KAPAOW! CHICKABAH! Healthy meal number 2!

2011 is starting off with all sorts of healthy goodness!  If that lentil salad wasn’t enough for you, this one is surely going to make you glow.

It is impossible to eat a lunch of rice paper rolls and feel anything but cleansed.  And they are really therapeutic to make – you get all the ingredients prepared and then the production line can begin, with everyone taking turns to soak their rice paper and then assemble their rolls.  You can make them as simple or as decadent as you like, but try focussing your vegetables on the crunchy type.  I like a dipping sauce of traditional Thai flavours (fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar and chilli) or otherwise just sweet chilli sauce.  I also add avocado, fried tempeh, tofu or shredded omelette for a bit more oomph.

Rice paper rolls

Rice paper rounds (about 3 or 4 per person)

Thin rice (vermicelli) noodles

A selection of crunchy vegetables cut into batons such as carrots, cucumber, lettuce, bean sprouts (the freshest you can get)

Roasted peanuts or cashews, chopped

The rice paper can be soaked in cold water (no need for hot) until it becomes malleable.   The noodles will need to be soaked in hot water until soft, and then drained.

Arrange all ingredients on a platter and get ready to roll.  When rolling, may I suggest that you do not try to put in too much filling – your roll will simply fall apart.  And if you plonk it approximately one third from the bottom and side edges, you should have big enough flaps to fold over.  He he.  Flaps.

For this particular lunch I also made a mango salad.  It was going to be a green mango salad, but the green mangoes I bought were unexpectedly ripe inside, so it was quite sweet and mushy, rather than tart and crunchy.  It was still pretty good though.  Ooh, and the other thing I’ve started getting into here in Timor is finely sliced lime, rind and all, used in Thai-style salads and sambals with lots of chilli and salt.  It’s surprisingly good, especially if you are a big fan of limes like I am.

Mango salad

2 firm mangoes, grated/shredded

5 red shallots (the small ones), finely sliced (can substitute eschallots or red onion)

½ punnet cherry tomatoes, halved and squashed

½ a lime, very finely sliced

1 large red chilli, finely sliced

A handful of roasted peanuts, chopped

Fish sauce, to taste

Lime juice, to taste

Palm sugar, to taste (if you're using ripe mangoes you will not need much sugar, if any)

Chuck all ingredients into a big bowl.  Give it a stir, making sure the fish sauce, lime juice, chilli and sugar give a good sweet/sour/salty balance.  You know the drill.

Salad can now be part of the assembly line for THE HEALTHIEST LUNCH IN THE UNIVERSE!