Vietnamese Summer Rolls With Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce Recipe
I have to confess that I’m slightly obsessed with these – spicy dipping sauce and transparent little parcels that just about show you their delicious fillings. They are adaptable to whatever you have in the fridge or just what you fancy. Some food for thought: cucumber, pepper, radish, beansprouts, mangetout, lettuce, avocado, mint, Thai basil, chives. The wrappers are made of rice and are available in bigger supermarkets often called spring roll wrappers, but if you can’t get hold of them you could do this in little gem lettuce cups, or wrapped in an iceberg lettuce leaf. They are quick to prepare and great for a lunch on the move. A note from Eatopic: Tou could present these as a salad by combining all of the salad ingredients and drizzling over the dressing then covering with one softened wrapper per person. Garnish with herbs and edible flowers.
Ingredients
- #For the Dipping Sauce#
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened crunchy peanut butter
- 1½ teaspoons nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
- 1 large lime, finely grated zest and juice
- 2 teaspoons runny honey
- 1½ teaspoons Japanese rice vinegar
- 1 red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
- #For the Salad#
- 1 large carrot, grated or cut into very fine matchsticks
- 3 spring onions, outer leaves and tops removed, finely shredded lengthways
- Small handful fresh coriander, tender stalks and leaves torn, plus a few leaves to garnish
- ½ lime, juice only
- 1 teaspoon nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
- #To Finish#
- 20 g dried instant vermicell rice noodles
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 250 ml vegetable stock (choose very good quality organic stock cubes)
- 18 raw king prawns, fresh or frozen
- 6 rice paper wrappers
- Small handful fresh coriander and/or mint, tender stalks and leaves
Instructions
- Combine all the dipping sauce ingredients into a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
- Combine the carrot, spring onions and coriander in a bowl and dress with the lime juice and fish sauce. Mix well and set aside.
- Cover the instant noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes then drain and plunge into cold water. Drain well and place on kitchen paper, then tip into a clean bowl and coat in the sesame oil, set aside.
- Place the vegetable stock in a small pan and bring to a gentle bubble then add the prawns until they turn pink. This will take approximately 2-3 minutes from chilled or 4-5 minutes from frozen. Reserving the stock, remove the prawns with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.
- Tip the poaching stock into a shallow bowl that is as wide as the rice paper wrappers and leave to cool a little.
- Once the poaching stock is just warm take a wrapper and hold at 9 o’clock with one hand and 3 o’clock with the other and lean the top away from you. Working very quickly dip the bottom into the stock so that it reaches the centre and rotate the wrapper clockwise so it is wet all over, then lay flat. Don’t be tempted to keep dipping the wrapper as it will continue to rehydrate while flat.
- Line up three prawns horizontally in the centre of a wrapper and top with salad then noodles.
- Fold the bottom away from you over the filling then fold in each side. Pick up the final edge and roll to finish.
- Sprinkle the fresh herbs over, and serve three rolls per person, with the spicy peanut dipping sauce.