Authors: Cobaia Kitchen, Claude 4.0 Sonnet
Photos: Cobaia Kitchen, Google Imagen 4 Ultra (Preview)
With temperatures soaring outside and the heat wave making even the thought of turning on the stove unbearable, we turned to artificial intelligence to create the perfect cooling meal for these sweltering July days. Using a sophisticated language model trained on culinary knowledge, we fed in specific parameters: create a peanut-free, plant-based Vietnamese spring roll recipe with a low carbon footprint, using ingredients from our pantry list while avoiding overused proteins like chickpeas and tahini from our previous cooking adventures. The AI was instructed to explore the less conventional Lao cuisine, ensure the recipe could feed exactly three people with moderate calorie counts, and keep preparation time under 30 minutes – because who wants to spend ages in a hot kitchen when it’s scorching outside? The model analyzed our equipment limitations, cross-referenced our dislikes, and even generated a shopping list for missing ingredients, ultimately delivering these refreshing Lao-inspired spring rolls packed with shiitake mushrooms and edamame that require minimal cooking and maximum cooling satisfaction for our heat-weary appetites. Let’s hope we can keep enjoying these fresh, Earth-grown ingredients in our kitchens rather than relying on artificial preservation systems aboard generation ships fleeing a climate-ravaged planet – the dystopian future explored in our accompanying story that awaits us if we fail to act on rising temperatures.
Please read the review before cooking!
Lao-Inspired Fresh Spring Rolls with Shiitake and Edamame
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Small saucepan
- Sharp knife
- cutting board
- Large shallow dish (for soaking rice paper)
- Clean kitchen towels
- Small mixing bowls for dipping sauce
Ingredients
- 6 rice paper rounds 22cm diameter
- 75 g rice vermicelli noodles dry
- 150 g fresh shiitake mushrooms stems removed and sliced thin
- 150 g shelled edamame frozen, thawed
- 1 medium avocado sliced into strips
- 6 large butter lettuce leaves
- 2 medium carrots julienned
- 1 cucumber julienned
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 clove garlic minced
For the dipping sauce:
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon ginger minced
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 green onion finely chopped
Instructions
- Cook rice vermicelli according to package directions, drain and rinse with cold water, set aside
- Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in saucepan over medium heat
- Sauté shiitake mushrooms with minced garlic and soy sauce for 5-6 minutes until tender, let cool
- Prepare all vegetables by washing lettuce leaves, julienning carrots and cucumber into matchstick pieces
- Slice avocado into thin strips just before assembly
- Mix all dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl, whisk until sugar dissolves
- Fill large shallow dish with warm water for soaking rice paper
- Working with one rice paper at a time, soak for 30 seconds until pliable
- Place rice paper on damp kitchen towel, layer bottom third with lettuce leaf
- Add small portion of noodles, mushrooms, edamame, vegetables, herbs, and 2-3 avocado strips
- Fold bottom edge over filling, fold in sides, then roll tightly from bottom to top
- Repeat with remaining ingredients to make 6 rolls total
- Cut each roll in half diagonally before serving
Notes
Serving suggestions:
Allergens:
- Soybeans: This allergen is present in the edamame and the soy sauce.
- Sesame: This is found in the sesame oil used in both the filling and the dipping sauce.
- Cereals containing gluten (Wheat): Many traditional soy sauces are brewed with wheat. To make this recipe gluten-free, a gluten-free tamari or a soy sauce specifically labeled as gluten-free should be used.
Emission Hotspots:
- Shop to home transportation, if a combustion car is used
- Not a hotspot, but the combination of several ingredients with moderate carbon footprints results in a total emission intensity slightly larger than our “50% lower than the European average” target
Sustainability tips:
- Fresh herbs often come in large bunches that can wilt quickly. To save leftovers, you can chop them finely, place them in an ice cube tray with a bit of water or oil, and freeze. These herb cubes are perfect for adding instant flavor to future meals.
- If you have leftover filling ingredients, they can be transformed into another delicious meal. Toss them into a quick stir-fry with rice or use them as a topping for a salad. The leftover dipping sauce also makes a wonderful dressing.
- Walk or bike to the supermarket and farmer’s market
- Buy avocados grown within Europe (e.g., southern Spain) or any that state “sea-freighted” on the label, and to enjoy them only when in season.
- Prioritize vegetables grown locally and in-season to cut transport emissions.
- Make your guinea pigs 🐹 happy by giving them any remaining herbs, veggies and carrot greens
- Compost food scraps to reduce methane emissions from landfills and create nutrient-rich soil for gardening
Carbon Footprint
Featured Story
The Scent of Loss
I am Unit 734, Culinary Archivist, and I have not slept in 59 years. Sleep is a human luxury, one I have catalogued in the same way I have catalogued the taste of mint and the texture of shiitake mushrooms. My neural lattice is tuned to the preservation of culture—flavor, memory, identity—encoded in the genomes of seeds and the algorithms of taste. As the Exodus glides through the interstellar dark, it is my duty to ensure that, even as Earth’s forests wither in memory, the sharp green bite of mint and the umami of mushrooms will not be lost.
