It is still incredibly hot here in Italy. It has been a scorching July and the heat wave is set to continue till the end of the month. All we have been craving and eating are raw foods. My sister and I decided to share one of our favourite summer recipes. It is perfect for the warm weather. Summer rolls are fresh, crunchy, healthy and delicious. You can put any veggies of your choice, adding meat or prawns. It is a good idea to prepare all your ingredients including the sauce before you start rolling your rolls. So chop all your veggies. Cook the rice noodles then prepare the rice paper.

Ingredients

8 rice paper rolls
1 carrot peeled and sliced
1 cucumber thinly sliced
80g rice noodles
Spinach
8 coriander sprigs
4 thai basil or normal basil
4 chives
16 cooked prawns cut in half

For the mango sauce

1 mango peeled and stone removed
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Chilli flakes
1/2 lemon juice
Himalayan salt

As mentioned above it is a good idea to have all the ingredients for the filling ready before hand. So first prepare the sauce by placing all the ingredients in the food processor.

Next cook the prawns and peel and slice your veggies. Cool the rice noodles as per instruction on the packet.

To make the rolls take a bowl of warm water and soak the rice paper one at a time for a few seconds. The rice paper should be soft. You can follow the instructions on the pack. Place the wet rice paper on a flat surface and start filling. Remember that the first ingredients you put down will be the ones you will see first when you wrap it up. We like to put the prawns first followed by the spinach, carrots and the remaining ingredients. It is important not to put too much filling as this will make it harder to roll. We also like to drizzle some olive oil and black pepper before we roll them up. This adds more flavour.

The rolling part is the tricky bit. You have to wrap over the filling at the bottom then roll it up tightly. Chop all the rolls in half and place on a plate with the sauce and enjoy!

Dania Trapani  is a fully qualified nutritional therapist and naturopath. Make sure to follow her blog for her latest recipes and healthy tips.