mango + avocado + sprouts + paper

this weekend i tried my hand at making homemade spring rolls. i found a (vegan) recipe in last month's issue of VT that had captured my attention. mango-avocado rolls. i love mangos. i love avocados. i thought it sounded like a winning combination and it was! i have never worked with rice paper before, but i was feeling adventurous. i like some asian foods, but i have always been too intimidated to try to cook asian dishes at home.
first, i had to find an ethnic market to buy the rice paper. there is an excellent market nearby, lee lee's oriental supermarket. it is huge! and has practically everything. japanese, vietnamese, indian, filipino, brazilian. and that only skims the top. it was almost an overwhelming experience because i only needed three things and i had to traverse the entire store to find them. but it was fun. i took my time and enjoyed looking at all the exotic items. i looked at everything and eventually found what i was looking for and then some. they have an awesome produce section with regular and exotic items. so many goodies. so many languages. i look forward to going again.

it was pretty easy to make the rolls. i found working with the rice paper to be just a bit magical. it is thick and doesn't look edible, but once you soak it, it becomes clear and pliable. when b spied the ingredients on the counter he was very dubious of the rice paper. i kept telling him it's what spring rolls are made with, but he just kept saying, really? we can eat this?

i substituted roasted red peppers for the red bell pepper because that was all i had and i omitted the chile sauce. i found wrapping the rolls to be a bit tricky. they didn't quite look like the picture. they were much more transparent, rather than translucent.

i also made a tasty sweet chili dipping sauce that was quick and easy to make.*

1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. then reduce heat to medium and simmer for ten minutes. cool, remove garlic cloves and serve.

*sauce comes from an old issue of vegnews.

verdict: they were quite tasty! b especially loved the dipping sauce. the rolls didn't hold up as for leftovers, though. the rice paper got a little soggy in the fridge, but i attribute that to my poor wrapping job. despite the sogginess, they still tasted delicious. the sauce recipe makes the perfect amount. not too much and not too little.