Vietnamese Summer Rolls

TELL ME THIS DOESN’T LOOK GOOD!!! WELL, IT TASTES EVEN BETTER THAN IT LOOKS! I LOVE LOVE LOVE VIETNAMESE CUISINE! If you’re someone who isn’t a big fan of these delicious looking summer rolls, it might be because you’ve only tried it with the “hoisin sauce”. The sauce is what makes these rolls so incredibly tasting. I wish I can emphasize how amazing they are…My mouth is watering every time I think about it. When you order Gỏi cuốn at restaurants they tend to serve it to you with their hoisin/peanut sauce, but I really don’t like that sauce. My friend taught me how to make a much better sauce, one that is the perfect combination of sweet, sour, spicy, and savoury. You’ve got to trust me on this one. I’ve converted a few of my friends already.

Ingredients:

Servings: 2 (although I could finish it myself :P)

Rolls:

• 1 lb shrimp
• 1 cup baby arugula (optional)
• Vietnamese spring roll rice paper
• 8 oz rice vermicelli
• 1 sprig of mint
• 1 tablespoon fried onions
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Dipping Sauce:

• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (or any vinegar)
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 wedge lime
• 1-2 red chili peppers (depends how spicy you can handle)
• 1 minced garlic clove
• ¼ cup water

By the way, I’ve made this recipe a million times and I have experimented with various ingredients for the rolls. I have used the traditional lettuce, chives, pork belly, sausages, and bean sprouts and they were all great! This is my first time using baby arugula and I loved it! I like to switch it up and make things fun! 🙂 Use whatever your stomach desires. It will taste good no matter what due to the fried onion shrimp and MY SPECIAL SAUCE! It might seem like a lot of garlic in the dipping sauce but the garlic goes so well with the lime and red chili peppers. Besides, garlic is full of health benefits – I add it to almost all my dishes. *Side note, if you ever get food poisoning or a stomachache, mix minced raw garlic with rice. I swear by it.

1.  Cook the rice vermicelli for 3-5 minutes and drain. Rinse with cold water to remove starch and prevent noodles from sticking together

2.  Add the vinegar, brown sugar, fish sauce, and minced garlic in a small pot over low heat for 1 minute. Then add the water. Pour sauce into a bowl and squeeze a bit of lime juice and add the sliced red chili peppers.

3.  Add the olive oil and cook the shrimp with the fried onions for 1 minute (5 minutes if you are using raw shrimp)

4.  Dip the rice paper in luke warm water (2 seconds) to soften the paper. Place the wet rice paper on a flat surface and place the baby arugula (or greens of your choice), the vermicelli, and the fried onion shrimp near the bottom of the rice paper. Begin rolling from the bottom halfway up then wrap the left and right sides towards the centre. Continue rolling all the way up.

I like to use a small spoon to spoon some sauce to the roll after each bite because the dipping sauce is BOMB! This way, it prevents the vermicelli from falling to the dripping sauce and I look more ladylike. 🙂 I love these red chili peppers. I have to admit, I make sure every bite I take, has a piece of pepper in it. SERIOUS QUESTION:  Who would like to challenge me to a spicy eating contest?!

See these rolls? Well, I kind of devoured all of them in 5 minutes… Yeah I know, I’m a Freak!