Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Crispy Vegan Spring Rolls...

Mumbai: the city that never sleeps one which runs on seconds.. The city I love and miss for so many reasons – it’s the city where I was born and brought up....

When I think of Mumbai, I miss my home, my parents, my school,my college,every lane that is close to home, the crowd, the trains, traveling in crowded buses and in rickshaws, the sights and smells of the city, the familiar places and shops, the haggling of prices with vegetable sellers,Bargaining on fashion street for western fashionable outfits,the festivals and sweets, the galli ka cricket and simple outdoor games with apartment people, and the Mumbai rains...and so on...

But if someone would ask me to name the thing that I miss most about Mumbai, it would be definitely the Mumbai street food.....

Now, I am aware that too much of street food is bad for health. But it’s not my fault that I was introduced and fell in love with the Mumbai junk food during my college days...

I was in Somaiya college till graduation. And for those who are familiar with the college and its surroundings, they would know that it’s a heaven for junk food lovers....There were amazing canteens in and around our college...

I remember those golden days when we used to enjoy vada pav,Dahi puri and misal pav at our KJ's canteen...Walk further for around 5 minutes from college there was medical college's canteen..I was so in love with the samosas, kachoris, and pattices sold in that canteen that I was hoping I would marry someone from their family. Thus began my eternal love affair with junk food....outside college there was Chinese joint where we used to enjoy schezwan dosa and pani puri wala he used to make chaat so very well that we used to enjoy at least once in week...also there was one sandwich wala who used to make awesome sandwiches...oh la la I just cant wait any longer...Yummy...I want to go to my homeland...I missing mumbai a lot...

I used to frequent the junk food joints, eat chat near our college, hog on wada pav whenever I felt like. Of course, my parents saw to it that I did not overdo it. There were times when I used to eat shev puri on my way back from office and then declare that I would eat less for dinner. My mom used to ask me if I had eaten any junk food, and I used to say “No”. Then she used to probe me like a police officer and I used to sheepishly answer in the affirmative.

My chat love often took me to Ghatkopar where two of my best friends resided. We used to take a stroll down “Khau galli” and sample yummy snacks at cheap prices. The chief among them were dabeli and chat. spring rolls is one dish that I used to enjoy thoroughly here in Ghatkopar. I have tried to recreate this with my hubby's help and recollected my sweet old memories....after marriage I tried many new snacks here in USA but spring rolls  never featured anywhere...so I decided to make them at home...I became lazy and bought the spring roll sheets from the supermarket-Walmart. In fact, if you buy spring roll sheets, the whole process is very quick and simple...

Spring rolls are a quick, no cook meal and are surprisingly easy to make.Brimming with vegetables and lots of flavor, these spring rolls make a great appetizer or party food....

spring rolls are a refreshing change from the usual fried variety, and have become a family favorite. They are great as a cool summertime appetizer, and are delicious when dipped in variety of sauces.

Get some help from your husband with the rolling, and you'll be crunching on these delicious spring rolls in no time. As a bonus, this spring roll recipe is also fresher and healthier than the spring rolls you'll find in most restaurants. ENJOY!

Be sure to make a dipping sauce to serve along with your spring rolls! If you need some extra help, see my pictures showing how to roll spring rolls.

This quick recipe for spring rolls will show you how to make this authentic appetizer at home.

Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

So here's a step by step look.

CRISPY VEGAN SPRING ROLL



Ingredients for vegetable spring roll filling...

What I Used:
Mixed vegetables - 1 cup, chopped long and slim/shredded (carrot, beans, cabbage, peas, corn, capsicum, etc)
Onions - 1, sliced
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Soya sauce - 1 tbsp
Chopped green chillies - 1
Salt and pepper - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp

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How I Made It:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions until transparent and pink.
2. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute.
3. Next add the vegetables and green chillies, sprinkle some water and cook closed until soft, yet crunchy.
4. Turn heat to high and add the soya sauce. Mix well for a minute on high.
5. Lower heat. Mix in salt and pepper. Remove from fire and cool.

This is how I made tasty vegan spring roll filling...You can also add crumbled paneer or tofu as per your taste..Baked vegan spring rolls are also an option but I haven't tried it yet...You can use any mix of vegetables you want. However, cabbage and capsicum really enhance the taste.

Now as your filling is ready



We will start filling our spring rolls

These are the spring roll sheets I got from market..


It consists of many sheets...I used only few of them...You have to defrost them in microwave or thaw them at room temperature before separating the sheets.

Lay out one sheet, add about 2-3 tbsp (depending on the size of your spring roll sheets) of the vegan filling in middle of sheet..place filling diagonally on wrap.All instructions about folding are thoroughly mentioned on sheets...I followed the same ones...



Fold bottom corner over filling and roll snugly half way to cover filling..

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Fold in both sides snugly against filling,moisten edges of last flap.

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Roll wrap up and seal top corner with water or any paste lay flapside down untill ready to cook.
Once these ends are firmly placed, start rolling towards the other end until fully done.

For the store-bought pastry sheets, the end was easy to just stick to the rest of the roll say just with water but ya...you can also use besan-water paste,or corn flour water paste or maida water paste...if it doesnt sticks properly with water...and see to it that it doesnt opens while frying otherwise will create mess...

Once you have made the required number of rolls, deep fry until golden brown.

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Your roll is ready for frying....Watch frying demonstrated below in the picture

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Spring Rolls are ready to Eat! hmmm....looks Yummy isnt it! Enjoy it with any chutney or sauce.


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That's it! Cut them up and serve hot with some tomato sauce or green chutney. They make an excellent and quick starter.I just love them!

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This is my contribution for Bon Vivant #5 - Appetizers/ Starters.


 Thanks Sumee for hosting this interesting,fun filled and  lovely event.

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1 comment:

  1. yummy spring rolls!!. Hey btw, some of pics on your blog aren;t showing up right on me.. Not sure if those pics are missing... But what you linked IS showing on my blog. so no worries there..

    ReplyDelete