Sunday, September 12, 2010

My Salad Rolls

Growing up, we just knew when mom was going to made salad rolls after school. She had them ready before you could even crave them. Traditionally gỏi cuốn are made with pork belly, shrimp, vermicelli,
hẹ, and various different herbs all wrapped in rice paper. It is then eaten with a dip anywhere from hoisin sauce to peanut sauce, usually a mix in between.

I made mine with more veggies and instead of a hearty brown dip, I used prepared fish sauce.

-3 vermicelli clusters (there's like 6-8 in a pack)
-8 sheets of rice paper
-16 shrimp
-1 cup of julienne carrots (mine were pickled, delicious!)
-1 cup of julienne cucumbers (mine were organically grown by my great uncle...) seedless English are the best because of the thin skin.
-a few leaves of lettuce
-some chives
-assorted herbs (optional)



In a pot of boiling water, put in your rice vermicelli and boil for about ~7 minutes, checking to see if it's softened.

Drain your noodles in a colander over cold running water. This washes more of the starch out and prevents sticking.

Then boil some more water to cook your shrimp, 2 minutes at the most. You don't want tough shrimp.


These are some greens that I used. Cucumber (I think it looked and tasted like zucchini though), lettuce, some of my homegrown herbs: Houttuynia also known as fish mint (my favorite!), Vietnamese coriander (which for some reason can be found growing along sidewalks), and mint, lastly chives.


 

 

Cut the cucumbers into thin strips about 3 inches long.

When the shrimp have finished cooking, slice them in half lengthwise.  You should have two similar looking sides.








Rice paper, very thin and fragile, even more delicate when wet. In a large bowl pour in hot water (doesn't have to be boiling). 










 Very quick and swiftly, dip and rotate your rice paper in the hot water. Your paper should NOT get soft in the water. It should feel a little stiff and glutinous. Put the damp rice paper on a working surface.







I made this dish in the downstairs kitchen because that's where most of the ingredients were.. so the chopping board is a little ugly. Now the fun part! Place 3-4 shrimp on the paper. Then put a piece of lettuce on top. Then your veggies and noodles. I don't have any more pictures of me rolling. 




 

Et voila! 

I cut the rolls in half to make it easier to eat.





fresh, simple, & delicious.

1 comment:

  1. Fabulous Tina...and yes, you need a new cutting board.

    ReplyDelete