Avocado Shiitake Spring Rolls: a light dish that's surprisingly easy to make

When it comes to wrapping up your favorite veggies, grains, and proteins into a compact, hand-held meal, rice paper is seriously underestimated. Don't get me wrong, I can fully appreciate all of the whole-grain tortillas out there, but even though rice paper is of a more delicate nature, they can pack more food than you think. You could wrap just about anything up in them, far more than bean sprouts and rice noodles!

If you're interested in making your own variation of the traditional spring roll but need to ease your way into more adventurous fillings, these avocado shiitake spring rolls adapted from Spabettie may be right up your alley! They may look like they require some skill to make, but that's just part of the beauty. They don't.

As is the case with most recipes I try replicating, I ended up with a different result when I made these spring rolls myself. First off, I failed to make the spicy almond coconut sauce that's used in the original. It sounded absolutely delicious (one of the main ingredients being sriracha, a.k.a. the best condiment ever created), but I didn't have the ingredients on hand when I hit the grocery store (if only I'd clicked on the link...). Fortunately, the spring rolls were still plenty flavorful without! I was also able to make more rolls than Spabettie's recipe produces, but that could easily be because I cooked the full package of rice noodles (whoops), and the ingredient distribution amongst many of them was somewhat uneven... plus, I might have grabbed more mushrooms from the store than were necessary.... I never said I was a master chef.

For the sake of providing a more accurate count, I'm going by what the original recipe will yield. So, moving forward:

To make these avocado shiitake spring rolls, you'll need: (makes 6 rolls)

- 6 rice paper wrappers (you may be able to find brown rice paper wrappers, though I've yet to see them in stores myself)
- 1 avocado
- 3/4 cup thin rice noodles (if you can find brown rice noodles, all the better)
- 1/3 cup raw cashew pieces
- 6 large shiitake mushroom slices (it's easiest to buy them rehydrated, otherwise you'll have to do this yourself)
- 1/2 orange bell pepper (yellow or red would work, too)

Before getting started, cook the rice noodles following the directions provided on the package (consists of basic boiling). Cut the avocado into slices, chop the bell pepper into matchsticks, and sauté the mushrooms in a bit of olive oil until soft. Set a large plate out to make your spring rolls on, and you're ready to bundle!

To get started, pull out a single sheet of rice paper and rinse under some cool water, making sure to get both sides wet. After doing so, the sheet will still be firm, but it'll soften as you prepare the roll (not so much that it'll tear while wrapping). You'll want to make one roll at a time, otherwise your rice papers will become too sticky to work with as you go in-between preparing the others.

In the middle of the paper, set three avocado slices, two tablespoons rice noodles, one shiitake mushroom slice, 4-5 bell pepper slices, and a tablespoon's-worth of cashew pieces (you can mix the cashews into the rice noodles prior to wrapping, but I found that the cashews grew soggy when I did this).

I wasn't lying when I said these papers can pack the food in.
My first three attempts were legit burritos.
(*additional rolls not pictured)

Lastly, wrap all of the contents up like you would a burrito: fold in the top and bottom halves, press down the edges, fold over one of the long sides, fold the other atop, and press to make sure all is firmly enclosed inside.

For a healthy peanut sauce recipe that would make for another great dipping sauce option, be sure to check out my post on peanut sauce noodles!