I start with the sauce. Feel free to add more or less spice depending on taste. I’m a complete spice wimp and a few flakes on top of the plum sauce are about all I can handle! One vital ingredient however is the Plum essence from Foodie Flavours. Why add extra plum flavour to a fresh plum sauce? All of the flavourings and essences from Foodie Flavours are super intense. And plums can be a bit of a bland background in this sauce when you add in things like fresh ginger, garlic and warming spices. I wanted the pretty plum colour for the sauce but also wanted a lovely strong plum flavour for a really tasty kick with the spring rolls.
To construct the spring rolls, they really are as simple as they look. I even almost hesitate to call this a recipe! There IS a tiny bit of cooking involved as the cabbage leaves have to be blanched as they need to be soft and flexible to be rolled up.
You’ll need a large saucepan of boiling water and I blanch 2-3 leaves at a time for just a couple of minutes. Have a large bowl of iced water standing by as this immediately halts the cooking and allows the cabbage leaves to retain their wonderful bright green colour.
Have a few sheets of kitchen paper handy and layer up the blanched and refreshed cabbage leaves between them. This just helps dry them enough so the spring rolls don’t end up soggy and waterlogged.
Next, lay each cabbage leaf flat with the stalk end nearest you, add your veggies in a pile at the bottom, tuck the sides in over the veg then roll up like a burrito!
Ingredients
Spring Rolls
6 sweetheart cabbage leaves
1/4 red cabbage
1/4 cucumber
1/2 yellow pepper
1 large carrot – peeled or scrubbed clean
Ice cubes
Spiced Plum Sauce
1 large or 2 small ripe plums – stone removed and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
1 cm piece fresh ginger – or sub with 1/2 tsp dried)
Begin with the sauce – put all the sauce ingredients into a food processor or blender and whizz until smooth and thick. Tip into a small bowl
For the spring rolls bring a large pan of water to the boil
Fill a large bowl with cold water and add the ice cubes
Blanche the sweetheart cabbage leaves 2-3 at a time in the boiling water for just 2 minutes. You might need to use a spoon to push them into the water until they soften enough to be submerged
Carefully lift out with a slotted spoon or fish slice and plunge into the iced water
Repeat until you’ve blanched all of the leaves
Drain the cooked leaves then layer between sheets of kitchen paper, patting dry
Prepare all the other veggies:
Thinly slice the red cabbage
Cut the carrot into slices then cut into matchsticks
Do the same with the cucumber but discard the seeded core
Deseed and slice the pepper
To make the spring rolls lay one of the cabbage leaves flat in front of you with the stalk end nearest you. Lay a selection of the sliced veggies on top of the leaf at the end nearest you. Fold the side pieces of cabbage over the veggies then roll the leaf up like a burrito
Cut the spring roll in half and sit cut side up in a bowl
Repeat with the remaining cabbage leaves
Serve immediately or cover and store the spring rolls and sauce in the fridge for 2-3 days
