FOOD FOR THOUGHT By
Wanda A. Adams
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With something indulgent appearing on the office share table several times a day, and an urge to bake this holiday season, I've been trying to lighten up at lunchtime. The other day at a Times grocery store deli on Beretania, I spotted a gorgeous "Avocado Salad Roll."
Presented in two slant-cut halves in a plastic container ($4.49), it was composed of the thinnest imaginable slices of avocado, leaf lettuce, purple cabbage, fingers of avocado and cucumber and, at the center, julienned carrots, all held together by a single sheet of tapioca paper (similar to Vietnamese banh trang, rice paper sheets), with a packet of sweet chili sauce alongside.
This sandwich substitute was refreshingly delicious — somewhere between a Vietnamese goi cuon (spring roll) and a Thai-style lettuce wrap.
When I made my own version at home, I added pressed, marinated tofu. You could also use steamed shrimp or slices of poached or roast meats. If you had avocado at the perfect degree of firm ripeness, you could try shaving them with a mandoline to make slices thin enough to replicate the original — or skip it.
For fillings, consider avocado, Korean pear, jicama, cucumber, bean sprouts, blanched rice vermicelli, spicy watercress tips, mint, Thai basil or cilantro, blanched chives.
SALAD ROLLS
Line work surface with a damp towel. Place hot water in large bowl. Immerse 1 sheet rice or tapioca paper in water and, as soon as it's pliable, remove it to the towel. Spread out, working carefully so as not to tear the paper.
Center lettuce leaf on rice paper. Spread cabbage thinly on lettuce. Arrange avocado, pear, cucumber or other.
Place a piece of lettuce along the bottom edge of the rice sheet about 2 inches from the edge. Top the lettuce with desired ingredients, laid out lengthwise.
Fold the sides of the rice paper over the filling, and then roll up tightly into a neat cylinder. Set seam side down on a large platter and cover with a damp towel to keep moist. Cut in half on an angle before serving.
Makes 1 salad roll.
Dipping sauce suggestions: Commercial sweet chili sauce or hoisin; peanut sauce or shoyu-lime.
Send recipes and queries to Wanda A. Adams, Food Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Fax: 525-8055. E-mail: wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.
For more information about our 150th anniversary cookbook, call 535-8189 (message phone; your call will be returned). You can order the cookbook online.
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