Chicken & Avocado Spring Rolls

This recipe is a mix of American egg rolls and Asian spring rolls, but with a slightly British edge with its filling of chicken, creamy avocado and red onion. Again, I love a twist and this one is another of my party nibbles ideas (why does food taste so much better in bite size?)

As is often the case why I try something out - it always seems to be about a day or two later where I think...'ooh I really should have added....' some other ingredient. In this case, why oh why didn't I think to add crispy pieces of bacon? Well next time I will try that and let you know how it goes. In the meantime - these are pretty good fun. And lovely eaten hot with a cool yoghurt & jalapeno dip!

Ingredients:                  (makes 8-10)

2 small chicken breasts, skin removed
2 avocadoes, peeled and seeded
1/2 red onion, peeled and chopped finely
1 tomato, chopped
2 tbsp. fresh coriander, chopped finely
juice of 1 lime
pack of filo pastry
25g butter, melted

Method:

Set the oven to 200 C. Put the chicken breasts in a dish and cover with kitchen foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and then chop. Put into a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and season with salt & pepper.

Lay one sheet of filo pastry out in front of you. Paint with a butter and then put about 1-2 tbsp. of the mixture onto the bottom of the sheet in a sausage shape. Roll the pastry over a few turns and then pull in the sides to enclose. Keep rolling forward until you have a spring roll shape. Continue until all the filling is used up. Place on a baking sheet and paint with a little more butter.

Pop in the oven at 200 C for 20 minutes, or until golden. Serve immediately with a dip made with some plain yoghurt with 1 tbsp. fresh coriander and 1 tbsp. chopped jalapenos (from a jar). Delicious!!

Asian Prawn and Sausage Rolls

I made these last week, the same night that I made the crispy prawns. Very much a nibble/party food and very moreish. I wanted a bit of a change so I made Asian sausage rolls and then made spring rolls with chicken and avocado (recipe to come later - they were gorgeous too!)

I used ready-made puff pastry as I find that sausage rolls really are better with puff pastry and its very rare I take the time to make puff pastry these days. Why would you anyway? This is easy. And delicious.

300g pork sausage meat (about 5 fat sausages, skin removed)
150g small prawns, chopped
2 tsp. oil
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 green chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
2 tsp. cornflour
2 tsp. hoisin sauce
1 pack ready made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Method:

Set the oven to 200 C. In a pan, fry the spring onions, garlic and chilli in the oil for 4-5 minutes on a medium heat until cooked. Remove from heat and let cool before adding to the sausage meat and chopped prawns. Season with a little salt & pepper and add the cornflour and hoisin sauce. Stir well.

Lay the pastry out on a board and cut into 3, so you have 3 long strips. Make a line of filling down the side of each strip and then wet the pastry beside it with a little water. Fold the pastry over, sealing with a fork and then cut into 1.5 inch pieces and place on a baking sheet. Cook for 25 minutes, or until browned and puffed up. Eat hot or cold. Depends on your patience.. I had a couple straight out of the oven as they smelt so good!