Did you ever dream that there could be a perfect dish for entertaining – one that’s light and refreshing, can be made ahead of time, your guests can actually get involved in the prep (just set it up and get them to make their own dinner!), is low in calories (aka healthy) and is a dish that you don’t have to turn your oven on for?!!
Do you think that’s possible? Well, these wraps are the perfect solution to your dinner party woes.
You couldn’t ask for a more perfect starter! Sure they can be a bit tricky to get the hang of, but just figure the first one is your treat! Once you get rolling (literally!), it’s a piece of cake!
Give it a shot at your next bbq…I promise your guests will be talking about it for a long time!!
Ingredients:
1 piece sushi grade tuna (get it from your local fish monger!)**
1 c grated carrots (see this post on how to spiralize for how to get slivers other than grating)
3 small cucumbers, thinly sliced
2 heads romaine lettuce (use the tender inner leaves…save the rest for salad)
red onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1/3 c chopped cilantro
1 pkg rice paper
hot water (not boiling)
**you can substitute cooked shrimp, cooked chicken (shredded) or even tofu for the tuna
1. Get all your ingredients ready – this will work best if you treat it like an assembly line!
2. Get a flat, shallow bowl and fill it with your hot water.
3. Season your tuna (with salt and pepper) and pan sear it in some vegetable oil a minute or two on each side (the middle will still be pink); slice it thinly and set aside.
4. To make this process easier, get your fillings ready; lay out a bunch of leaves and fill them with a thin slice of tuna, a couple of pieces of pepper, some carrots, some onion slices and few leaves of cilantro and some cucumber (don’t put too much…you’ll figure out how much is a perfect amount after the first couple).
5. Take one rice paper and place it in the water and make sure it’s submerged; it should only take about 1 minute to soften.
6. Remove it and place it on your cutting board (or clean counter); lay the filled romaine leaf on top of the softened rice paper and roll once, then tuck the sides in and then continue rolling until it’s sealed; set aside.
7. If the filling works (it should not be too full), then continue to make a bunch of leaves with all the filling and lay them out for the assembly line.
8. Continue to soak the rice papers and fill, wrap and set aside (use a tray and cover them with plastic wrap when you are done – they won’t dry out that quickly; they just need to be wrapped if they are being made ahead of time)
9. Cut on a diagonal and serve with the peanut sauce
This is a perfect summer dish if you ask me! And it’s gluten free…
Fresh, light and guilt free perfection!
