Chena Hot Spring Rolls
An Asian style recipe using Northern ingredients, inspired by a uniquely Alaskan location.
Ingredients
Chena Hot Spring Rolls
- 4 rice paper spring roll wrappers (9 inch diameter)
- 4 oz salmon lox* or smoked salmon
- ¼ cup fresh thai basil, about 6 leaves; cut chiffonade
- ¼ cup green onion/scallion; julienne
- ½ large cucumber, skinned and deseeded; julienne
- 1-2 lettuce leaves; chopped or ripped
- 1 handful or about 100 grams rice vermicelli
Lingonberry Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup lingonberries OR cranberries
- ½ cup water
- 3 T sugar
- 1 T honey
- 1 T peanut oil
- 1 T apple cider vinegar
- ½ t crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ t gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- ¼ t kosher salt
Instructions
- Begin by making the lingonberry dipping sauce. In a small sauce pan, add the lingonberries and the water. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat stirring occasionally. Remove sauce pan from heat and pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a metal bowl. You’ll need to use a spatula and smash the lingonberries into the mesh strainer to get all the juice out of the berries. There should be a solid red layer of lingonberry skins spread across the strainer when you are done.
- Pour the unsweetened lingonberry juice back into the small sauce pan and return it to medium-low heat. Add the remaining ingredients under the lingonberry dipping sauce section above. Let this come to a gentle simmer and continue cooking for 8 – 10 minutes or until you feel it’s thickened up a little. Don’t forget to stir on a regular basis.
- Boil the rice noodles as directed on the package. We found that 4 minutes at a boil, followed by a few rinses worked best for the particular noddles we photographed above.
- To prepare each wrap you will first need to re-hydrate each spring roll wrapper, one at a time, as you ‘build’ them. To do this add about an inch of warm water to a large flat bottomed bowl, large cold skillet, or a sheet pan with edges. Lay one dry wrapper flat into the water and allow to soften for about 15-20 seconds.
- Carefully layout one softened wrapper on a flat smooth surface. Working across the middle, leave 1 1/2 to 2 inches empty space on each edge. Lay down about 12 cut strips of Thai basil topped with 1 ounce of lox or smoked salmon. Next lay a few pinches of rice noddle across the salmon, with one quarter each of the cucumber and green onion. Last, generously top this with leafy lettuce pieces.
- To roll your wrap, first fold the sides up and over the lettuce to secure. Next fold the edge nearest you up and away, tucking it tightly up, over, and around the mound of ingredients, with any excess laying flat beyond.
- Now simply roll the entire ‘tube’ over the remaining half of the wrapper. There is no need to secure anything, as the wrapper is sticky enough to hold itself together.
- Cut each spring roll in half and serve with a small bowl of the lingonberry sauce for dipping.