What’s the one food you could eat everyday? For me, the answer would be spring rolls! There have been weeks where all I eat for dinner are spring rolls, especially during the long blazing heat of Texas summer. There are just so many ways to make them–they’re so fresh and fun! Plus, I think it’s the best way to get a lot of greens in (I’ll take spring rolls over salad any day).

It’s actually amazing that I don’t have a spring roll recipe on the blog yet, considering how much I eat them. Today, I am happy to share this spring roll recipe with you, in collaboration with one of my favorite vegan brands based in Texas: It’s Jerky Y’all! My dear friends at Sprinkles Creative and I teamed up to make this adorable how-to video for the recipe. I’m so happy my friends and I got to work together on this; we all had a blast. For the full written recipe, scroll down.

You don’t make spring rolls to eat them by yourself (although these days, with grad school, I eat alone quite often). Growing up, my family always made them together, with freshly picked Vietnamese herbs from my grandfather’s garden. My grandpa’s garden was always lush with mint, Thai basil, shiso, and Vietnamese chives, to name a few. As a kid, I didn’t like the taste of herbs, but as I’ve gotten older, I cannot get enough of them! One day, I will plant an amazing Vietnamese herb garden in honor of my grandpa.

Spring rolls are generally a casual affair…we usually eat each roll as we roll, but for this recipe, I made the rolls fancy AF to really show y’all the beauty of the filling! For the main filling of these rolls, I used a prickly pear teriyaki flavored plant-based jerky from my friends It’s Jerky Y’all. The flavors of the jerky went well with lemongrass, Vietnamese herbs, and my five spice peanut sauce. Using the jerky made prep work pretty quick, too, since it was already seasoned well.

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Lemongrass “Beef” Spring Rolls ft. It’s Jerky Y’all
makes 3-4 servings

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Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup minced lemongrass
• 2 teaspoons neutral oil, such as grapeseed or avocado
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2 bags of It’s Jerky Y’all’s jerky (Prickly Pear Teriyaki flavor)
• rice paper wrappers (found at the Asian market)
• a wide bowl of warm water
• 2 medium Persian cucumbers, cut into long sticks
• 5 oz box of any kind of mixed baby greens, or romaine lettuce
• 1/2 a head of purple cabbage, shredded
• mint and/or basil leaves, washed and drained
• five spice peanut sauce, for serving (can also use vegan fish dipping sauce, AKA nước mắm chấm chay)

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan on high heat, saute the onion and lemongrass in the oil until fragrant.
2. Add the jerky and vegetable broth to the pan, tossing to coat.
3. Turn the heat to low-medium, cover the pan, and let the jerky simmer in the broth until it has soaked up the liquid completely. Turn the stove off and set the jerky aside to use in the assembly of the spring rolls.
4. To assemble the rolls, gather all the ingredients, have the warm water bowl nearby, and a flat rolling surface (a big plate or a wooden cutting board works). Definitely check out the video (above) for a visual guide if needed. Dip a rice paper wrapper into the bowl of water, rotating the whole wrapper once, to ensure the wrapper is moist all around. Lay the wrapper flat on a plate or cutting board. Arrange the fillings on the wrapper: greens, veggies, cucumbers, herbs to your taste, and a few pieces of lemongrass jerky. Tuck and roll, and repeat!

As mentioned, my family and I generally eat as we roll (so each person rolls their own rolls on their own plate), but you can also roll all the rolls at once, set aside, and cut in half to make them fancy AF. Serve the rolls with five spice peanut sauce or vegan fish dipping sauce.

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Notes: Spring rolls are meant to be eaten right away–the wrappers will get tough and hard if you leave them in the fridge! So only roll as much as you are planning to eat. 

Also, I used It’s Jerky Y’all for this recipe, but you can use any vegan protein you like–the recipe is pretty versatile!

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This recipe was sponsored by It’s Jerky Y’all–all opinions are my own! I’m so thankful to collaborate with one of my favorite Texas brands–thanks for checking out the recipe, y’all! We will be hosting an Instagram giveaway this week, so be sure to follow both @plantcrush and @its.jerky.yall to enter!