Shrimp Summer Rolls

When Americans think about Vietnamese food, not very much initially comes to mind.  Aside from a one-time spring roll experience with my friend Jean Claude some several years ago, I had little-to-no grasp of what made Vietnamese food Vietnamese until recently.  For those new to the cuisine like me, we can sum up this culinary tradition in one word: freshness.

“Fresh” because Vietnamese cooking depends on a lot of newly picked aromatic herbs, seaside fare, and raw ingredients.  Although a Vietnamese person might cook anything from Chicken to Pork to Fish, s/he will undoubtedly do it with attention to its seasonal availability and its pure forms.  I often believe that because dishes like Vietnamese Summer Rolls are served chilled and not hot speaks to the freshness associated with their cultural menus.

Pictured: Light and translucent, Vietnamese Summer Rolls provide windows to the cuisine’s fresh ingredients.

I have been falsely calling this dish a “spring roll” as American nomenclature is want to suggest, but truthfully, this translucent-papered roll is really a “summer roll.”  Summer rolls consist of rice paper shells that encompass a wide range of vegetable and meat ingredients much like an Asian egg roll but become translucent once the paper is dipped into water.  They’re light, beautiful, and allow you to see the ingredients sitting inside.

Although you can accompany these summer rolls with just about anything, a lovely peanut dipping sauce, chili-garlic sauce, or sweet spring roll sauce goes great with the combination of shrimp and fresh mint or basil.  Dip summer rolls in for a taste, or daringly dollop the entire roll before taking a bite.

Shrimp Summer Rolls

This version of Vietnamese Summer Rolls is my own adaptation of the popular Vietnamese dish.  For like-minded recipes, consider reading Jaden Hair’s take on the roll with lemongrass and mango here.

Ingredients:

*6 oz. vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package instructions

*1 pound shrimp, peeled and boiled

*1 1/2 cups bean sprouts

*1 cup mint

*1 cup basil

*1 cup cilantro

*rice paper

*water

*peanut sauce or spring roll sauce, for dipping

1.) Cook vermicelli according to package instructions, drain, and reserve for rolling with summer rolls.

2.) Boil shrimp until pink and cooked, about 3-5 minutes (do not overcook). Strain and reserve for rolling with summer rolls.

3.) Prep herbs–bean sprouts, mint, basil, and cilantro, and set into bowls in a working station with the vermicelli and shrimp.

4.) Taking one sheet of rice paper, run under water for 3-5 seconds and drip dry for several seconds.  Place on clean working surface and pat dry with a towel.  Fill rice paper with any combination of ingredients you like: I begin with a healthy bed of herbs (basil, cilantro, and mint) and then dress in several pieces of shrimp and bean sprouts.

5.) Roll egg rolls: treating the circle like a four-sided square, lift the top piece of the roll towards you and lay down over the filling (about 1/2 inch).  Repeat with bottom piece of rice paper (lift and pull away from you placing over filling with about 1/2 of an inch of the rice paper).  Then, like you’re rolling a cigarette, take one of the last corners and roll the rice paper towards the center and on top of itself making sure to keep the filling ingredients in tact.  As I realize this may sound complicated, feel free to watch the video supplied here by Show Me the Curry.

Repeat until all ingredients are used; feel free to make and refrigerate this dish ahead of time (several hours at most) or prepare for immediate consumption.  Makes 10 summer rolls.

–Helana Brigman

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