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Hi all!

Crystal, what a great summary!

I just love the collective wisdom of this list.  :-)

I want to ask you where you find your rice papers and how you are SURE they
don't contain gluten.  I have seen them at International stores but I am
leery of believing the label when it says "flour" but the package says
"rice papers" - how can you be sure?  Does anyone have any mail order
sources I could try?

Also, I wonder if you know who sent that message about the hot pan/cold oil
technique - I hadn't heard that one before and I would like to know where
it came from and why it works.  Perhaps that person could contact me.  :-)

I used to make fried Spring Rolls a lot in the pre-gluten-free days and I
really miss them.  One really big key in making them is to make the amount
of the filling *very* small so that they have plenty of paper to wrap...I
placed it in the center, folded it over in half, then brought in the sides,
then rolled it up...this makes lots of paper and it doesn't split.  In
effect, it would be wrapped twice, sort of.  I would keep a couple of
papers in the water at a time so that there is a steady supply of softened
papers and I didn't wet too many for the amount of filling that we had,
ending up with leftover WET papers!  LOL!

I love the idea of having them RAW.  How cool.  I never would have thought
of that.  I eat the leftover cabbage rolls cold and dip them in hot sauce.
I have learned to eat a lot of things at room temp or cold since we no
longer use our microwave.  (We put our microwave in the garage as an
experiment to see if it would make eating late at night or impulsively less
common - it worked very well!)

I love kale - how I prepare it is first to soak it in a sink full of water
- I agitate it like it's clothes being washed in a stream (LOL!).  Then I
pull the leaves (they float and the dirt sinks) out onto towels to drain a
bit.  Next I rip the green from the white-ish main stem (we compost the
stems) and stack six or eight ripped leaves, then roll them into an extra
tight bundle and slice into very, very thin strips...as it is sliced, the
strips pop open and it's a fluffy mass of green strips...I finish all of it
and leave it moist.  To steam it I just put it in a pan on simmer with
maybe a tablespoon more water and check it in 5-7 minutes.  It should be
bright green and definitely not mushy!

My favorite shredded carrots are shredded finely rather than coarsely - I
use the fine blade on my Salad Shooter.  I used to think a Salad Shooter
was a gimmick, but I finally got one after looking at the most expensive
food processors (I found them to be cheaply made with plastic everything -
so I got a SS and a blender instead!).  Shredded carrots can be added to
the kale and steamed for a minute or stir-fried.

---------------

Another thing (related to Spring Rolls) we love is cabbage rolls.  I peel
off the outer leaves and cut off the end so that the ends of each of the
next few leaves are free...then I carefully -s-l-o-w-l-y- peel the leaves
off starting at the curly non-stem end, turning them into little cups with
no rips, and set them aside.  I bring water in a big pot to boil, add some
salt (a teaspoon or so), and boil each leaf until they are transparent and
very soft (not limp)...I turn them over in the water to makes sure all
parts are cooked...I drain them - cup down - to cool on a towel until the
next batch is done, then stack them like cups.  I make a rice-based filling
and we sit together filling them as we eat.

Let me know if you want the recipe for our cabbage rolls.

Love, Linda