Vietnamese Summer Rolls
Ever since I learnt how to make my own Vietnamese fresh summer rolls, I have been making them endlessly. They are easy to prepare, healthy and tasty. While summer rolls are usually made with fresh prawns (shrimps), I love to use all sorts of fillings for them – I even made summer rolls with leftover KFC chicken and they were delicious!
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The wrapped rolls keep well in the fridge so I often pack the leftovers for my bento lunch to bring to work the next day. For this recipe, the summer rolls are served with a really easy peanut hoisin sauce dip.
There are various ways of wrapping these fresh spring rolls but the tutorial below shows my favourite way of wrapping. The summer rolls look beautiful with the scallions sticking out of the wrap. If I am bringing them for work, I used mini wrappers instead without the stick-out scallions so that they can fit in easily into my lunchbox.
Vietnamese Summer Rolls (Step-by-Step Photos)
These are the wrappers I used. There is a smaller version but I prefer to use the bigger type (22 cm) as they are much easier to wrap. To use, I quickly dip the rice paper in a shallow plate of water, and remove it as soon as it is wet on the surface. There is no need to soak the rice paper until softened, in fact doing so will make them too soft to wrap and the skin will break more easily. The rice paper should be still semi hard when wrapping.
Place a damp and clean kitchen cloth on top of the chopping board or work surface. This makes it easier to remove the summer roll and minimize tearing the skin, but it’s optional. Place a few lettuce leaves near the bottom of the wrapper nearest to you. Add a small handful of cooked vermicelli and two prawn halves, followed by some hand-torn mint leaves. This is the basic filling. You can add 2 thin slices roast pork and/or fish cakes if desired.
Fold the edge nearest you towards the center, followed by the two sides.
Roll the wrap away from you, while keeping the fillings tight.
Arrange 3 scallions stalks, two shrimp halves and two small mint leaves in an aesthetic way as shown. This will be the top of the summer roll. Feel free to arrange the ingredients in your own way.
Continue rolling the last portion of the wrap.
Flip the summer roll over to reveal the “beautiful side” and it’s done!
Vietnamese Summer Rolls Recipe
To prevent tearing the rice paper when wrapping, do not over-soak the rice papers. Place the rice paper on a damp kitchen cloth when wrapping and try to wrap as fast as possible. Check out the step-by-step wrapping photos here.
Feel free to substitute the filling ingredients (lettuce, mint and prawns) in this recipe with any available seasonal ingredients (e.g. chicken, basil, chives, coriander, carrots, beansprouts).
Ingredients:
- 20 small to medium prawns (shrimps)
- 10 pieces of 22-cm Vietnamese rice papers
- 80 grams rice vermicelli (bee hoon)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- a plate of water
- lettuce leaves
- mint leaves may also use other herbs such as coriander or basil
- 10 thin slices roast pork optional
- 10 thin slices fish cake optional
- spring onions (scallions) the green part; cut to long stalks
(A) Dipping Sauce
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp water
- 1/2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp sriracha chilli optional; for some heat
You also need
- a clean and damp kitchen cloth wet the kitchen cloth, wring it tightly to remove most of the water
Directions:
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the prawns and cook for about 1 and 1/2 to 2 minutes, or until the prawns are fully cooked and opaque. Drain the prawns, peel and discard the shells. Halve each prawn in the middle and remove the black veins. Set aside.
- Soak the rice vermicelli in a bowl of water until softened (skip this step if using instant ones), cook in boiling water for a minute, drain the noodles. Add 1 tsp sesame oil to coat the noodles. Set aside.
- To make the dipping sauce, whisk (A) until smooth.
Wrapping (check out the step-by-step photos)
- Place the damp cloth on the work surface.
- Quickly dip a piece of rice paper in water until the entire surface is wet but still semi-hard. Place the moistened rice paper on the cloth.
- To wrap the summer rolls, place a few lettuce leaves near the bottom of the wrapper, followed by a small handful of cooked vermicelli, two shrimp halves, 1 slice roast pork, 1 slice fish cake and lastly hand-torn mint leaves. Fold the edge nearest you towards the center, followed by the two sides. Roll the wrap away from you, while keeping the fillings tight. Arrange 3 scallions stalks, two shrimp halves, and two small mint leaves aesthetically and continue rolling the last portion of the wrap. Flip the summer roll over to reveal the “beautiful side”. Repeat wrapping until all the filling is used up.
- Serve the summer rolls with the prepared dipping sauce at the side.