Vietnamese spring rolls are one of the most famous dishes from Vietnamese cuisine and the perfect healthy, light and refreshing starter or snack to enjoy on a nice sunny day.
18medium shrimp with shell (defrosted if frozen)about 500 g size 20/30
300gpork meatloin cord, belly or loin
1large carrot
1cucumber
3romaine lettuce hearts
1big red chili
20gcoriander
20gmint
1tbspsesame oilfor the pork meat
1tbspsugarabout 10 g (for the pork meat)
3tbspfish sauce(for the pork meat)
For the Peanut Sauce
150gpeanut butternot sweetened
100gwater
2tbsprice vinegarabout 20 g
2 ½tbspsoy sauceabout 25 g
2tbspsugar or honey20 g
1teaspoonsesame oil5 g
For the Nước Chấm Sauce
100gfish sauce
80gwater
65gsugar
50glime juice
1teaspoonsesame oil5 g
20gfresh gingerpeeled
10gchilliwhitout seeds (adjust to your liking)
Instructions
Choose one of the Dipping sauces or make the two if you want to try them both.
For the Nước Chấm Sauce
In a small pot mix together the fish sauce, the water, and the sugar. Heat the mixture up and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Let cool down and then add all the other ingredients. Mix everything until the ginger and the chilli are well incorporated. Strain the mixture.
For the Peanut Sauce
Add all the ingredients and mix together until smooth. Heat up a bit if necessary (depends on the peanut butter)
Prepare the ingredients for the Spring Rolls
Cut the pork meat in small stripes (about 1 cm) and season with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Heat up a frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and fry the meat at high heat to get a nice caramelized color. Add 3 tablespoons of fish sauce and continue frying, stirring occasionally until the meat is nicely browned and well done. Take the meat out of the frying pan and let it cool down.
For the shrimps, fill a medium pot with water, add a pinch of salt and bring it to a boil. When the water is boiling add the shrimps (with head and shells) and cook for 5 minutes. Take them out and cool them down in cold water until the shrimps are completely cold. Peel the shells from the shrimp.
Lay a shrimp on its side on a chopping board. Gently press the shrimp down with one hand and use the other to slice the shrimp in half, horizontally (knife parallel to the chopping board). Repeat with the remaining shrimp.
For the vermicelli noodles, fill a large saucepan or small pot with water, add a pinch of salt and bring it to boil on high heat.
When the water is boiling, turn off the heat. Let the noodles sit in the hot water for about 5 to 8 minutes. Double-check the package directions to see how long they should sit in hot water as the cooking time varies across different brands. Once the noodles have softened, drain and rinse the noodles under cold water.
Peel the cucumber and cut in half. Take out the seeds with a spoon and cut the cucumber in thin stripes.
Peel the carrot and with the help of a peeler or a knife cut in splinters and then in thin stripes.
Cut the chilli in half, take out the seeds and cut in thin stripes.
Cut the stem from the lettuce and separate the leaves. Cut away very big stems.
Pick the leaves from the coriander and the mint.
Set up your Spring Roll station
Now you can set up your Spring Roll station. Fill a bowl or a tray big enough to soak the rice paper sheets with lukewarm water. Transfer all the vegetables, shrimp, herbs, and noodles into bowls and arrange them on your work top.
Lay a damp kitchen towel over your work surface, for me that's the best way. Alternatively use a chopping board. Dip your hand in the water and brush water over the surface of the chopping board so that it is damp. I usually wet the surface again after every 2 spring rolls.
To roll the Spring Rolls (see the photos in the text)
Quickly dip a sheet of rice paper in the lukewarm water to moisten the entire surface. This should take no longer than a few seconds (approx. 5 seconds).
Lay the wet rice paper on your work surface. Place some lettuce close to the bottom edge of the rice paper. Arrange a small pinch each of noodles, carrots, cucumber in center of the lettuce leaf.
Add some meat, some stripes of chilli and some mint and coriander leaves on top.
Arrange 3 pieces of shrimp on the topside of the rest of the ingredients. Make sure that the orange/pink side is facing down.
Grab the lower edge of the rice paper and lettuce and start rolling up the spring roll. Once you have reached the shrimp, fold in the left and right sides. Finish rolling up the spring roll all the way to the end.
Serve the springrolls with the dipping sauce of your choice. If you want, cut the spring rolls in three with a sharp knife for nicer plating and easier handling.