Crispy Spring Rolls – Vegan

Learn how to make these crispy spring rolls hit snack – inspired by the Asian cuisine, these rolls will bring the best flavor with the minimum amount of effort! Give them a try!

I might not talk about this all the time, but I absolutely adore Asian cuisine. I don’t even settle on one country or another – I equally love the Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese cuisine! I love how different all the dishes are from what we are used to here in Europe.

I love how a different culture can interpret what you can do with the same basic ingredients. And I also think it is interesting to see how the local crops dictate and shape what people eat. If us westerners boil our rice and eat it with vegetables, the Japanese might go a step beyond and make rice dumplings – onigiri! 🙂

Chinese cuisine seems to me to be usually centered around the fact that you have to eat with chopsticks. There’s no way around that, I’m afraid. If you request a fork in a Chinese restaurant, people might give you a weird look! Chinese cuisine is based on small, finely chopped dishes that you can easily eat with a pair of chopsticks.

In fact, what really sold me in what regards their dishes is the presentation. A traditional Chinese festive table is such an aesthetic delight! There are so many different dishes that get served at once! I also love how many Chinese dishes are vegan by design, this being the reason why I keep featuring them on my blog.

The Chinese are also really good at snacks and appetizers that are easy to make and also visually pleasing. Today’s recipe is one of the most well-known Chinese appetizers out there.

Traditionally, these spring rolls are served during the Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year. Tradition has it that they help you have a prosperous new year because they sort of resemble a gold bar. But that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying them anytime you want, as a “prosperous” snack! 🙂

Crispy spring rolls are the kind of dish you could whip up in a few minutes, make a ton of, and share with all your friends at a party! Be sure to have soy sauce and everything you could think of dipping them in close by.

This recipe is relatively easy to make, it just involves some ingredients that you might not be familiar with if you’ve never cooked Chinese before. They are made with specially made spring roll papers, which are really thin and might prove to be a bit of a challenge to handle if you’ve never done it before. Rice paper can also be used instead, and that will take less time to fry.

Essentially, you’ll be chopping and cutting vegetables, cabbage, and deep frying the rolling papers. It might take a few tries to get the texture right, but once you do, you’ll never want to order Chinese again! Making them yourself is much more rewarding, plus once you get the hang of it you’ll be able to make massive quantities. 🙂

If there are any skeptics in your family, crispy spring rolls are the best thing to give them to convince them to try Chinese cuisine. They are made with ingredients that are familiar here in the West too, so no need to worry about picky eaters! Serve these rolls with some peanut butter sauce at a party simply because, you know, peanut butter is delicious and it works with anything! Many vegan recipes benefit from it.

Put the rolls in the middle of the appetizers table and everyone will become curious to try them out! The first bite announces the freshness that spring brings along with it! But that shouldn’t stop you from making them in the summer, winter or fall if the ingredients are locally available to you.

I hope you’ll enjoy making crispy spring rolls and that you’ll have fun learning something new about Chinese cuisine and culture today! Tell me how it all went, and make sure to share this recipe with your friends!