Spring Rolls

Finally, a light recipe! You can eat as much as you like if there are not too many rice vermicelli, but the spring rolls are delicious, fresh and light. They originate in Vietnam and can be made with a multitude of ingredients.  Here, we will see the simplest ones, namely with julienned vegetables and shrimp ( Goi Cuốn ) with a little pork if desired! You should not hesitate to practice to roll them well. 

Cook rice vermicelli in boiling water for 2 minutes or soak in very hot water for 5 minutes. It is better to look at the cooking time on the package of the purchased vermicelli. 

Slice the pork. 

And cook it in a little sesame oil. Add a little sugar and a drop of soy sauce and nuoc nam sauce. I also added (and it was very good) a little “5 spice”. 

Wash and peel the carrots. Cut them in half lengthwise and widthwise. 

Finely slice the carrots with a knife into julienne strips. If you wish, you can also grate them in the machine, 

Wash the bean sprouts thoroughly. 

And cut the cucumber in julienne having taken care to remove the softer central part which contains seeds with a spoon. 

Prepare all ingredients so that they are readily available. 

Soak the rice leaves in warm water in a large bowl, or like me, in a pan. Each sheet of rice is different even in an identical package. Some will soften very quickly, others will not. 

It is therefore important to make sure that the sheet is neither too soft (it may tear) nor too strong (it will not stick!). It is necessary to practice and we  “feel” when the sheet is ready. But it is often between 1 minute and 2 minutes of soaking. 

It’s better to have a clean rag than a paper towel, but I didn’t have a clean rag on hand! 

Carefully place the sheet on a clean cloth. 

Place a few pieces of lettuce leaves, bean sprouts, carrots, cucumbers, mint and coriander in the center of the leaf. Place three pieces of shrimp, outer sides down. Pork or minced chicken breast can be added. I personally like them without meat too, but the 5 spice pork was very good for these rolls.

Bernard’s advice:
for the first ones, don’t hesitate to put too many ingredients, because the more you put, the more risk there is that the sheet will tear if you do it wrong. As I am sure, we will be able to put more stuffing and tighten it more and more! 

Fold the bottom part over the stuffing. 

Then fold the sides towards the center. 

Squeeze the stuffing a little and start rolling upwards while keeping the stuffing tight. 

Do this for all spring rolls! 

The more you practice, the easier it gets and the more stuffing you can put in without tearing it up. 

Serve with a sauce “spring rolls” which is based on sugar, chilies and nuoc nam. Or like me, but in a less traditional way, with a slightly more syrupy sweet pepper sauce.

Serve immediately or put all the ingredients on the table and let the guests make their own spring rolls!