Fresh Avocado Spring Rolls {gluten free}

Easy, healthy and delicious fresh avocado spring rolls made with added spring onions, red chilli, coriander and dipped in Datu Puti soy sauce.

Fresh spring rolls – also known as summer rolls – are one of my favourite Thai/Vietnamese foods. They’re incredibly quick and simple to make, full of flavour, versatile, naturally gluten free and very healthy too.

I mean, is there anything better than a ‘clean’, healthy meal that requires very little preparation time and tastes amazing too? It ticks all the boxes. Then throw avocado into the mix (because avocados are the best thing ever!) and it’s a perfect combination! 😉

They make for a great packed lunch as well (if you have a fridge at work) so if you’re bored of eating the same thing or the usual sandwiches and salads, you can give these a go!

For this recipe you’ll need spring roll rice wrappers (also known as banh trang, rice paper, rice wraps), like these:

You can get them from Chinese/Asian (and some mainstream) supermarkets. Just be sure to look for a certified gluten free brand, like this one, as some rice products like these can be cross contaminated with gluten during the manufacturing process and won’t necessarily include an allergen warning on the label (especially those imported from Asian countries). Otherwise you can also contact the company to check with them, but in my experience this is quite difficult with imported products. I rarely get a reply and/or struggle to find a way to contact the company in the first place.

For years I wondered if this was just yet another load of scare mongering bs on the internet, but this advice is also supported by Coeliac UK. It’s on their gluten free check list under the “need to check” category.

Blue Dragon is a good brand that you can find in some ‘normal’ supermarkets – I usually get it from Waitrose (here), but I’ve also seen them in Whole Foods, Planet Organic and Ocado. I’m not sure if it’s sold elsewhere; leave a comment below if you have seen them in other shops. 🙂

As for soy sauce, this is what I use:

You can only get this one from Chinese/Asian supermarkets, but as I always say, it’s definitely worth the trip if you have one close by. It’s by far the best, most ‘normal’ tasting soy sauce I’ve tried so far and you get a lot more for your money as well (£1.60 for 1L instead of £2.50 for a tiny bottle – yes please!).

Ingredients

• Spring roll rice wrappers
• 1 ripe avocado
• Fresh coriander
• 1 spring onion
• 1 fresh red chilli
• GF soy sauce (I use Datu Puti soy sauce or Tamari sauce)

Yields 4 spring rolls.

Directions

1. Prepare the filling: wash everything, slice the avocado, spring onion and coriander, deseed and finely chop the chilli.
2. Cook the rice wraps: and by cooking, what I really mean is dip them in warm/hot (not boiling) water for a few seconds, one at a time. Either heat up some water in a pan (large enough for the wraps) or heat up water in a kettle and pour a bit into a plate.
   • Dip one wrap in the water until you feel it starting to soften up.
   • Hold it up as excess water drips off and allow it to soften up completely.
   • lay it flat on another a plate.
3. Make the spring rolls:
   • Add some filling in the center.
   • Fold the sides over.
   • Fold one end over and tuck in the filling tightly so it isn’t loose and the spring roll feels secure.
   • Roll the rest of the spring roll tightly.
4. Serve with dipping sauces of your choice; soy sauce, nuoc cham (a lime and fish sauce based dip), peanut sauce, sweet chilli sauce, etc.

Enjoy!