California Summer Rolls

One day I happened to see a picture of this dish on a friend’s facebook page. I thought it looked good and easy to do. These are the results of my experiment.

I served them at our New Year’s Eve party and everyone like it. I don’t really know what this dish is called but I named it California summer rolls since it was just like California Maki without the rice. It’s very easy to make but a bit time consuming to make so many rolls.

California Summer Rolls Recipe
rice paper wrappers
good quality imitation crab stick
fresh mangoes or avocado
cucumber
iceberg lettuce
Japanese mayonnaise

Method
1. Cut the mangoes and cucumber into strips. Remove the plastic wrapper from the crab sticks.

2. Be sure to buy rice paper for fresh spring roll. They also have rice paper for fried spring roll. I bought this in Unimart. For those not in the Philippines, Vietnamese rice paper should be available in Asian stores.

3. Dip each side of the rice paper in water briefly. It will be easier to handle if the wrapper is still a little stiff. It will eventually soften on its own. Make sure not to let it soak for too long in the water.

4. Place the wrapper on a plate and start to assemble the filling. Lay a piece of lettuce on the wrapper.

5. Put the crab stick, cucumber and mangoes on top of the lettuce. I prefer using iceberg lettuce for the crunch it adds to the roll.

6. Generously top with Japanese mayonnaise.

7. Roll the wrapper around the filling as tight as you can.

8. The ends will seal by itself because the rice paper is naturally sticky. There is no need to wet the edges.

9. Cut off the ends of the roll for a more finished appearance.

10.  Slice the roll into 4 even pieces.

11. Arrange the rolls in a round serving dish.

12. For a platter this size I used a entire pack of crab stick, 3 large mangoes, 1 cucumber and 1 head of lettuce. You can make as little or as much rolls as needed. You can make this a few hours before and keep it covered in the refrigerator until it’s time to be served.