Vietnamese Spring Rolls (My version)

Preparation Time 30 minutes

Assemble 10 to 15 minutes

Makes 4 spring rolls 

Serves 2 - 3 persons

Ingredients

Vegetables

• Carrot 1 small julienne

• Cucumber 1 small julienne

• Other Root Vegetables such as Daikon radish, Jicama, Kohlrabi, Red Radish, Beetroot, cut julienne

• Lettuce 4 to 5 leaves, washed and dried with a kitchen towel

• Cilantro leaves with the stem, washed and dried with a kitchen towel

• Thai Basil leaves 6 to 7 (optional)

• 4 rice paper sheets (keep couple of extra sheets, as it might take a few tries before you get a hang of folding them)

Protein

• Prawns 9 pieces

• Garlic 1 clove finely minced

• Salt to taste

• Vegetable oil 1 tsp

Peanut Paste

• Peanuts ½ cup (roasted)

• Chilli flakes 1 tsp

• Ginger grated 1 tbsp

• Fish sauce 1 tsp (optional)

• Soy sauce 1 tbsp

• Sesame oil ½ tsp

• Brown Sugar 2 tsp

• Lemon juice 3 tbsp

• Salt to taste (as soy sauce and fish sauce already have a lot of sodium)

• Roasted Cumin 1 tsp

• Coriander powder 1 tsp

• Scallions or Spring onion (green part) julienne

• Vegetable oil 2 tbsp

Method

1. Heat 1 tsp of oil in skillet, and add the minced garlic. Toss in the prawns and some salt and cook prawns for about 2 minutes each side. Keep aside

2. Once cooked, slice the prawns in half, lengthwise from the center of the mid vein.

3. To make the peanut sauce, add all the ingredients except salt, in a blender and blend to almost paste like mixture but coarse. Taste the mixture and adjust the salt and sugar accordingly.

4. Have all the ingredients ready and easily accessible before assembling the roll, as the soaked rice paper can get very sticky and difficult to handle, if left for a few minutes.

5. Take a large bowl and fill it with warm water. (temperature of water should be such that you can easily put your fingers in it without feeling the burn!)

6. Place the rice paper in warm water for about 15 seconds until soft. Remove quickly.

7. Blot wrapper on a damp kitchen towel

8. Place the lettuce leaf, 1/2 tsp of peanut paste and julienned vegetables about 8 to 10 sticks.

9. Place three sliced prawns, cilantro and 1 or 2 basil leaves in the center of the wrapper.

10. Fold over bottom and sides toward the center of the wrap.

11. Roll up the wrap and serve with some dipping sauce

12. If not serving immediately, keep them in the refrigerator, covered tightly with a  plastic wrap, on a lightly oiled sheet tray for about 2 to 3 hours.

Dipping Sauce

(Mix the ingredients listed below. Adjust the salt and sugar if needed)

• Soy Sauce 2 tbsp

• Sugar 1 tbsp

• Lemon juice 2 tbsp

• Cilantro leaves finely chopped 1 tbsp

Notes 

• The granular peanut paste can also be used as a marinade for chicken. You can marinate the chicken thighs in the paste for about 3 to 4 hours before making chicken kebabs. You could also stir fry minced chicken with the peanut paste and scallions and serve as a filling for lettuce wraps

• Rice paper can be found in any grocery store which usually keeps asian items. I usually get them from World Market or Whole foods. 

• This recipe does have prawns as the protein, but you could replace it with chicken or beef. Just cut them julienne and stir fry them with some soy sauce in addition to garlic.

• The vegetarian version of the recipe uses tofu, Indian cottage cheese, or chicken-less chicken or soy chicken (available at trader Joe’s). You could also just use fresh vegetables  and no protein at all - like daikon radish, red radish, cucumber, beet root, carrots, jicama, scallions, kohlrabi, lettuce.