Summer rolls

April 9, 2013 by Rah 3 Comments

Can I call these Vietnamese summer rolls given that I’m not Vietnamese and they probaably don’t have any Vietnamese ingredients in them? Perhaps just “Summer rolls” will do. Although I *adore* Vietnamese food.

I’ve come to admit lately that I really don’t love rice paper rolls. I would never buy them in a shop and I rarely LOVE them at home and I’ve just worked out why. I don’t like rice noodles (vermicelli) taking up the place of yummy fresh food. So I gave these a go and oh my goodness, I’m cured. They are delicious! You can use whatever you like in them really but my advice would be to leave out the vermicelli and stick with salad ingredients. You’ll be amazed.

1 carrot, grated (into slithers  with a peeler)

Lettuce leaves or baby spinach leaves

Cucumber, finely sliced into sticks

1 avocado, sliced

Bean shoots

Fresh chopped coriander and mint leaves

Rice paper (Packet)

I find the easiest way to do these is to wet a tea towel and lay it on the bench to work on. Pour some hot water into a large plate/tray and soak the rice paper until soft, then pull it out carefully and lay it on the wet towel.

Add your fillings (Always looks nice and green if you lay the spinach/lettuce leaves down first) and wrap the fillings up.

I made a little dippy dressing (Not true to Vietnamese flavours but yummy nonetheless):

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 T soy sauce (NB Use Tamari for gluten free 😉 )

1 T vinegar of choice

1 small piece chopped sweet onion

top up with water to distill.
Really, really refreshing and light and delicious.