Crispy Baked Spring Rolls with Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce (Gluten free)

I absolutely love and crave fresh rolls all of the time. I make them with shrimp, chicken and even pork and mango. But sometimes there is just nothing like scratching that fried food itch. And I do certainly crave crispy fried spring rolls from time to time. Especially with a nice sweet and spicy dipping sauce.

And besides my selfish cravings, one of the things that Pia was so, so sad about losing from her diet with the allergies was fried spring rolls and egg rolls. They were her favorite take out indulgence! There is wheat in every type of wrapper (not to mention the garlic, ginger and soy and often times egg in the fillings that she can’t have) so our family has been going without.

Then I thought that I could for sure figure out a way to just deep fry the fresh rolls we were making. Only, like 8 batches later, I realized that I couldn’t. The tapioca wrapper would just sort of bubble up and explode and then melt into a mostly gummy mess. I can’t tell you how many times I did this and how many batches I made.

Finally as I was staring at my last batch of spring rolls and deciding whether I should just do the same thing and watch them explode in the oil, I decided that instead I could brush them with oil and bake them and see if 1) they would stick together and 2) if they could get a little crispy in the process. Well it totally worked. I am not saying they were the golden crunchy variety that you get at Thai restaurants, however they were crispy and tasted wonderful and totally hot the cravings while being healthy and allergy free! Plus the sauce just amped up how totally delicious the whole combo was!

I served them in lettuce wraps with some fresh cilantro and spicy red chili and I had to stop myself from eating them because they were so good.

Notes:
*Definitely best fresh from the oven so that they retain their crispiness
*For Pia, I omitted the garlic and ginger and replaced the soy sauce with coconut amino acids. You could also use rice sticks in place of mung bean noodles if you want.

Preheat the oven to 400.
In a medium sauté pan over medium heat, add the sesame oil, mushrooms, green onions, ginger and garlic. Lightly sauté for about 1 minutes and then add to a large bowl.
Add the chopped shrimp, ground pork and fresh cilantro to the bowl and mix together. Add the Soy Sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and combine really well. Set aside.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the dried mung bean noodles and stir. Turn the heat off and leave noodles in the hot water for about 5 minutes. Drain and then rinse well with cold water and drain again. Transfer them to a bowl, you should have about 2 cups of noodles. Toss the noodles with 2 teaspoons of soy and sesame oil and set aside.

Get a pie plate full of hot water and soak one of the tapioca wrappers in the hot water for about 20 seconds. Lay flat on the counter.

Add a couple tablespoons full of the mung bean noodles and then some carrots and cilantro.

Add 2 tablespoons of the shrimp-pork mixture to the top of the noodles.

Carefully fold the sides over and then roll the whole package up like a cigar. Set aside.
When you have all of your rolls complete, brush each one with vegetable oil and set on a sheet pan prepared with a silpat or parchment. Bake the spring rolls for 20 minutes.

While the spring rolls are baking, make the sweet soy dipping sauce. In a small bowl, whisk all of the ingredients together. Set aside. They will be crispy right when they come out of the oven so serve immediately (they lose their crispiness when they sit).

I like to serve them wrapped in a lettuce cup with fresh cilantro and red chili slices with the Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce on the side.