like in fresh Spring Rolls as well. It’s kind of snack for us where we julienned the jicama, add crab meat, roe, spring onions, fried crispy shallots and then layered with sweet sauce and chilli sauce. It’s also a very important tuber in a Straits Chinese cooking. I love adding to soups for the sweetness and in making Dim Sum dumplings like Sui Kow.It’s a good replacement if you can’t find Water chestnuts.
Posted on August 17th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
This looks wonderful! It’s a perfect thirst quencher in this dry and cold weather!
Posted on October 17th, 2008 at 9:42 am
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