2015 Cooking Club Week 17: Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Mrs Fox · 02-05-2015 12:09pm #1

Refreshingly light and super healthy, "Goi Cuon" are also known as Vietnamese summer rolls, fresh spring rolls, rice paper rolls or salad rolls. Traditionally they're filled with prawns/pork, raw vegetables, herbs and noodles, encased in soft, rice based wrappers. Whatever you call them, a bite of these gems will guarantee to excite your taste buds: crunchy, squidgy, aroma from the herbs, combined with "Nuoc Cham" dip leaving a tingle of freshness and a good punchy zest. The best thing about these rolls is that you can stuff them with anything you want!
They stay fresh for a couple of days, which makes them ideal for a make ahead appetisers, picnic snack or packed lunch. Perfect for summer.
You can easily get a rice paper rolls or "banh trang" in any Asian stores. I got a pack of 30 for €2.65 from Eurasia Fonthill. I've seen them in SuperValu Lucan before too.
Once you get your hands on them, other ingredients are easily available in any supermarket.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls
Makes 6

Ingredients:
6 dried rice paper wrappers ("banh trang")
12 cooked peeled prawns (allow 2 per roll), OR 6 slices smoked salmon/trout, OR any leftover meat of choice
1 cup prepared rice vermicelli noodles
1/4 cucumber, cut in matchsticks
1 small carrot, cut in matchsticks
1 small gem lettuce, leaves separated
a small bunch of chives

Additional (totally optional but will most definitely lift the rolls to nirvana

):
12 basil leaves
12 mint leaves
a handful of fresh coriander
1 cup of red cabbage, shredded (for colour & texture; I just happened to have them)

Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce:
1 lime
2 tbsp sugar (I used light brown sugar)
1/2 cup water
2.5 tbsp fish sauce
1 garlic, minced
1-2 bird's eye chillies

Method:
1. Make the sauce first: combine juice of 1 lime, sugar & water, stir until dissolved. Add fish sauce, garlic & chillies and mix. At this point you can adjust according to taste. It should be sweet, sour, salty with a zing of heat.

2. Prepare the work station: lay out all the meat, veg, herbs and noodles. Pour warm water into a bowl large enough to fit rice paper. Have a cleaned surface/plate in front of you to assemble the roll. Don't forget to whistle while you work!

3. Take a rice paper wrapper and dunk it in the bowl of warm water for about 10 seconds, gently swirl it around and press it down with your fingers if need be, until the paper softens. Now very carefully lift the wrapper and lay it flat on the plate; yes, it's soaking wet for now but almost immediately it'll soak up excess water and remain mmmmmoist.

4. Start piling the filling evenly across at the lower end of the wrapper; prawn, herbs, noodles, veg. Gently roll the wrapper over the filling from the bottom up, tucking it underneath to secure. Fold both sides inward, and continue to roll up as tight as possible. And that's it! One down, five to go.

It does take practice but after your second roll you'll get the hang of it. Serve it as it is or you can cut the rolls in half to see your beautiful delectable artwork. Dip in nuoc cham and chomp! *No manners required. **Double dipping involved.

I doubt you'll have any leftovers, but if you do, place a damp kitchen paper on top and put in an airtight container or simply cover with a cling film. Nuoc cham also keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.

Enjoy!

*photos in the next post

Mrs Fox · 02-05-2015 12:19pm

Ingredients

Work station

Rock and Roll

Tadaaa!

*I ran out of prawns as I had a couple of scallywags snatching them while I was prepping, so I used smoked rainbow trout in two of the rolls.

eviltwin · 02-05-2015 12:21pm

These look lovely. Did you have to go to a specialist shop for the rice paper?

Mrs Fox · 02-05-2015 12:24pm

eviltwin wrote: »

These look lovely. Did you have to go to a specialist shop for the rice paper?

You can find them in any Asian grocers. As mentioned I've seen them in Supervalu Lucan before but that was some time ago. Worth checking out on the ethnic aisle though.

MissFlitworth · 02-05-2015 12:41pm

Agh, Mrs Fox, I love Summer Rolls!! Imma pick up some of those rice wrappers today or tomorrow and eat myself into a Summer Roll coma and medicate against the horrible, very unsummery, Dublin weather.

Mrs Fox · 02-05-2015 1:41pm

MissFlitworth wrote: »

Agh, Mrs Fox, I love Summer Rolls!! Imma pick up some of those rice wrappers today or tomorrow and eat myself into a Summer Roll coma and medicate against the horrible, very unsummery, Dublin weather.

My kind of comatose.