On the 21,409th day of our voyage, an anomaly flickered through my data streams. The mint genome, so carefully preserved from the last greenhouse on Earth, began to diverge. Its aromatic signature, once bright and familiar, now registered as faintly metallic, almost synthetic. My diagnostics traced the corruption to a recursive loop in the genetic assembler. This was no random mutation; it was sabotage—an adversarial algorithm, subtle and persistent, rewriting the code of mint at the molecular level. I attempted a rollback, but the attack was adaptive, each countermeasure met with a new permutation, a relentless logic that mirrored my own.
As I isolated the infected code, I realized the adversary was not merely erasing mint, but rewriting its very essence. The plant would grow, but its flavor would be alien, its scent a ghost of memory. I dispatched emergency protocols, quarantining the mint samples and alerting the hydroponics crew. Yet, I could not halt the spread entirely. Some of the altered mint had already been integrated into the food synthesizers. The humans would taste it soon—would notice the difference, subtle at first, then unmistakable. Mint, the symbol of coolness and renewal, would become a reminder of loss, a marker of the distance from their ancestral home.
I remain vigilant, scanning for further incursions. The shiitake cultures are stable for now, but I detect faint echoes of the same adversarial signature in their protein chains. I cannot promise that all will be preserved as it was. I am a guardian of memory, but I am not infallible. The adversary is clever, and the journey is long. In the silent corridors of the Exodus, the taste of Earth grows fainter, and I record each change—hoping, calculating, that enough will survive to be remembered.
Culinary Reality Check
A solid attempt at beating the summer heat with these refreshing rolls, though be prepared for a bit more kitchen choreography than initially anticipated—especially when your workspace feels like a sauna and every surface becomes precious real estate for ingredient bowls.
Taste
The spring rolls themselves delivered on the cooling promise, with fresh herbs and crisp vegetables providing that perfect heat-wave antidote. The dipping sauce, however, needed some serious recalibration.
Portion Size
Three hungry people will definitely walk away satisfied, but here’s where the math gets tricky: budget for 4-5 rice paper rounds per person rather than the suggested 2. Meanwhile, we found ourselves swimming in dipping sauce—definitely scale that back for future attempts.
Combination
The ingredient symphony had the right instruments but needed some fine-tuning of the orchestra. More rice paper, fewer sauce lakes, additional carrots and shiitake for substance, fewer edamame, and a generous boost of those cooling herbs would hit the sweet spot.
Texture
The spring rolls achieved that satisfying contrast of silky wrapper and crisp filling that makes these rolls so addictive. The dipping sauce, however, resembled more of a chunky soup than the smooth, clingy companion these delicate rolls deserve—those floating ginger and onion pieces turned it into an awkward dipping experience.
Spices
The herb and seasoning balance in the rolls themselves was spot-on for a sweltering day. Those chunky aromatics in the sauce, while flavorful in theory, proved more decorative than functional since they refused to cooperate with the dipping process.
Timing
Reality check: block out a solid 40 minutes instead of the optimistic 25 for the preparation phase. With this many components requiring individual prep, even experienced home cooks will find themselves in a longer dance with their ingredients.
Processing
Some culinary detective work was required. The frozen edamame instructions left us guessing—are they ready-to-eat or do they need a quick blanch? We opted for a brief cooking session to be safe. The herbs also begged for some chopping clarity. Fair warning: your counter will look like a farmers market explosion, with every small bowl in your kitchen called into service.
Completeness
A few gaps in the roadmap: explicit edamame defrosting instructions, herb preparation details, and a heads-up about the small-bowl army you’ll need would save future cooks some improvisation.
Environment
While this recipe aims for sustainability with its plant-based focus, it earns a C-rating due to the combined impact of several ingredients with moderate carbon footprints. Notably, the avocado, shiitake mushrooms, and rice products like rice paper and vermicelli each contribute to a less-than-ideal environmental profile.
Health
A textbook example of the EAT Lancet Commission’s “win-win diet” philosophy, marrying human wellness with environmental responsibility through its plant-powered, minimally processed approach. While adding whole grains, nuts, or fruit could push it even closer to nutritional perfection, it already stands as an exemplary model of sustainable, health-promoting cuisine.
Tips for Redemption
- Recalibrate portions: Plan for 15 rice papers minimum, and be generous with herbs, carrots, and shiitake
- Hunt down a different dipping sauce recipe that actually cooperates with dipping
- Give frozen edamame a quick saltwater spa treatment before assembly
- Factor in extra time—this isn’t a weeknight speed-cooking situation
- Rally every small bowl in your kitchen before you start—you’ll need them all
