A few months I posted some other wraps that were similar to this. Both recipes were unbelievably good. I’m serious. This one is a little different and doesn’t have a dipping sauce. One thing I love about these is that they’re perfect for entertaining. Make this for a dinner party and you’ll be the local eccentric condescending foodie in no time! (But seriously, eat it…)
This recipe makes about 8 wraps, enough for maybe 4 people. And just so we’re clear here, in all of my recipes I don’t want you to feel constrained to do everything I do. If you have veggies you need to use up or want to leave out an ingredient, do it! Cooking doesn’t have to be a math problem.
Chop up 1 onion, about a cup of cucumber and pineapple. If you don’t have pineapple, that’s cool, I just had some fresh that I had frozen a while back. (By the way, that’s an excellent way to keep it on hand. Buy it fresh, chop it, and freeze it in separate bags).
Add the onion to a heated, greased pan with a nice pinch of salt.
You’re going to “sweat” the onions for at least 5 minutes or until you start to see a little color on the edges.
Chop up a piece of chicken as fine as you possibly can. (Each person eating really only needs about 1/2 piece at most).
Once the chicken is *almost* cooked, you’re going to add some liquid to deglaze the pan. Here’s what’s in that little bowl: a spoonful of peanut butter, a few tablespoons of soy sauce, a chicken bouillon cube, garlic, ginger powder, cayenne pepper, about 1/2 teaspoon of liquid smoke and a little worcestershire sauce. Put on medium heat.
I had about 1/2 bag of spinach that was about to go bad, so I put in a ton of fresh chopped spinach. Remember, this is our “Why Not?” food. It doesn’t have a strong flavor and it’s super good for you, so why not? After you add the spinach, let it wilt and keep stirring or flipping the pan.
Add about 1/4 cup (or as much as you want) of chopped pineapple. Disregard those pieces of cucumber there, my bad.
Stir and take off the heat while you get your Vietnamese rice wraps ready. Again, you can get these at just about any Asian food store and maybe high end supermarkets. It cost me about $1.50 for like 80 something wraps? Crazy. If you need a breakdown or want further explanation, this may help you.
So once your wrap is soft, lay it down on the plate, or 1/2 on the plate 1/2 on the counter like me. Add a spoonful of your filling and top with chopped cucumber. You can also put cilantro up in there- it’s ridiculously good.
Fold over the sides and roll up like a burrito.
Top with some chopped cucumber or cilantro and you’ve got yourself a delicious Vietnamese style spring roll. This is making me hungry again…
1 Onion – $.89
1/2 Cucumber – ~$.40 (I got this for free though)
1 Chicken Breast – $1.09
1/2 Bag Fresh Spinach – $1.38
1/4 C. Pineapple – ~$.25
8 Spring Roll Wrappers – $.64
8 Rolls/4 Medium/Small Servings – $4.65
2 Rolls/1 Medium/Small Serving – $1.16
Ande lead 12 of us through this recipe during lunch at work last week. We all chipped in on the preparation and we all chipped in (BIG TIME) on the inhaling of it! WOW! It was beyond delicious. No one wanted to quit eating but we had to clean up and get back to our offices. It was such an amazing meal – fun and lip-smakin’ good! Ande rocks in the kitchen! She taught ALL of us things we didn’t know!
Thanks Melinda! I had a ton of fun 🙂
That looks delicious! I’m digging through my fridge and pantry, I think I can make this today. I’d love to guide Foodista readers to your site. I hope you could add this Vietnamese spring rolls widget at the end of this post so we could add you in our list of food bloggers who blogged about their own version of Vietnamese spring rolls,thanks!
Hi Alisa! I’d be happy to add your widget to the post. I’m all about collaboration and sharing. Let me know when Broke & Healthy (or this post) is listed on your site! (brokeandhealthy@gmail.com)
Tried this tonight, but left out the cucumbers (because my men don’t like them very much) and added broccoli and a little carrot. It was my first time to ever work with Vietnamese rice wraps. It was a hit. Everyone liked them. Thanks, Ande.
Woohoo! Glad the fam liked them! I must say, I forgot the cucumbers one day and I missed them dearly. They add this fresh, crunchy taste & texture that really lightens it all up. I also recommend using rice noodles in them as well. It feels repetitive to have rice noodles in the rice wraps, but it sorta keeps it all together. Also, these wraps are usually about 4 cents a piece- how awesome is that?!