The Challenge

South Dakota's vibrant agricultural industry offers Sioux Falls resident an amazing opportunity to get fresh from the farm produce. Each weekend from May to September, Sioux Falls is the site of not one, but three vibrant Farmers Markets. Sadly, I like most Sioux Falls residents rarely take advantage of this opportunity. We’re all struggling to eat healthier these days, and what better place to start than with fresh produce? That's why this blog was born. My challenge is to visit the Market each week throughout the summer, find one or two special items and create a dish around them. I hope you’ll join me on this little adventure and we’ll see what our local farmers have to offer.

It's Farmer's Market time again!  As always in the early spring the stalls are dominated by garden starts and flowers, but we were able to come across a few little gems this go around.  One was some gorgeous little fingerling radishes.  They have a great peppery flavor, and I wanted to figure out something different to do with them, other than simply eat them raw.  When I saw the wonton wrappers in our fridge, I thought, what about a spring roll?

I served these with a Thai Peanut Sauce.  I've included a quick recipe for one at the end, but this would go well with sweet and sour or ponzu sauce as well.

Ingredients we used from Farmers Market vendors in this recipe:
  • Fingerling Radishes: Linda's Garden
  • Mild Yellow Onions: Warner's Produce
  • Spinach : Linda's Garden
Fingerling Radish Mini Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls
1/2 cup fingerling radishes (cut into 1" matchsticks)
1/2 cup bean sprouts (cut into 1" matchsticks)
1/2 cup carrots (cut into 1" matchsticks)
1/2 cup yellow onion (cut into 1" matchsticks)
1/2 cup spinach (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (minced)
24 wonton wrappers or 12 spring rolls wrappers(halved)
Canola oil for frying

Thai Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced and crushed
3 tbsp rice vinegar

1.)  Combine all ingredients for the peanut sauce in a small bowl and whisk until combined.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours to allow flavors to combine.

2.)  In a wok, large pot or electric fryer, heat canola oil to 360 degrees.

3.)  Lay out four wrappers.  Working in batches of four will keep the fryer from becoming overloaded, and keep spring rolls from getting soggy.

4.) In the center each wrapper, place 4 pieces each of carrot, radish, onion, spinach and bean sprout. Add a pinch each of minced garlic and minced ginger. Be sure to leave at least 1/2" of wrapper on each side.  Drizzle a small amount of soy sauce over vegetables.

5.) Wet edges of wrapper with a touch of water.  Fold left and right end over the vegetables and press at ends to seal.  now starting with the edge closest to you, roll the wrapper around vegetables and press to seal.

6.) Transfer finished spring rolls directly to the hot oil and fry until golden brown.  Remove from oil and place on plate lined with paper towels to drain.  Season lightly with kosher salt.

7.) Warm peanut sauce (if desired) and serve immediately.

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