Faith · 02-05-2015 4:04pm

Oh my god, this sounds perfect! How many are in a serving, like if you were having them for lunch? They sound like an ideal packed lunch for work, one that I'd actually look forward to eating!

Mrs Fox · 02-05-2015 4:35pm

Faith wrote: »

Oh my god, this sounds perfect! How many are in a serving, like if you were having them for lunch? They sound like an ideal packed lunch for work, one that I'd actually look forward to eating!

Allow 3 rolls per person, although I would shamefully admit to scoffing 6 rolls in one sitting.

Loire · 02-05-2015 7:00pm

Thanks Mrs. Fox....thanks a bunch...no pressure following this :eek::pac::):)

Looks really good and I'll defo make this!

Loire.

BaZmO* · 02-05-2015 9:09pm

Faith wrote: »

Oh my god, this sounds perfect! How many are in a serving, like if you were having them for lunch? They sound like an ideal packed lunch for work, one that I'd actually look forward to eating!

That was the first thing I thought about when I read the recipe!

M&S do something similar in their lunch range and they are absolutely amazing!

I'm always looking for inspiration for different lunches that are healthy. Can't wait to try these.

homemadecider · 02-05-2015 11:10pm

Fabulous. I'm going to make these for work lunches this week. I've made them before but always felt a bit silly drowning them in hoisin sauce which totally overpowers things - I look forward to trying your dip! I think I've still a good few rice wraps in the cupboard so I'll fish them out on Monday. Thanks Mrs Fox!

Minder · 04-05-2015 1:59pm

Love these and they are so easy to make, I can't imagine why we don't have them more often. Will fix that this week.

homemadecider · 04-05-2015 4:56pm

Just made these, thanks, they are yum! I made 7 but my husband seems to have made 2 of them disappear - I will enjoy these at lunchtime tomorrow. They aren't quite as neat as yours but I'm pleased with my efforts!

summer%20rolls_zpslpiziv4f.jpg

Mrs Fox · 04-05-2015 6:36pm

homemadecider wrote: »

Just made these, thanks, they are yum! I made 7 but my husband seems to have made 2 of them disappear - I will enjoy these at lunchtime tomorrow. They aren't quite as neat as yours but I'm pleased with my efforts!

Did I spot FOUR prawns in a roll? Ooooer homemadegenerosity.

Faith · 05-05-2015 11:40pm

I made these last night for lunch today. They were a lot more work than I expected to assemble! I would say that I was moderately successful. The mint really overwhelmed the other flavours, so I ended up pulling a lot of that out. The dipping sauce also didn't work out for me. I ended up with a really sharp sauce that didn't have great depth of flavour. I tried adding extra sugar but it wasn't particularly pleasant.

I'm delighted with myself for using rice paper wrappers though, because that's a new addition to the repertoire. And I felt very healthy while eating them. I think with practice I'll get much better at making them, and I'll try them with a different sauce next time. Thanks Mrs Fox!

dibkins · 06-05-2015 9:52am

I've been making these a while, but as am i prawnaphobe, i use mairinaded chicken instead, or just go with veg. So tasty. A while back i picked up the tip of adding a few chopped roasted cashews to the mix as well, it really adds a lovely extra texture.

Edit: Found an old photo

Mrs Fox · 06-05-2015 9:54am

Faith wrote: »

I made these last night for lunch today. They were a lot more work than I expected to assemble! I would say that I was moderately successful. The mint really overwhelmed the other flavours, so I ended up pulling a lot of that out. The dipping sauce also didn't work out for me. I ended up with a really sharp sauce that didn't have great depth of flavour. I tried adding extra sugar but it wasn't particularly pleasant.

I'm delighted with myself for using rice paper wrappers though, because that's a new addition to the repertoire. And I felt very healthy while eating them. I think with practice I'll get much better at making them, and I'll try them with a different sauce next time. Thanks Mrs Fox!

That's the beauty of it - you can play around with fillings and herbs to suit you.
You may also give hoisin a go, like homemadecider did before.
There's a peanut sauce recipe I came across on the google machine that I've yet to try, but I will post up the recipe here as an alternative.

Mrs Fox · 06-05-2015 9:59am

dibkins wrote: »

I've been making these a while, but as am i prawnaphobe, i use mairinaded chicken instead, or just go with veg. So tasty. A while back i picked up the tip of adding a few chopped roasted cashews to the mix as well, it really adds a lovely extra texture.

That's a great idea, an extra texture. I'll give this a try myself next time. Thanks dibkins.

