Fresh Chicken Spring Rolls

Our local grocery store periodically sends out awesome coupons. The most recent of these was for "dinner" and basically ended up with me leaving with a rotisserie chicken from the deli.

I like rotisserie chicken, but in my mind if you're going to buy a pre-cooked chicken, then it's time to make something that you need cooked chicken for (chicken salad for instance). I never want to actually have to cook some chicken to make something else. I decided to make spring rolls because Nathan and I hadn't had them in a while (almost two years!) and because I had all the basics needed to make them.



Nathan and I really enjoy fresh spring rolls which are healthy, colorful and delicious. I like to make mine with chicken, but I think that they are more commonly made with shrimp. Feel free to replace the chicken with some cooked shrimp if that floats your boat. Or omit meat altogether to make them vegetarian.

It's hard to do exact measurements with these, no two turn out exactly the same. The veggies you choose to fill them with can also vary quite a bit. So the below are approximations, you don't actually need to measure things for this recipe.

Fresh Chicken Spring Rolls

Ingredients

Rice paper wrappers--these come in a few different sizes. I like the larger ones, I find the small ones tear and fall apart more easily. I buy mine from the Asian food store, but the regular grocery store sometimes has them too.
Cooked chicken--about 1.5 cups cut into 1/4 inch wide strips or diced (I find strips a little easier to work with)
Fresh Basil
1/4 bell pepper cut into thin strips
1/2 cucumber seeded and cut into 1/4" strips
1 carrot cut into matchsticks
2 cups lettuce (I used romaine) chopped into large pieces
3 Tbsp mayo
1 tsp siracha (I use this and the mayo to make a spicy mayo. Peanut sauce is a good substitute if you don't like spicy)

Directions

After all of your vegetables and chicken are chopped, mix together your mayo and siracha. Add more siracha to taste.

Fill a large bowl or dish (at least as large as your rice wrappers) with hot water. The water should be almost so hot that you can't touch it. You will probably have to get more hot water at some point during the process.

Soak one rice paper sheet in the hot water for about 15 seconds or until it begins to soften. You don't want it to be so soft that it starts to fall apart. Place the wrapper on a plate or flat surface. In the middle, spread about a tsp of mayo mixture. On top of the mayo, place a little of each of the veggies and some chicken. Top with a basil leaf.

Roll the wrapper tight light a burrito with the ends tucked in.

I cut mine in half at a slight angle so the pretty colors of the inside show and served with some additional spicy mayo.