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This recipe uses a mixture of red pepper, radishes, cucumber, and carrot, which we threw in the rolls with cellophane noodles. Since we love the flavor of fish sauce with lime juice and rice vinegar, we seasoned our veggies with that combo. Then we added cilantro and fresh mint leaves.

Because we didn't include any shrimp or meat in these summer rolls, we wanted a hearty dipping sauce. Ours is a peanut sauce with lots of red pepper flakes, but you could make a lighter sauce with just lime juice, rice vinegar, a bit of sugar, and some fish sauce for salt and depth.

And don't be scared of rice paper wraps! We found them in the first Asian grocery we went to, and we didn't tear one while making these rolls. Softening them in hot water is easy... we give tips in the recipe, below.

Vegetable and Mint Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce
makes 8 rolls

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons creamy organic or natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

For the rolls:
1 1/2 oz cellophane noodles (also called bean threads)
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
red pepper flakes
1/3 of a seedless cucumber
1/2 of a medium carrot, peeled
1/2 of a red bell pepper
5 baby radishes or 2-3 medium radishes
1 scallion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fish sauce
juice from 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
16-24 fresh mint leaves
8 rice paper wrappers

Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.

Cook the cellophane noodles according to the package directions. We heated a medium sauce pan full of water until almost boiling, then turned off the heat, added the noodles, and let them sit for about 10 minutes. Our noodles came in a 3 3/4 ounce package, and we cooked a bit less than half.

Drain the noodles, put them in a bowl, and toss with the sesame oil and a dash of red pepper flakes.

Use a mandoline to slice the cucumber and carrot into thin strips — or simply julienne by hand. We cut the red pepper by hand, as it was an awkward shape for the mandoline. If you are using large radishes, you can slice them on the mandoline, but we sliced our baby radishes into thin rounds by hand.

Whisk together the rice vinegar, sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice in a large bowl. Add the vegetables and the scallion, and toss to coat.

Fill a round cake pan halfway with hot water. For each wrapper, immerse it in the hot water bath until it softens, which takes about 30 seconds. Lay it on your work surface and fill it first with about 1-2 tablespoons of noodles (you want to have enough for 8 rolls). Then, add 1/8 of the veggie mixture. Add a few sprigs of cilantro and 2-3 mint leaves, depending on how large they are.

To roll up your roll, first fold the edge of the wrapper farthest from you over the filling, then fold in the edges towards the center and continue rolling the filled wrapper towards you until it's closed and snug. If you want to be especially decorative, place the mint leaves closer to the front edge of the wrapper, so that they are rolled into the last layer and show through the top of the finished roll.

Continue this process with each of the wrappers. You may need to change your hot water halfway through. As you finish each roll, place it on a cookie sheet and cover the rolls with a damp towel.

To serve, slice in half with a sharp knife and serve the peanut sauce on the side.

(All images: Elizabeth Passarella)