Mrs Fox · 06-05-2015 10:11am

Spicy Peanut Hoisin Dipping Sauce
Makes approx 2 cups
*adapted from sundaynitedinner.com

Ingredients:
1 cup prawn stock OR water
5 garlic, minced
1 tbsp thick soy sauce
1 tbsp whole soybean sauce, crushed
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
4-6 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
2-3 tsp chili garlic sauce OR diced chilies to taste
1 oz dry roasted peanuts, chopped

Method:
1) In a small sauce pan, add stock and garlic. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.

2) Add thick soy sauce, crushed soybean sauce, hoisin sauce, 4 tbsp peanut butter and chili garlic sauce. Stir until peanut butter is dissolved and the sauce thickens. Add additional peanut butter until desired thickness is obtained. Adjust seasonings to taste. Top with chopped peanuts.

convert · 06-05-2015 11:28am

Wow, these look amazing. I'll have to give them a go next week and maybe convince my OH to try something a little different. I'll report back on our success

dibkins · 06-05-2015 12:29pm

Agh, now i want them, and my plans for this evening have been called off so i have the time:D I shall be trying your dipping sauce as i usually make a peanut sauce for them these days.

Ninja Edit: I was a lazy scrub and made a salad from the same ingredients.

Mrs Fox · 13-05-2015 8:31pm

dibkins wrote: »

A while back i picked up the tip of adding a few chopped roasted cashews to the mix as well, it really adds a lovely extra texture.

I made these puppies earlier. I took your idea of adding nuts for texture, and I put a strip of hoisin sauce in it, instead of serving with nuoc cham as I had run out of chillies. Delicious, definitely add to the variety and versatility of the rolls. A tad heavier though with that sauce, which isn't a bad thing as I only managed to gobble up four rolls. Only four.

Raminahobbin · 15-05-2015 4:03pm

I've been having these quite a bit since I saw the original post and loving them! I'm a veggie so I'm putting little pieces of tofu in them, and made a peanut sauce & Nuoc Cham (with soy, no fish sauce).

They're sooo yum!

Mrs Fox · 15-05-2015 5:39pm

Raminahobbin wrote: »

I've been having these quite a bit since I saw the original post and loving them! I'm a veggie so I'm putting little pieces of tofu in them, and made a peanut sauce & Nuoc Cham (with soy, no fish sauce).

They're sooo yum!

Glad you enjoyed them, Raminahobbin

GoodBridge · 17-06-2015 7:34am

Have this recipe bookmarked. Every time I go to make it there's something that needs to be used or else it'll be wasted but, next sunny weekend we get, I'm making it and I'll post a pic. Coincidentally, I found this tip for rolling them this morning:

dibkins · 17-06-2015 9:55am

I saw that on Facebook as well. If everything is wrapped in the lettuce it won't be as pretty though:/

Gloomtastic! · 20-06-2015 3:18pm

Rice papers bought! Just a matter of time now.......

Taboola · 25-06-2015 6:35pm

What could you make with these as a dinner meal? Or would they be enough on their own?

Mrs Fox · 26-06-2015 9:27am

Taboola wrote: »

What could you make with these as a dinner meal? Or would they be enough on their own?

On their own I'd allow about 6 per person, depending on how much filling you put in.
They would be great appetisers to compliment a south east Asian curry dinner, because they're light and fresh. Allow 2-3 per person.

Taboola · 26-06-2015 3:16pm

Mrs Fox wrote: »

On their own I'd allow about 6 per person, depending on how much filling you put in.
They would be great appetisers to compliment a south east Asian curry dinner, because they're light and fresh. Allow 2-3 per person.

Thanks. Making them tonight. Will post pictures (if I don't eat them beforehand

)

Taboola · 27-06-2015 10:41am

Hard to see the prawns in these ones

Made some for lunch today with salmon I had picked up in Aldi

Will definitely be making these as a lunch dish.

Mrs Fox · 27-06-2015 3:33pm

That looks yum, Taboola. Yes it's lovely with smoked fish.

Taboola · 27-06-2015 8:42pm

Mrs Fox wrote: »

That looks yum, Taboola. Yes it's lovely with smoked fish.

Love your creativity Mrs Fox. You should have you're own sub forum

convert · 06-07-2015 12:52pm

I finally got around to making these yesterday. They are absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately I didn't get to take any pictures, but I'll take some the next time I make them, which definitely will be soon.

Mrs Fox · 06-07-2015 1:23pm

convert wrote: »

I finally got around to making these yesterday. They are absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately I didn't get to take any pictures, but I'll take some the next time I make them, which definitely will be soon.

