These cold Vietnamese Summer Rolls are bloody amazing! They are light, refreshing and just full of flavour! Better yet, they are healthy and can be easily adapted to any diet. I admit they can be slightly fiddly to make, but they are so worth the time and effort as they make the most delicious starter or a snack. Besides, there’s no cooking involved, just chopping and assembling!
Vietnamese Summer Rolls
🍴 Makes: 10 rolls (2 – 5 servings *)
🕒 Hands-on: Up to 1 hour
🎛 Cooking time: No additional!
⏲ + 15 minutes for the dipping sauces
INGREDIENTS
For the rolls
- 50g rice vermicelli rice noodles
- 150g cooked prawns, cut in half lengthways
- 50g beansprouts
- carrot, peeled & cut into thin 12cm long sticks
- handful of coriander, roughly chopped
- handful of mint, roughly chopped
- handful of Thai basil, roughly chopped
- 5-6 lettuce leaves, torn in half or into small(ish) pieces
- 10 rice paper wrappers
Plus
STEPS
1 Start by prepping the dipping sauces. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
2 Next, prepare all filling ingredients. Once chopped, put everything on a large plate/dish into separate piles. All herbs can be mixed.
3 Finally, place the rice noodles into a bowl/saucepan and cover with boiling water for 3 minutes (or follow package instructions). Drain well under cold water and set aside.
4 When you are all set, fill a large shallow plate with hot water. Working with one wrapper at a time, completely submerge it in the water. Slightly move it around until soft, for about 15-20 seconds. Lift it up using both hands and let any excess water to drip. Then lay flat on a chopping board.
5 Place a small handful of rice noodles in the centre of the wrapper or just below, followed by 4 prawn halves, carrots, bean sprouts, herbs and lettuce.
6 Fold the bottom half of the wrapper over the filling, trying to tuck it tightly underneath. Do another roll forward, then fold in the sides and keep rolling tightly until the whole wrapper is rolled up. Set aside for cutting.
7 Repeat with the remaining rice paper wrappers, preparing the rolls one by one. Once all wrappers are rolled, cut them diagonally in half and place on a serving dish.
8 Serve the ready summer rolls with nuoc cham and peanut dipping sauces!
Notes:
- Rice noodles — Cool the rice noodles properly under running cold water so they won’t stick together. You can even keep them in a bowl of cold water until using
- Softening wrappers — Make sure the water on the plate is very hot when you submerge the rice paper rolls. Replace the water as needed, probably 3-4 times
- Rolling— The key is to wrap the summer rolls very tight. But don’t overfill the wrappers, otherwise they will be super tricky to roll tightly
- Finished rolls — Leave a little gap between the ready rolls as they will easily stick together
- Ingredients order — You can put the ingredients into whichever order! If you place prawns on the bottom of the wrapper cut side up, your rolls should look quite pretty as the prawn will be on the top when rolled. Or try starting with the herbs (see the picture on the right under step 6, there you can see how the roll’s look changes when putting the ingredients in different order.) Although note that if you cut the rolls in half, then the order doesn’t really matter
- Other — Rice paper is very sticky and thin, thus it can fold over itself very easily or it can tear after it’s been softened in the water. You can try to gently unfold those stubborn bits when the wrapper is flat on the chopping board, however don’t worry too much about the looks as it’s the flavour that counts! Also, it can take a while before you get the hang of it so try to be patient with the rolling, you’ll get there 🙂
* Servings: If served as a starter, 2-3 whole rolls each (4-6 halves) is a good amount. But it’s very easy to finish them between two people as a snack!
ALLERGEN AND DIET INFO:
🔷 For vegan version, simply omit the prawns! You can either add a bit more of the other ingredients or add some extra vegetables – cucumber and red cabbage work nicely with the rolls. You can also try replacing the prawns with tofu.
🔷 Please note that the sauces are not vegan!
Main equipment:
Two small bowls → dipping sauces
Large dish/plate → fillings
Small bowl/saucepan (+ sieve) → rice noodles
Chopping board + knife
Kettle (optional)
Chopping board, for rolling
Dipping sauces to go with the Vietnamese summer rolls! ⤵︎
