Vietnamese Summer Rolls aka Gỏi cuốn are one of our favorite appetizers to order! Typically only 2 come in an order, which is never enough! It's refreshing, healthy, and delicious. We also made our own peanut dipping sauce to pair with it.
These fresh spring rolls traditionally consists of pork belly, shrimp, vegetable, & herbs wrapped in rice paper aka Bánh tráng. To be healthier, we omitted the pork.
Ingredients
Peanut Sauce:
1/3 cup Chunky Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil or any other oil
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp Chili Garlic Sauce (Huy Fong Foods)- optional if you like spicy
1/2 cup water
Summer Rolls:
4 oz Dried Rice Vermicelli noodles (bean thread)
1 lb medium Shrimp- peeled, deveined, & cut in half
1 bunch mint leaves
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch Thai basil
Small Romaine lettuce
1 large carrot, julienned
1 large cucumber, julienned
1 Flat plate filled with warm water
Instructions
First make the Peanut Dipping Sauce. Heat oil in pan, saute garlic until fragrant. Turn to low heat then add peanut butter, hoisin sauce, & sugar mixture. Mix well and pour in 1/2 cup water. Simmer. Mix again and add more water if you don't like it so thick. Let boil and turn off heat -- pour into bowl. Set aside to cool. Top with crushed peanuts before serving.
In a medium pot, bring water to a boil. Turn off fire and remove pot from the heat. Add vermicelli noodles & soak for 3-5 minutes until al dente. Drain and rinse noodles in cold water. Drizzle some oil to keep vermicelli from sticking. Set aside.
For shrimp - In a medium pot, add salt to water and bring to a boil. Add shrimp and cook until pink. Drain and run it under cold water. Set aside to let it cool. Cut shrimp in half.
To assemble - lay out all ingredients on table. We used a cutting board as our work station to roll the wrapper. Take 1 sheet of rice paper and dip it in the plate of warm water. If plate is smaller than the paper, you'll have to wet the edges by rotating it and press the center in the water. Dip only once, otherwise it'll be too sticky to wrap.
Lay wet rice paper flat on cutting board. Place romaine lettuce on rice paper on the edge closest to you then top it with vermicelli, carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, and mint. Lay 3 halved shrimp & basil on the next row towards center of rice paper.
Begin wrapping by folding the sides then rollLing from the side closest to you and away. Make sure to wrap tightly to prevent ingredients from falling apart.
Notes:
If you make this recipe, we'd love to see it! Tag us at @NY.Foodie on your stories & posts.
