Vegetable spring roll is an Asian recipe that is famous worldwide. Vegetable spring roll is a kind of roll with shredded vegetable filling. Vegetables like cabbage, spring onion and capsicum are used in the roll. All vegetables are shredded and sauteed with vinegar and Soya sauce. Roll sheet is made with flour dough. The filling is then stuffed in thin roll sheet and rolled in cylindrical shape. Both the ends of roll are sealed and vegetable spring roll is then deep fried before serving. The roll is served with hot garlic sauce.
Vegetable Spring Roll is a very popular starter or appetizer that forms part of traditional Chinese cuisine and is a much accepted and greatly enjoyed accompaniment to soup or at the beginning of a meal.
How did Vegetable Spring rolls get the name?
Owing to the association of this starter to the annual Chinese Spring Festival, several years ago when it was first created, the dish was christened Chinese Vegetable Spring Rolls. Fresh harvest vegetables were used to create these rolls. For an even more authentic taste, vegetarian oyster sauce or red chilli sauce may be served along with the vegetable spring rolls.
Ingredients and Preparation
A variety of vegetables are used in order to make this appetizer tastier and wholesome. Ingredients include green gram (mung) bean sprouts, dried black mushrooms, red bell peppers, carrot, bamboo shoots, Salt and/or freshly ground pepper to taste, spring rolls wrappers, oil for stir-frying, oil for deep-frying.
The vegetable filling is first prepared after slicing veggies thinly and stir-frying them in a planned sequence with vegetables that take longer to cook, going in first. Then the sauce ingredients - oyster sauce, low-sodium vegetable broth or water, light soy sauce, sugar are added and sautéed and finally seasoned with salt and fresh ground pepper. The cooled vegetable filling is placed on the spring roll wrappers, rolled neatly, folded over and sealed before deep frying in hot oil. When crisp and golden brown, the rolls are drained on paper towels and served with sweet chilli sauce.
Nutritional Value
A serving size of 2 vegetable spring rolls ~ 45 g would provide-
• A total of 120 calories,
• Total fat content of 7.0 g, saturated fat content of 1.0 g
• Sodium content of 160 mg
• Total carbohydrate content of 13.0 g with sugar 2.0 g and dietary fibre content of 1.0 g with other carbohydrate components making up the remainder.
• Total protein content of 2.0 g
• Based on % daily values, 2 % of Vitamin A, C; and 2 % Calcium and iron are also provided.
Nutritional Improvements
• The relatively high fat content needs to be curbed and the best way of achieving this would be to prepare the vegetable spring rolls by other methods rather than deep frying.
1. Steaming the rolls would be a good option; however the desired crispness would not be obtained in this way.
2. Pan frying using minimum amounts of sesame or olive oil would be a good option.
3. Oven-baking would help attain a satisfactory crisp outer texture with the soft vegetable interior.
• Using plenty of garlic in the vegetable mix would have positive cholesterol, triglyceride and blood-pressure lowering effects apart from providing anti-inflammatory properties. Garlic also exhibits anti-oxidant properties being a good source of selenium. It helps prevent the formation of blockages in the artery.
• Additional ingredients such as tofu strips added to the vegetable mix could add phytoestrogens that have anti-cancer functions, and protect especially women from osteoporosis and menopausal symptoms.
• Greens like spinach, parsley etc when added to the vegetable mix would help add vitamins A, K, folates, minerals like potassium, iron and increase fibre content that would facilitate smoother bowel movements.