First posted: May 30, 2019

Chicken Satay Rice Paper Rolls

Guys! Have you tried rice paper rolls yet? They’ve been around for donkey’s years of course, and are a favourite snack and street food in many parts of Asia. They might sound a little intimidating to make, because, well, the rice paper can be a bit fussy to work with. But I’ve given you a nifty how-to below so that you can make them easily and speedily, and soon soon.

They’re also super healthy, and endlessly obliging to almost any filling that you can throw at them. And, there’s THAT satay sauce that cannot be ignored. You can also swap out chicken for prawns, even make them all about the veggies. Besides being brilliant for feeding a crowd, they also fit pretty snugly into lunchboxes for at your desk or on the go.

Ingredients

Cooks in:20 minutes Serves:4-6

For the Chicken Filling

1 Tbsp sesame oil (or use olive oil)
4 chicken breasts, sliced against the grain into 1cm slivers
6 mange tout or snap peas, thinly sliced lengthways 
1 red bell pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced lengthways
2 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
1/4 cup peanuts or cashew nuts, roughly chopped
4-6 rice paper sheets

For the Sauce

3 Tbsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 Tbsp smooth peanut butter
3-4 Tbsp coconut milk, to loosen (optional)
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
juice of 2 limes

What to do

1. Heat the olive oil in a wok or pan and brown the chicken pieces until lightly golden on all sides. Remove from the heat and set aside in a mixing bowl along with the coriander and peanuts.

2. Mix together the ingredients for the sauce (if you don’t have coconut milk just use a little warm water to loosen), and pour half the sauce over the chicken and vegetables, then toss gently to coat.

3. Dip one rice paper sheet at a time into a large bowl of luke warm water. They only need to soak for about 20-30 seconds, and you'll know they are ready to take out when they collapse into the water like silk scarves, really pretty!

Place on a clean dinner plate, fill down the centre with filling, leaving a 2-3cm space at the bottom and top. Fold up the bottom and the top, fold in one side and roll until sealed neatly.

To keep your production line as speedy as possible, always have one sheet soaking while you are filling the previous sheet.

4. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and serve with the extra peanut sauce on the side.

Photo Credit @Curtis Gallon