Years later, I started concocting a peanut sauce of my own. I did a ton of research, trying to sort all the possible ingredients. But to keep myself from filching her ideas, I deliberately didn’t check Rosa’s recipe. When my rolls didn’t turn out to be as wonderful as hers, I was forced to look at her formula. It featured most of the usual suspects: peanut butter, of course, and hoisin, sesame oil and soy sauce.
But it also contained one ingredient that I saw in no other recipe — scallions. Who knew that two lonely little scallions could make all the difference? Now I’m sharing that sauce with you. Next picnic, don’t be surprised if your kids start ignoring the chips and dogging the veggies. Just blame it on the peanut sauce.
Fresh Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
Start to finish: 40 minutes. Makes 16 rolls.
For the dipping sauce:
3/4 cup smooth unsalted natural peanut butter
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 to 3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice, or to taste
2 scallions, white and green parts, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
Hot sauce, to taste
2 tablespoons water
For the rolls:
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt
1 cup coarsely shredded carrots
1 cup shredded Napa cabbage
Sixteen 8-inch rice paper wrappers
1/2 medium jicama, cut into julienne strips (about 1 cup)
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper strips
1 cup blanched and thinly sliced snow peas
32 large fresh mint leaves
To make the dipping sauce, in a food processor or blender combine the peanut butter, hoisin, 2 tablespoons lime juice, the scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot sauce and water. Puree until smooth. Taste and add more lime juice or hot sauce if desired and additional water if necessary to thin the sauce to a good dipping consistency. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.