Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Very healthy, very quick, very fresh, very tasty ! This is indeed a very good choice for an appetizer!

Most of the vegetables can be replaced with the ones of your choice, so that leaves you and your imagination to go wild. While pre cooked shrimps/ prawns make this appetizer super nice, this time around I replaced them with eggs to keep it light. You can omit egg too if you wish to eat something pure vegetarian.

You need:

For the rolls:

Rice paper (usually found in round shapes)

Thinly sliced lettuce

Bean sprouts

Rice vermicelli/ cellophane (soaked in hot water for 10-15 min and drained)

Shrimps/ Prawns - precooked and tails removed (omit if making vegetarian)

Carrot julienne

Green onions (1 inch length, only green part)

Thinly sliced basil

Chopped mint

Boiled eggs - Sliced (omit if making vegetarian)

Ginger juliennes

Cucumber – seeds removed and cut into fine juliennes

For the Peanut dipping sauce:

Roasted peanuts – 1/3 cup

Coconut milk - 4 Tbsp

Thai red curry paste - 2 tsp

Salt - Adjust to taste

Palm sugar/ Jaggery - 1 tsp (substitute with brown sugar or plain sugar)

White/ Cider vinegar – (Don not use red wine or balsamic vinegar))

Water - to adjust consistency

How to make the rolls:

1. In a medium bowl, cover the vermicelli with cool water and let soak until pliable, about 20 minutes. Drain and keep aside once done.
2. Keep all the ingredients handy as you will have to work fast once you start rolling the rolls.
3. Dip each rice paper in a bowl of warm water to wet it. Set the rice paper on a work surface to soften; the paper will become opaque and pliable.
4. Place any one vegetable on the rice paper along the lower third of rice paper, leaving 1 inch gap from all three sides(bottom, left and right). Layer all the vegetables, eggs, and noodles on top of the first layer.
5. Pull the rice paper up and over the filling and roll up tightly, folding in the sides as you go. Same way as you roll your burrito or spring roll.
6. Place the roll on a large platter, seam side down, and repeat with the remaining ingredients.
7. When you place them on a platter, make sure they don't touch each other else they will stick.

How to make the peanut dipping sauce:

1. Blend the roasted peanut to a very fine paste using water.
2. In a heavy bottom pan, add the peanut paste and all other ingredients. Bring this to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
3. Now let the mixture simmer for 3-4 min over low heat. Keep stirring to not let the mixture stick to the bottom.
4. Remove from heat and transfer to a clean glass container. The refrigeration will thicken the sauce a little. Whenever you want to use, just add a little water and reheat. You can also freeze it in an ice tray and once frozen,transfer to a freezer safe container or zip lock bags to use later.