Lunch on the move

Sandwiches and I have always had a difficult relationship. While there’s something to be said for a sandwich made fresh with a piece of delicious fresh crusty bread, slathered in garlicky mayonnaise and a delicious filling, unfortunately, this is not the normal state of the sandwich. Frankly I would rather go hungry than eat a sandwich made yesterday with stale, sliced, processed bread, which has turned soggy with the inevitable slices of tomato. Unfortunately, when you’re traveling and have to rely on road-side service stations for food, this is the type of sandwich you’re likely to get. This week I endured a 7 hour bus trip down to London (and the matching endurance bus-trip home the next day, mores the fun) and to make sure that I wasn’t relying on soggy, stale sandwiches for lunch, I took my own packed lunch. And when you’re packing your own lunch, why restrict yourself to sandwiches? There are any number of other similarly portable foods which are infinitely more delicious and interesting than a tired old sandwich. I sought inspiration from Asia.

Fresh spring rolls were one of my favourite discoveries after visiting Thailand for the first time. Before going there I’d known spring rolls only as those wonderfully crispy wee packages perfect for nibbling (or scoffing in my case) with a beer or wine before a meal. Fresh spring rolls (which I think actually hail from Vietnam, rather than Thailand) with their springy texture and fresh flavours, were a revelation. One of the best things about fresh spring rolls is that they are so versatile – you can put any number of things inside their chewy, glutinous wrapper. If you’re seafood inclined, prawns would be a traditional filling, and although I don’t eat it, I think crab meat (perhaps with some avocado and cucumber…just to be truly unoriginal) would probably be delightful.

My spring rolls on the bus were vegetarian – a spicy mixture of cooked mushrooms with bean sprouts and yellow capscicum. The recipe for the filling is below – vary the quantities (which, if I’m completely honest, are entirely approximate anyway) to satisfy the number of hungry eaters you have, and if you like it spicier, then by all means add more chilli! I also (as you can see below) used rice vermicelli in my rolls as well as the vegetables. I do this to make the rolls more filling – more appropriate, say, for a lunch meal. But if you were making these as a pre-dinner appetizer, then they would be just as lovely with only the mushrooms and crunchy vege. It’s really your call.

Spicy Mushroom Fresh Spring Rolls

300g (ish) Portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp chopped/grated ginger
½ onion, finely chopped
1 fresh red chilli, chopped (or 1 tsp sweet chilli sauce)
1 tsp sugar (only add this if you haven’t used sweet chilli sauce)
2 tsp soy sauce
10(ish? Rather depends how much filling you stuff inside each one. If you’re greedy like me, you will have less rolls but they’ll be fatter!) Dry round rice paper sheets
Chopped coriander
Bean sprouts
Cold cooked rice vermicelli noodles
Sliced cucumber/capscicum or carrot

Heat some sesame oil in a fry pan and add mushrooms. Once they have started to soften, add garlic, ginger and chilli. Fry until mushrooms are mostly cooked. Add soy and sugar (or sweet chilli sauce if you’re using that instead) and stir for a minute.
Cool.
Soften a rice paper wrapper in hot water, pat dry. Place a spoonful of the mushrooms, some noodles, coriander and vege just off centre of the wrapper. Fold bottom of wrapper up over filling. Fold in the sides and then roll up to enclose.

Dip in sweet chilli, sweet soy sauce or even peanutty sauce. They will keep in a chilled container for several hours…without going soggy!