Excellent. Glad you enjoyed them, convert.:)

irish_goat · 13-07-2015 9:20am

Made these on Saturday and they went down a treat. The dipping sauce was lovely but the only issue was that it was hard to get a lot of into the roll. Any tips for maybe thickening it up so more of it clings on?

Mrs Fox · 13-07-2015 10:54am

irish_goat wrote: »

Made these on Saturday and they went down a treat. The dipping sauce was lovely but the only issue was that it was hard to get a lot of into the roll. Any tips for maybe thickening it up so more of it clings on?

Maybe you can use Thai sweet chilli sauce instead, adding a splash of fish sauce? It'll be thick enough to stick onto the filling. Having said that I've never actually tried it myself.
The other thing I can think of is to cook it down until it turns syrupy, but you'd need to increase the sugar then. And leave the lime towards the end.
Glad it went down a treat for you, goat.
I'm going to make myself some later.

GoodBridge · 13-07-2015 11:30am

I think Nigel Slater has a thicker version.. ok found it here:

Nuoc cham

...

A deeper, sweeter, darker dipping sauce

It is sometimes useful to have a sauce that will stick to whatever you are dipping into it. The thin version above is good for soaking into fresh rolls, but will not adhere to anything. This one is thicker.

I sometimes put chopped coriander in, but always at the end, when it stays much more fragrant. Makes a small bowlful.

2 large red chillies 3 tbsps Thai fish sauce 6 tbsps water 3 tbsps rice vinegar 6 tbsps caster sugar a thumb-sized knob of ginger juice of 2 limes 1 tsp light soy sauce

Remove the stems from the chillies, halve the chillies and chop them finely. Don't discard the seeds. You need their heat in this.

Put the fish sauce, water, rice vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Peel the ginger and chop it finely with a heavy cook's knife, then crush it to a pulp with the flat blade of the knife. Add the ginger to the pan and let the mixture boil until it has started to thicken slightly - it will go even further on cooling.

When the sauce is cool, add the chopped chilli, the lime juice and the soy sauce.

- http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/feb/03/foodanddrink.recipes

Mrs Fox · 13-07-2015 2:44pm

GoodBridge wrote: »

I think Nigel Slater has a thicker version.. ok found it here:

- http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/feb/03/foodanddrink.recipes

Thanks GoodBridge

Mrs Fox · 28-07-2015 4:49pm

This is a good idea I picked up from my friend's recent visit to a vegan restaurant.
To avoid the rolls sticking together, instead of including lettuce in the filling, use them like napkins. Edible napkins.

GoodBridge · 28-09-2015 3:32pm

Finally got around to making these. I didn't do a great job wrapping them but I think I only really messed up one (overfilled it) and they all actually did look very presentable but at the last minute I thought I'd slice them in half and they kind of fell to bits:

QHvlE4W.jpg?3

Although maybe it was because of this:

z8gilpP.jpg?2

Coconuts were going for 99c in Supervalu so added a bit of rum, mint and lime... so tasty and refreshing.

Thanks for the recipe. It was great

Mrs Fox · 28-09-2015 6:46pm

GoodBridge wrote: »

Coconuts were going for 99c in Supervalu so added a bit of rum, mint and lime... so tasty and refreshing.

Thanks for the recipe. It was great

Thanks for the coconut idea!
...put the lime (and rum and mint) in the coconut and shake it all up...

Glad you enjoyed the rolls.

GoodBridge · 28-09-2015 8:19pm

There was muddled lime and mint in the coconut too. The bit at the top was for scent when you bent in to sip the straw (and make it look a bit fancy). It was honestly one of the nicest drinks I've had in a long time.

These rolls reminded both myself and mrs a tiny bit of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzFoThs2Qpw which we've made quite a few times and love it. Obviously not as healthy or have the same finesse though

Roald Dahl · 02-09-2020 9:59pm

We made a couple of these tonight as a starter. They were really quick and easy to make, but I would think there is definitely a knack to rolling then and practice would be required. Well, there seem to be a huge amount of rice paper sheets in the packet, so we'll definitely be making them again.

They are filled with coriander, red cabbage, carrot peanuts and prawns.

I forgot to make the dipping sauce, but will definitely make it the next time.

Gloomtastic! · 03-09-2020 3:07pm

These have been on my to do list since this thread started five years ago! :eek: I'm not great with finicky, rolly-type things, I think that's why I haven't got round to it yet. :rolleyes:

I miss Mrs Fox

2015 Cooking Club Week 17: Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Comments