Thats How I (Spring) Roll...

Brodards is the best spot to go if you're craving spring rolls aka crack rolls because you will get hooked. The secret to why their spring roll is so amazingly delicious is the contrast of textures. You have a perfectly seasoned meat patty of pork or shrimp with crispness from a fried spring onion and  additional crunch from vegetables.

The anatomy of a spring roll consists of a protein of some sort, usually pork or shrimp, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, daikon (asian white radish-mild in flavor), purple perilla, and whatever your imagination desires.

Spring rolls is all about the rolling technique. Bubba Sparxx said it best  in his song ms new booty, "get it tight, get it right"! Its all about getting the roll as tight as possible so when you cut or bite into it, it won't come apart.

Having a larger spring roll wrapper will help with first time blunders and make it easier to handle. Spring rolls are great for entertaining guests because all you do is prep the ingredients and have the guests make their own rolls according to their taste preferences.

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs of shrimp (depending on how many rolls you want to make)
1-2 bunches of leafy lettuce ( the more leaves and less stem the better. stems causes tears in wrapper when rolling)
2 bunches of cilantro
1 bunch of thai basil (couldn't find perilla)
1 cucumber julienned
1 carrot julienned
1 package of spring roll rice wrapper
soy ginger dressing to cook shrimp in (optional)

Directions:
I first peeled the shrimp and cooked them in the soy ginger dressing to give the shrimp more flavor

Then I sliced the shrimp in half and soaked it back in the cooking sauce for more flavor/saturation

Make sure you have all ingredients prepped and ready to go before rolling!
I julienned carrots and soaked them in a mixture of rice wine vinegar, sugar, and water to get some flavor/ soften the carrots a bit.

After letting it soak for a while I drained it and put it on a tray next to my cucumbers

Wash your veggies.

Organize your prep space so everything is within reach.

Don't bother with the foil. The rice paper sticks to it! such a pain!

Get a big bowl for dipping the rice paper in. Turn your facet to hot and fill bowl with hot water.
Do a quick dip of the paper just to wet it completely and hold the wrapper with two fingers to allow the water to drip off . The paper will become tacky in a few seconds. Lay the wrapper on the cutting board. You want to dip quickly because the longer you soak it in the water the more saturated it gets therefore making it mushy and unable to roll.

I layer the lettuce than the basil and cilantro. I place the shrimp down and the cucumber and carrot right on top of it.

slowly peel the bottom edge up and roll it tightly on the lettuce and slowly roll the entire roll like you would a jelly roll or newspaper. Tuck loose ends in like a burrito and finish the roll.

Easy and utterly delicious!

Eat as is or dip in whatever sauce you desire, sweet chili, hosin peanut, or soy ginger dressing.