Vietnamese spring rolls

At the moment I think this is the best summer snack ever! ? These are not Indonesian but Vietnamese spring rolls; filled with rice noodles, fresh vegetables, herbs, meat or fish. Everything is rolled into a super-thin sheet of rice. They do not have to be deep fried but are eaten cold with various sauces.

Today I make them with homemade hoisin sauce; a super sweet salty sauce that is also served with Peking Duck for example.

Summer Snack
The Vietnamese spring rolls are great summer snacks because they can easily be made in advance to bring to a picnic for example. It’s fabulous, light and rewarding food after or during a hot day and you eat the rolls with your hands. ?

Coriander and mint

One can think of all kinds of food combinations to fill them with. I like them best when coriander and mint are part of the mix as well as rice noodles, bean sprouts, spring onions and cucumber. These ‘basics’ make this spring roll super fresh and crisp.

The rest is whatever you have left or what you fancy. I’ve made variations with shrimp and avocado and beef strips and lettuce today.

Ingredients

round rice sheets (I buy them at my local Asian store)
thin rice noodles
Romana lettuce (or any kind)
avocado
cucumber
spring onions
bean sprouts
coriander
mint
red pepper

shrimp
beef strips

Julienne
I cut the onions, cucumber, lettuce, avocado and red pepper into thin strips. I wash the coriander and mint leaves and pick the best and biggest ones.

For the beef strips, I use good quality beef. I slice them into thin strips and stir fry in hot oil with salt and pepper.

Rice noodles
I pour boiling hot water over my rice noodles and leave them to soak for a few minutes. Then I strain them and rinse with cold water.

Rice sheets
Now I place one rice sheet (that looks like a piece of thin, firm, translucent paper) in a layer of warm water for a few seconds.

When the sheet has completely soften, take it out gently, let it leak off the excess water and place it on a plate or -like I do- a bamboo sushi mat.

I place the ingredients for my spring roll just below the center of the sheet. I start with a thin layer of noodles, then I add a bit of every vegetable. Shrimp and avocado go well together and I also combine beef with shrimp in another batch. Delicious.

On top, I add one mint leaf and one coriander leaf for every spring roll.

I roll one time and then I fold one side.

Then the other side. I put a little pressure on the spring roll to close it tightly.

The rice sheets are pretty sticky so closing it (airtight) is easy.

Sauces
A lot of sauces go well with these spring rolls. Condiments like a chili sauce, a sweet or salty soy sauce or spicy peanut dip go well with these rolls. I also mix a bit of sesame oil with some sweet soy sauce and served this as a condiment too.

The best sauce for spring rolls I think is a hoisin sauce. Which is often served with Peking duck. It’s sweet, salty and has that typical smell and flavor because of the Japanese sweet, rice wine, the wine vinegar, and the sesame oil. It’s easy to make it yourself. Find out here.

Picnic
The Vietnamese spring rolls are the perfect lunch or snack. You can also eat them on hot days just for dinner. Or roll them in advance to bring to a picnic ;-).

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