Nori Tempura Spring Roll

The black wrapper is nori, rolled around shrimp and cabbage filling, dipped into tempura batter and fried to a crispy finish.

The pastry chef who most influenced me as a chef was from the Philippines. He and his family cooked a lot of traditional Filipino foods, and he would bring finished dishes into work on a regular basis. Sometimes outside of work the team would gather at someone’s house, usually his home or ours. We would each bring a dish to share, and he (or I) would cook or grill a main dish. I remember the first time I had a group of legit chefs to my house for a meal, I was intimidated that I wouldn’t make something to meet their standards. Let me tell you something I learned about chefs. They will eat almost anything. Being the food lovers that most are, their curiosity is always peaked to know more about whatever you’re serving. Whether it’s an old family recipe or something you threw together on a whim. It’s more about the process and how you arrived at the finished product.

Once when we were at his home, his parents were also there, and his mom made these amazing spring rolls. Later she told me that she purchased spring roll wrappers in the produce section, and she used pre-shredded cabbage in a bag for the filling. I was so impressed with how delicious they were and how she used 2 pre-made ingredients and simply assembled. She seasoned the cabbage with soy and sesame oil, perhaps a few other seasonings, filled, rolled and fried.

Since then, I’ve re-imagined her concept with this recipe, which I developed to be paleo, grain/gluten free by using nori as the wrapper, and for crunch, dipping the rolls into this tempura batter, which I also use for my Friday Night Fish Fry recipe. The dipping sauce is so easy to throw together too. Cut them in half on a bias to reveal the colorful cabbage filling and they make a perfect appetizer portion. To keep it completely vegan, simply omit the shrimp and add avocado slices if you like.