A guilty pleasure of mine is watching the Oscars. And our friend Sam is kind enough to let me poach his big screen each year for the occasion. I brought down these spring rolls to snack on while we watched the Red Carpet. Are these rolls worthy of winning gold? Probably not. But, if you can’t achieve the great, there’s beauty in still creating something good.

Ingredients:

For the rolls:
Rice paper wrappers
2 oz rice vermicelli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cucumber
Cilantro
Red pepper

For the peanut sauce:
3 T peanut butter
1/4 c coconut milk
2 T fish sauce
2 T chili-garlic sauce
1 T lime juice
1 T honey

Instructions:

To make the rolls, heat up a large pot with warm water (until it’s too hot to the touch). Chop all the vegetables into small strips. Put the vermicelli in the water for around 5 minutes. When finished, take out with a slotted spoon, and set aside. With the rice paper, set in the warm water for about 5 seconds. Take out and spread on a plate. Put a small amount of vermicelli, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, and red pepper slices on the edge, and roll and wrap them in the pliable rice paper.

To make the sauce, put all ingredients in a food processor and blend.