Red Pepper + Mango Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Distractions are sneaky things. They swoop in unexpectedly and divert your attention just long enough to make you forget the destinations to which your motivation was guiding you. Exhibit A ↑. A tasty summer roll and dipping sauce that was created, photographed, and devoured yesterday with the intent of sharing with you today. However, upon inserting the above photo into this post, I stood up, opened the fridge, and pulled out the three remaining summer rolls that yesterday’s appetite had spared… and then there were none. Distraction at its hungriest.

Before being distracted, I planned to delve into this post with a lengthy story about my grocery store escapades from yesterday. It includes my quips with a large grocery store chain that I shopped at only because I thought they were more likely to have rice paper wrappers than TJ’s. They didn’t. That failure alone was nearly all the encouragement I needed to never return to this grocery store again but then I figured I best not be hasty. However, the store’s fate was truly sealed when my poorly bagged Kombucha launched itself from the cart in the parking lot, ate some serious pavement, and then proceeded to break in a manner that allowed it to fizz and spray up my shorts. This garnered not one but two pitying glances from onlookers.

After a few disappointing calls to other grocery stores, I finally found the elusive rice paper wrappers at an Asian food market a few blocks away. Recipe abandonment diverted.

These rolls are super easy to throw together once you’ve sliced and diced, and they are packed with bright summer flavors. The spicy peanut dipping sauce coats the rolls in a tangy and flavorful glaze. I especially love how the cilantro, red pepper, and mango play off of one another. The cucumber adds a crunchy bite of freshness and the avocado adds an indulgent layer of creaminess. These rolls make the perfect summer appetizer for a party or a light dinner for two.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Red Pepper + Mango Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

 

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Cuisine: Asian

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sriracha chili garlic sauce (feel free to add more, to taste)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon raw agave nectar
• water to thin, if needed
• 12 rice paper rounds (aka spring roll wrappers)
• 1 cup baby greens of choice (spinach, romaine, arugula, etc)
• 1 red bell pepper, cleaned, seeded, and thinly sliced
• 1 small cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 mango, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, peeled, seeded and sliced
• 6 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (white and light green parts only)
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Instructions

1. For the Spicy Peanut Sauce: Add first seven ingredients to a bowl and whisk until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate for at least a half hour before serving to bring out the flavors within the sauce.
2. For Summer Rolls: Fill a wide-mouth bowl with hot, not boiling, water. Take rice paper round, slide into water, let sit for 10 seconds, and remove. Place on a clean work surface.
3. Fill the bottom third of the rice paper round with greens, two strips of the pepper, cucumber, mango, avocado, and scallion. Top with a small handful of cilantro leaves.
4. Fold in the sides of the rice paper wrapper first, then begin to tightly roll the rice paper wrapper forward. Set roll aside.
5. Repeat with each rice paper round.
6. Serve alongside spicy peanut sauce.

3.2.1249