By Request

By Catherine Kekoa Enomoto

Wednesday, May 7, 1997

ByKen Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Vegetable-filled Thai rolls carefully balance cool, spicy, sweet
and sour sensations in a refreshing and low-fat treat.

Balancing act
quickly rolled up

OAHU reader A. Quon writes, "I would like to request Kahala Caterers' vegetable roll recipe. It is made with raw vegetables wrapped in rice paper and dipped in a chile-pepper sauce."

An easy Kahala Caterers recipe for refreshing, low-fat Thai vegetable rolls follows. The recipe, like all Thai foods, revels in contrasts -- all at once cool, spicy, sweet and sour. However, Thai dishes are balanced so that no flavor overpowers the others.

Creating unique Thai dishes doesn't require a bastion of confusing ingredients. Devise this Thai favorite with basic ingredients, such as fresh and flavorful vegetables, chiles, mint, lime and nuts.

If desired, substitute julienned cabbage, chopped green onions and cilantro, minced basil leaves and ground roasted peanuts in the recipe.

Dry rice-paper wrappers are available at Chinatown markets and at Asian Grocery (Rose brand wrappers) on South Beretania Street.

Kahala Caterers
Thai Vegetable Rolls

(Courtesy of Winston Gample, president/co-owner, Kahala Caterers)

1 package Thai rice paper wrappers (about 20 pieces), 8 inches in diameter

Filling:
1 head romaine lettuce, julienned
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 medium Japanese cucumber, julienned
1/2 of 4-ounce bag beansprouts
1 bunch fresh mint, chopped
1 to 1-1/2 cups cooked Asian rice noodle (optional)
2 or 3 leaves purple savoy cabbage for color, julienned (optional; see note)

Chile mint sauce:
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 or 3 slices fresh lime
2 or 3 sprigs fresh mint
2 cloves garlic
1 or 2 Hawaiian chile peppers, or dry red chile pepper flakes to taste
1 tablespoon chopped, toasted macadamia nuts

Combine chile-mint sauce ingredients; refrigerate.

To assemble rolls, dip each wrapper in warm water 2 or 3 seconds, just to moisten. Line up wrappers on a flat surface; then layer vegetables in upper-middle of each wrapper and roll ingredients inside, like a burrito. Cut each roll in half, at a slight angle, to display filling's colors.

Serve immediately with chile-mint sauce. Makes about 20 rolls, or 10 servings.

Gample says, "The key to those things being made is to make them as late as possible, because the wrappers tend to dry out or get chewy; so we make them just before they go out the door. It's a last-minute type of thing."

Note: Savoy cabbage sometimes is called savoy lettuce.

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Approximate nutritional analysis per serving, using 1-1/2 cups rice noodle: 140 calories, 1 gram total fat, no saturated fat, no cholesterol, 15 milligrams sodium.*

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