Lettuce Cigars

For the Japanese,food is an art form ...literally. Each food platter is almost like a canvas and that thought inspired me to create these salad cigars with simple basic salad ingredients, but with some visual aesthetics added.All the vegetables should be evenly julienned (sliced finely) so that the 'cigars' look uniform. If you want to make these a little before hand ,then just pour the dressing over the salad before serving and not as part of the filling..so that the salad stays crunchy. To give it a real twist, add a small amount of wasabi paste to the dressing ..but only a teeny bit !

Ingredients (makes 16 pieces)

4 large lettuce leaves
1 cucumber, sliced finely
1 red bell pepper, sliced finely
1 yellow bell pepper,sliced finely
1 capsicum,sliced finely

For the dressing
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt

1. Cut each lettuce leave into two rectangles, after trimming the edges. The width of the rectangle should be little more than that of the vegetables.
2. Place 2-3 pieces of each vegetable along the edge of the lettuce rectangle,as shown in the picture below.
3. Pour 1/2 a spoonful of dressing over the filling and tightly roll the lettuce leaf over the vegetables.
4. Cut each roll into two pieces and arrange on a platter.
5. Pour any remaining dressing over the rolls and serve fresh !

The filling of the lettuce leaf..