Vietnamese-Style Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce Recipe
Give yourself plenty of time (and counter space) to make these. And be sure to have a few extra rice paper wrappers on hand—it may take a few tries before you’re rolling like a pro.
What to buy:
Look for medium-size shrimp. For a slacker solution, buy a ready-to-eat shrimp cocktail ring from the supermarket and slice the shrimp in half lengthwise.
Rice sticks and rice paper wrappers can be found in most Asian grocery stores. For the wrappers, we like Red Rose brand.
Game plan: Be sure to have all your ingredients ready and easily accessible when you start to roll. Store the summer rolls in a dish or plastic container that’s roomy enough to hold them without their touching. Place a damp paper towel in the bottom of the container to keep the rolls moist. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.
This recipe was featured in our Cooling Off story.
- 12 medium shrimp in their shells
- 2 ounces dried "rice sticks or rice vermicelli":http://www.foodsubs.com/NoodlesRice.html
- 8 (8-1/4-inch) round "rice paper wrappers":http://www.foodsubs.com/Wrappers.html
- 1/2 cup mung bean sprouts, rinsed
- 24 small mint leaves (from 1 small bunch)
- 16 basil or Thai basil leaves
- 8 small sprigs cilantro
- 1 Thai hot pepper, serrano pepper, or other small hot chile pepper, seeds removed and sliced into very thin matchsticks
- 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-by-1/4-by-2-inch sticks
- 2 large scallions, trimmed, halved, and sliced into 3-inch lengths
- 4 Boston lettuce leaves, cut in half
- "Peanut Sauce":http://www.chow.com/recipes/10658
- Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add shrimp and cook for about 1 1/2 minutes, or until they are bright orange and just cooked. Drain shrimp in a colander and run cold water over them until they are cool. Peel shrimp and halve them lengthwise down the center. Cover and refrigerate.
- Cook the rice sticks according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Clear a work surface, such as a large wooden cutting board, for rolling the summer rolls and prepare a pan that is roomy enough to hold the finished rolls in a single layer. Place all filling ingredients in separate containers, and arrange them in the following order around the board: rice paper wrappers, shrimp, rice noodles, bean sprouts, mint, basil, cilantro, hot pepper, cucumber, scallions, and lettuce.
- Fill a wide, shallow dish, large enough to hold the rice paper wrappers, with hot water. Evenly submerge one rice paper in the water for about 30 seconds, or until it is soft and pliable. Remove from the water and place on the work surface.
- Working quickly, lay three shrimp halves in a row, cut side up, just above the center of the wrapper. Layer a scant 1/4 cup of noodles over the shrimp, followed by a few bean sprouts, 3 mint leaves, 2 basil leaves, 1 sprig of cilantro, and 2 pieces of the hot pepper (if using). Place 3 to 4 cucumber sticks and 3 to 4 scallion pieces on either side of the noodle pile. Roll one piece of lettuce into a cigar shape, and place it on top of the noodle pile.
- Fold the bottom half of the rice paper wrapper over the filling. Holding it firmly in place, fold the sides of the wrapper in. Then, pressing firmly down to hold the folds in place, roll the entire pile up to close the top. (Don’t despair, this takes some practice!)
- Turn each roll so that the rice paper seam faces downward and the row of shrimp faces up. Place in the prepared container.
- Serve summer rolls with Peanut Sauce.
- Beverage pairing: Thomas Fogarty Monterey Gewürztraminer, California. Gewürztraminers can be great food wines, as long as they’re not too heavily perfumed and floral. This is why it can be good to go with a new-world Gewürz over an Alsatian. This wine, from California’s central coast, has beautiful flavors of ginger, white flowers and litchi, which make a nice foil for the toothsome summer rolls.
- Set your package of wrappers and a dinner plate by the sink & run the water so it’s somewhere between cold and room temperature. One at a time, take a wrapper from the package, run it under the tap for about 5 seconds, turning it well to thoroughly wet it. Use your fingers to squeegee off the excess water, then put the wrapper flat on the plate. Repeat with up to 20 wrappers at a time. Cover the plate with a layer of damp paper towels about 4 layers thick. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Then carefully peel off wrappers one at a time.
The 5 minute rest is critical. If you use the wrappers as soon as they’re soft, they’re impossibly fragile. Letting them sit has some effect (developing the starch?) that makes them a bit rubbery and much less fragile and slimy —much easier to work with.
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GG Mora Nov 13, 2003 10:51PM
1.
re: GG Mora
Forgot to mention that after you’ve got all the wrappers wet & stacked, you should drain off the excess water. Just put your hand on top of the stack to hold it firmly in place and tilit the plate to let the water run off.
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GG Mora Nov 14, 2003 02:53PM
Member recipes are not tested by the CHOW food team.
