Spicy Crab Springroll

You must be familiar with the quote "You Are What You Eat". I hold this quote dearly and it is why I always make sure what I eat is good. A good food will keep your mood up and your cheerful meter full and these are the key to be a good person.

Other than good tasting, my food also has to be easy to cook/make. It will be even better if it comes in a form of wrapped finger food. The thing is, wrapped food usually is time-consuming, but to be honest, I like to do this kind of food; folding and wrapping. Its repetitive but somehow relaxing, especially once I get into the rhythm of work. Perhaps I was a sweatshop worker in my previous live.

Today’s recipe is one of my favorite wrapped food. It’s easy, fresh, and no cooking required. Let’s give a round of applause for this awesome dish: Spring rolls.. Another thing that is awesome about this dish is its very versatile. You can put anything as fillings but my favorite is spicy crab mayo and mango. A nice balance between spicy and sweet.

This spicy crab mayo can also be used as dipping, sandwich spread, and sushi filling. I can think tons of ways to eat it. The ingredients are cheap and widely available. Don't be afraid of using the crab stick, its mostly made from white fish. I am highly allergic to crab, (I literally would instantly faint like a cold log if I get a piece of crab into my system) but I have been eating this crab stick and I am still alive :)

This is all we need for making this awesome spring rolls:

Ingredients for spicy crab mayo:

A pack of crab sticks (surimi)

Mayonnaise (use Japanese mayo if you have any)

Sriracha 

Chives/scallions, thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients for the rolls:

Rice paper (spring rolls skin)

Thai basil

Cilantro (I didn't use any, I am not really a team-Cilantro)

Mango, cut into matchsticks

Cucumber, cut into matchsticks

Carrot, cut into matchsticks

Rice vermicelli, blanched

Avocado, cut into thin slices

Boston lettuce cut the white part near the bottom of leaf

Preparing steps:

1. Shred the crab sticks on a bowl using fork or your fingers, or if you want to make it like a fine spread, use a food processor, 
2. Add mayo, sriracha, and black pepper mix thoroughly, 
3. Taste it, add more mayo if you want it creamy, or more sriracha if you need more kick, 
4. Add thinly sliced chives/scallions, mix thoroughly. 
5. Et voila, the spicy crab mix is ready to use. 

Now lets move on to folding the spring rolls. There are many methods out there but this one is the easiest for me:

1. Boil water and pour it onto a baking tray, 
2. Carefully dip an entire sheet of rice paper into the boiled water, dont burn your finger!
3. Put the rice paper onto a flat surface (plat, cutting board), don't worry if it looks still stiff, it will get softened enough to fold once you are done putting all the fillings,
4. Lay a leaf of Boston lettuce on the rice paper on the middle of 1/3 bottom part of the rice paper, 
5. Add rice vermicelli, spread it lengthwise to decide how long you want your rolls be, 
6. Spread a heap tablespoon (or as much as you like) on the vermicelli, 
7. Add a bit of mango, cucumber, carrot, and avocado, make sure you don't put too much fillings, and also make sure to put the fillings very tightly together,
8. Cut a Thai basil leaf in two, lay it one after the other, 
9. Fold in the bottom part of the rice paper, 
10. Fold in the sides of the rice paper inward as well, 
11. Roll everything up tightly like a burrito, 
12. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients. 

Happy rolling!!

PS: I didn't write precisely the quantity need for this recipe because it is pretty hard to measure, I basically go with how it taste for the spicy crab and adjust it along the way. For the rest of the filling ingredients, I usually use 1 small mango and cut it into matchsticks, and try to have the rest of the ingredients like carrot, cucumber and avocado as much as the mango.