Salad rolls get a simple but spectacular twist by swapping out rice noodles for pomelo. It sounds odd, but it's amazing - and best of all, incredibly healthy.
1largepomelopeeled, membranes removed, fruit separated into small pieces
2mediumcarrotsvery thinly sliced or cut into small batons
2Japanese or Lebanese cucumbersjulienned
4scallion greenscut into thin strips
1small bunchmintleaves removed from the stalks and left whole
1small bunchbasilleaves removed from the stalks and left whole (see note)
Sauce
1tspvegetable oil
1tbspsesame oil
3clovesgarlicminced
1smallshallotminced
3tbsphoisin sauce
1tbspsoy sauce
2tbsppeanut butternatural (peanut-only) variety - see note
1tbspwater
1tbsplime juice
1-2tbspchili sauce(optional)
crushed peanutsto serve
Instructions
Rolls
Soak two rice paper sheets in very warm water until they're fairly soft. Remove them from the water, let the excess water drip off, and lay them down on top of each other on a plate or other flat surface.
Lay some mint and basil down in a line in the center of the rice paper sheets. Spoon some pomelo over this, then top with carrots, cucumber, and scallion greens.
Fold the salad roll up like a burrito (i.e. fold up the two ends near the line of filling, then fold up one long side, then the other). The stickiness of the rice sheets should hold everything together well.
Set the finished roll aside and repeat the process with all the remaining ingredients. Once you've finished all of the rolls, set them aside for 5-10 minutes to ensure that they're well-sealed.
Sauce
Heat the oils in a small frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and shallots and fry for about 1 minute.
Remove the pan from the heat source and add the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and peanut butter, and stir together. Pour the mixture into a small bowl and add the water and lime juice. You can mix the chili sauce in if you like, or serve it alongside this sauce.
Serve the rolls with the hoisin-peanut sauce, chili sauce, and crushed peanuts.
Notes
Ideally, you want to use a peanut-only (i.e. no sugar or emulsifiers) peanut butter. If you can't get that, you'll might want to use a little more soy sauce and a little less hoisin sauce to balance out the sweetness a little bit.For the basil, you can use either a Thai style or sweet basil. Thai basil will have a stronger, somewhat anise-like flavour, but both varieties work very well.You may end up with more pomelo than you need from a single fruit. The rest can be refrigerated, or you can expand the recipe and make a few more rolls.