Every family needs a great party food to trot out and feed a crowd, and mini-chefs, of course, need to be able to get in on the preparations. Making summer rolls together as a family affair is a great way to get everyone excited about the food that they are making and the warm season ahead of them.
Summer roll wrappers, which start out as rice paper, transform into slippery, soft, fillable, rollable things once you dip them into water and swish them around. Just like magic.
Our mini-chefs filled their summer rolls with lime chicken, some cool veggies, and tasty cilantro and peanuts. And, man, did they ever fill! It may take a few rounds of rolling for them to figure out that a little of the filling goes a long way… but, in our case, I think that that lent to the appeal of the beautiful platter we made together.
Lime Chicken Summer Rolls
*2 bone-in skin-on chicken breasts
*the juice of a lime
*2 t. paprika
*2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
*1 t. salt
*ground pepper, to taste
*3 handfuls of fresh cilantro, washed and stemmed
*50 summer roll wrappers
*1 c. peanuts, roasted and chopped
*2 avocados, cut into 1/4-inch chunks
*2 c. cucumber, shredded or cut into matchsticks
*2 c. carrots, shredded or cut into matchsticks
*3 scallions, white and light green parts, chopped
For the Peanut Dipping Sauce:
*1/2 c. natural peanut butter
*1 t. brown sugar
*1 T. canola oil
*1 T. soy sauce
*1 T. ginger, minced
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. With your mini-chef, pour the lime juice and the paprika, salt, and pepper into a large baking dish. Tuck the garlic cloves up under the chicken skin.
Big Person: place the chicken breasts into the baking dish and coat the entire outside of the chicken with the lime juice and spices. Place the dish in the oven and bake the chicken for 45-65 minutes or until the juices run clear. Take the chicken out of the oven and let cool to room temperature. Then shred the chicken and place it into a bowl to use when you assemble the summer rolls.
Together Again: Combine all of the dipping sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and whisk with a fork till completely combined. Set it in the middle of a big platter.
Place all of the ingredients into individual bowls. Also fill a wide shallow bowl with warm (but not hot) water.
Have your mini-chef take one summer roll wrapper and dip it into the bowl of water till it becomes completely translucent. Help them place the wrapper onto a dinner plate and spread out any wrinkles. If there are big holes, just use two wrappers.
Fill the wrappers with a little bit of each ingredient. You will be making a long tube of filling- or should I say attempting making a long tube of filling. Fold the circle wrapper in half to enclose the filling. then fold the top and bottom edges toward the center and roll along the plate to finish. As you can see above, there are many expressions of these instructions. They all taste delicious.
Once you have finished one of the summer rolls, place it on a platter, around the dipping sauce, while you finish rolling the rest.
