Crab and Asparagus Summer Rolls

Makes 12-14

I love summer rolls! They are always something I choose when I see them on a menu. I wanted to rework the classic prawn version to showcase beautiful sweet crab that we have, which is in season in spring. To make things straight forward, you can buy ready picked white crab meat from most large supermarkets or from your fishmonger.

Ingredients:

Rolls-

12-14 rice wrappers like these

100g rice noodles

Small bunch of mint

Small bunch of coriander

200g cooked white crab meat

Zest and juice if 1 lime

Salt

3 inch stick of cucumber

1 yellow bell pepper

Chives, cut to 3 inch lengths

200g asparagus spears, cut to roughly 3 inches long

Dipping sauce-

3 tbsp fish sauce

Juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp palm sugar

1 clove of garlic, finely grated

Small piece of fresh ginger, finely grated

1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 tbsp Chinese rice vinegar

50ml Gluten free soy sauce (Tamari)

Method:

1. Boil a full kettle of water. Pour enough over the rice noodles to cover, and use the rest to steam the asparagus for 3 minutes and then refresh the it under cold water.

2. Chop the pepper into slivers, roughly 3 inches long, chop the cucumber likewise and pick the herb leaves. Combine the crab meat with the lime juice and zest and season to taste.

3. Drain the now soft noodles and lay all the ingredients for the rolls out. Take a round flat dish or frying pan, pour some more hot water in ready to dunk the rice wrappers in. Put a large clean chopping board out for the rolling, preparation is key in this recipe.

4. Now you can make the dipping sauce. In a large bowl, combine the fish sauce, lime juice, soy sauce and vinegar and whisk in the palm sugar. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli, stir to combine and pour it into a dipping bowl.

5. Ok, now comes the slightly tricky bit but don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. First you dip a rice wrapper in the hot water for 30 second to soften and then flatten it onto the chopping board. Its up to you what order you do the next part in but I like to lay two asparagus spears out and put two teaspoons of the crab meat between them, then top with chives, cucumber and pepper, then noodles and a couple of leaves of the remaining herbs to finish, keeping it all in a neat 3 inch pile. Then you take the top of the rice wrapper and tuck it under the pile and roll a little to secure. Next, you fold both sides into the middle, the rice wrapper will stick to itself to seal but be gentle with it so you don't break them. Roll it all towards you as tightly as possible until you use up all the remaining wrapper. Set aside on a piece of parchment paper, and repeat for the remaining rolls and serve with the delicious dipping sauce.

Note; Try to keep a little space between the rolls when you are finished assembling them, the rice wrappers can stick to each other and tear when you pull them apart, which will ruin all your hard work.