Brown Rice Paper Chicken Veggie Rolls with Citrus Dip

This dinner was very popular tonight!  I found these brown rice paper wraps on Amazon a couple weeks ago, and am very happy with them.  It wasn’t as hard to work with them as I expected!  I used microgreens in these, because they taste good and pack a serious nutritional punch!  All the nutrients you get in the full grown plant are concentrated into the tiny sprouts.

Vietnamese food is generally very healthy, with lots of fresh veggies.  If you trade out white rice products with brown rice products it becomes even more healthy!  (Did you know that the only reason the FDA allows white rice to be called food is because it is fortified?  Talk about empty calories!)  Here’s the link for the rice paper wraps: http://www.amazon.com/Vietnamese-Brown-Rice-Spring-Wrapper/dp/B006UQUAQC/ref=sr_1_1?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1383444453&sr=1-1

Here’s the recipe for the rolls I made tonight:

FOR THE SAUCE:

3 Tbsp Plain Greek Yogurt

1 Tbsp Deli Mustard

1 Tbsp Orange Muscat Vinegar (Trader Joe’s), or Orange Juice

1 Tsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce (we use gluten free)

1 Tsp Sesame Oil

1 Tsp Agave or Honey

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and set in the fridge.

FOR THE ROLLS:

8-10 Brown Rice Paper Wraps

2 Cups Microgreens

2 Cups Other Fresh Veggies Grated, Julienned, or just naturally thin, like bean sprouts (save yourself some time by buying precut/washed veggies)

1/2 Lb Cooked Stir Fry Chicken Strips (I use salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder to season mine)

Coconut Oil Spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (NOTE: the baking is optional.  As long as your chicken is precooked you can eat these right after rolling them up).  First set up your work station!  I set it up with the veggies and chicken on the left, the rice paper sheets in the middle, a plate of water on the right, and a casserole dish (sprayed with coconut oil) on the far right.  Eventually I realized that I needed some damp paper towels right behind the water plate, too, but I’ll explain that in a minute.  Here’s a picture of my work station:

The rice paper is dry and crispy in the package, but will become pliable and sticky when wet.  Set it in the water for a few seconds, and make sure to get both sides wet.  Then place it on the damp paper towels (the ones I mentioned above, not pictured here, but very important).  While it absorbs the water and becomes pliable load the middle of it with veggies and chicken.  Do not overload it!

Now it’s time to fold.  First fold the top, then the bottom up over the veggies.  Then fold the left side over to the right.  Once you have 3 sides folded grab it with both hands as shown in the following picture, and roll it over to the right (tightly, but be careful not to tear or stretch it):

In this picture I hadn’t realized yet that it would work best to do this all on the paper towels.  I did it right in the casserole dish at first, but if you roll it tightly enough you won’t have a problem transferring it from the paper towels to the dish.

Once you’ve loaded the dish with 8 to 10 rolls spray them all with the oil.  Bake for 10 minutes, then take it out of the oven and turn them all over with tongs.  Bake for 10 more minutes.  Serve with the sauce and any extra veggies that didn’t make it into the rolls.  The sauce works as a very good dressing, too!  Enjoy!