Vietnamese Salad Rolls Recipes

Steps:

• Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Remove from heat. Place rice vermicelli in boiling water, remove from heat, and let soak 3 to 5 minutes, until soft. Drain, and rinse with cold water.
• Fill a large bowl with hot water. Dip one rice wrapper in the hot water for 1 second to soften. Lay wrapper flat, and place desired amounts of noodles, shrimp, carrot, lettuce and basil in the center. Roll the edges of the wrapper slightly inward. Beginning at the bottom edge of wrapper, tightly wrap the ingredients. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
• In a small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce with water until desired consistency has been attained. Heat the mixture for a few seconds in the microwave.
• Serve the spring rolls with the warm dipping sauce.

Steps:

• Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Boil rice vermicelli 3 to 5 minutes, or until al dente, and drain.
• Fill a large bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for 1 second to soften. Lay wrapper flat. In a row across the center, place 2 shrimp halves, a handful of vermicelli, basil, mint, cilantro and lettuce, leaving about 2 inches uncovered on each side. Fold uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper, beginning at the end with the lettuce. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
• In a small bowl, mix the fish sauce, water, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chili sauce.
• In another small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce and peanuts.
• Serve rolled spring rolls with the fish sauce and hoisin sauce mixtures.

Steps:

• Fill a large bowl with warm water. Soak one rice wrapper in the water until soft (a couple of seconds). Lay wrapper flat.
• In a row across the center, place two shrimp halves, then below that a handful of vermicelli, then basil, mint, cilantro, and lettuce, leaving two inches free on each side.
• Fold uncovered sides inward, then then tightly roll the wrapper, starting with the lettuce which should be closest to you.
• Repeat for remaining wrappers.
• In a small bowl, mix Hoisin sauce, peanut butter, chili sauce, and peanuts. Use as dipping sauce for the completed rolls.

Steps:

• In a big bowl, soak the rice-stick vermicelli in hot water to cover until softened and pliable, about 15 minutes; drain in a colander, rinse under cold water, and drain well again.
• In a small bowl, whisk the rice vinegar, fish sauce, and sugar together until the sugar dissolves.
• Add the vermicelli to a nonreactive salad bowl along with chicken, carrots, cabbage, basil, mint, cilantro, and rice vinegar mixture; toss to combine.
• Put a double thickness of paper towel on a work surface, and fill a shallow baking pan with warm water.
• Check the rice paper rounds and use only those that have no holes.
• Soak 1 round in warm water until pliable, about 30 seconds to 1 minute; carefully transfer to paper towels.
• Place ½ cup filling across the bottom third (the part nearest you) of the rice paper; fold the bottom half of the rice paper over the filling and begin rolling it up tightly, stopping at the halfway point.
• Fold in the ends and continue rolling.
• Transfer the salad roll, seam side down to a plate and cover with dampened paper towels.
• Make 9 more rolls in same manner.
• To serve, cut the rolls in half crosswise; stand pieces upright; serve with dipping sauce.
• The salad rolls can be made 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered with lightly dampened paper towels and then with plastic wrap; let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• Assemble all ingredients and let stand in a bowl that it may be presented in later.
• To Assemble and Serve:
• Soak the rice papers a few at a time in hot water. Have a towel ready to work on and to take up some of the extra moisture.
• Have your fillings ready and seasoned.
• Roll a variety of salad rolls (some just chicken, just vegetable, some combos, etc.) until all filling and wrappers are used.
• Arrange the garnishes on a platter along with the fresh salad rolls and the nuoc cham dipping sauce.
• Tradition has it that the guests using a lettuce leaf as a cup will garnish his or her own salad roll as they choose and dip into nuoc cham.
• Cut all vegetables carefully and mix with herbs. Wait to season with nuoc cham until you are ready to roll.
• Brush chicken, beef and shrimp with marinade and cook, preferably on grill. Cool after grilling.
• Cut chicken, beef and shrimp into desired size and toss with any leftover marinade to season.

Steps:

• To poach the shrimp, fill a small saucepan half full with water, add the salt, and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Add the shrimp, remove from the heat, and let stand for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the shrimp have curled nicely and are pinkish orange. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Leave the water in the pan.
• While the shrimp are poaching, trim any excess fat from the pork chop. Return the water in the pan to a rolling boil and drop in the pork. When the water starts bubbling at the edges of the pan, remove the pan from the heat and cover tightly. Let stand for 20 minutes. The pork should be firm yet still yield a bit to the touch. Remove the pork from the pan and let cool. Save the light stock for another use or discard.
• Working with 1 shrimp at a time, lay it flat on a cutting board and cut in half horizontally. (Use the index and middle fingers of your noncutting hand to keep the shrimp in place as you wield the knife.) Devein the shrimp as necessary. Set aside on a plate.
• Thinly slice the pork across the grain into strips about 1/8 inch thick, 1/2 inch wide, and 4 inches long. Add to the plate of shrimp.
• Set up a wrapping station composed of a flat work surface (a cutting board, inverted baking sheet, or dish towel) and a bowl of water for dipping the rice papers. Place the shrimp, pork, noodles, lettuce, and herbs nearby.
• Dip a rice paper round in water and then place it on your work surface. (See page 331 for tips on working with rice paper.) When the rice paper is pliable and tacky, fold a lettuce leaf in half along its central spine and then tear off the spine. Place the folded leaf on the lower third of the rice paper round. Put about 1/4 cup of the noodles on top of the lettuce, spreading them in a rectangle. Lay a couple of pork strips on top (slightly overlapping, if necessary), and then arrange a few mint and cilantro leaves on top of the pork, spreading them out to distribute their flavors evenly. Bring up the lower edge of the rice paper to just cover the herbs. Then roll the rice paper a half turn so that the lettuce is on top and visible through the rice paper. Add 3 shrimp halves, cut side up, to the unrolled portion of rice paper, lining them up snugly along the partially finished roll. Fold the sides of the round inward to cover the filling. Roll one more full turn, so that the orange sides of the shrimp are now facing up and visible through the rice paper. Tuck 2 or 3 Chinese chives into the roll, letting them extend out one end. Continue to roll until you have a snug cylindrical package. The rice paper is self-sealing. Use a knife or scissors to trim the chives, leaving a 3/4-inch "tail" extending from the end.
• Repeat this process to make 16 rolls in all, placing the finished rolls on a serving platter. If the rolls seem too long to manage and eat comfortably, cut them in half on the diagonal. Serve the rolls with the sauce. Diners can dip the rolls into the sauce or spoon some sauce onto the rolls.
• While the pork and shrimp may be poached a day ahead, slice them on the day you wrap. The noodles may be cooked early in the day, covered with plastic wrap, and kept at room temperature. You may wrap the rolls 2 hours in advance of serving. Keep them covered with plastic wrap to prevent the rice paper from drying out and becoming unpleasantly tough. If you are cutting the rolls, do so just before serving, or they may lose their nice shape.
• You can wrap other items in these rolls, too, but they must be thinly sliced so that they are flexible enough to roll. Seeded cucumber strips, julienned carrot, seared tofu strips, and slices of left over grilled meats are among the possibilities. Different fresh herbs, such as Vietnamese coriander (rau răm) or Thai basil, may be incorporated to introduce different flavors. The elements that you need to preserve are the lettuce leaves and noodles, which give the rolls body, and the hoisin-garlic sauce, which marries all the flavors.