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Recipes: Spring Rolls
$Id: SpringRolls.izu,v 1.3 2004/05/03 04:25:05 ralf Exp $

Vietnamese fresh spring rolls are essentially nifty little self-contained salads-to-go -- crisp raw veggies and minced fresh herbs, along with cooked shrimp, pork, fried tofu or whatever else suits your fancy, all neatly packaged up in a deliciously chewy-soft, pliable rice paper wrapping that you can snatch up and eat with your hands (or chopsticks, if youre feeling civilized). Theyre delicious, refreshingly cool, and fun to make and just perfect for a light summer meal, or a dinner party hors-d''oeuvre.

You'll need to make a trip to an Asian market for some of the ingredients, notably the rice paper rounds and rice vermicelli that are two of the essentials for this recipe. Rice paper rounds are frequently labeled banh trang, and generally come in a round plastic container. I like the 8" diameter wrappers, but they also come in larger and smaller versions. The rounds are hard, brittle and semi-translucent when you buy them, and studded with little hash marks all over the surface. (The texture comes from the bamboo surface against which the rice dough is pressed in order to form the rounds.) Look for them near the noodle section of the market, along with the rice vermicelli. You can substitute bean threads/bean vermicelli if you like.

The rice paper rounds are fairly delicate once they''re soaked and softened for use, so be prepared to tear a few in the process of wrapping before you really get the hang of it. Once you''ve figured out exactly how much filling your wrappers can handle, however, making the rolls is a breeze.

Vietnamese fresh spring rollsThe beauty of these spring rolls is that you can you just about any ingredients you like. Substitute the shrimp with fried tofu for a vegetarian version; use snow peas and crisp bean sprouts instead of the carrots and cucumbers.

Ingredients:

• 12 rice paper rounds (banh trang)
• 3 oz. rice vermicelli, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, till soft
• 24 medium shrimp, unpeeled
• 1/2 small head green leaf, red leaf or romaine lettuce (about 10-12 leaves)
• 2 carrots
• 1 large cucumber
• 1/4 cup of any or all of the following fresh herbs: thai basil, mint, cilantro (I like to use mostly basil, with a smattering of mint in the mix, but use whatever suits your taste)
• 3 stalks scallions

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces rice vermicelli
• 8 rice wrappers (8.5 inch diameter)
• 8 large cooked shrimp - peeled, deveined and cut in half
• 1 1/3 tablespoons chopped fresh Thai basil
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 leaves lettuce, chopped

Preparation:

• 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.

Making the springrolls:

• Work with only 2 sheets of rice paper at a time, keeping the remaining sheets covered with a barely damp cloth to prevent curling.
• Immerse each sheet individually into the warm water.
• Quickly remove and spread out flat on a dry towel, without letting the sheets touch one another.
• The rice paper will become pliable within seconds.
• Lay one piece of lettuce over the bottom third of the rice paper.
• On the lettuce, place 1 tablespoon of noodles, 1 tablespoon of the shredded carrot, a few pieces of pork, bean sprouts and several mint leaves.
• Roll up the paper halfway into a cylinder.
• Fold both sides of the paper over the filling.
• Lay 2 shrimp halves, cut side down, along the crease.
• Tuck 2 chives sprigs under the shrimp at one end, leaving about 1 inch of the chives extending over the fold line.
• Place several coriander leaves next to the shrimp row.
• Keep rolling the paper into a cylinder to seal.
• Place the rolls on a plate covered with a damp towel so they will stay moist as you fill the remaining wrappers.

• Rolling the spring rolls can be very challenging at first.
• A good place to find the rice paper and the rice vermicelli is 99 Ranch Market. There's one at the Skyline Plaze in Daly City. There are other chinese supermarkets arounds but this one was the easiest to find and is open till 9 PM.
• Both items are pretty cheap (1 or 2 bucks each). On the other hand, finding the two items in the store took me a while; There were a bazillion kind of vermicelli things, but only one was actually rice vermicelli. It is probably easier if one reads chinese natively, I guess.

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This work is licensed by Raphaël Moll under a Creative Commons License.

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