Rice Paper Rolls

These fresh and healthy Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls are perfect for a light dinner meal. As they keep well and are served cold, you can also wrap some up and take them to work for lunch. Beats having another boring sandwich, doesn't it? 


And while they may look 'different' and impressive, they're actually super easy and a lot of fun to make.  And cooking should be fun, right? Especially when you've another pair of hands to help, so why not make this meal with a friend, lover or housemate? Preparation time is around 30 minutes.

You'll need:

1. a pack of rice paper
2. vermicelli noodles
3. capsicum 
4. cucumber
5. shitake mushrooms
6. mint
7. sweet chili sauce
8. soy sauce
   

You may also like to use carrot, sushi pickled ginger, bean sprouts, snow peas, baby sweet corn... the list is endless.


First step: get the vegetables ready by cutting into long and very thin strips. If you're using cucumber, gut out the middle first otherwise this juicy part will make your rolls soggy (which you don't want).

Lightly pan fry the shitaki mushrooms using oil and once finished place on a plate to cool. Boil a pot of water and cook the vermicelli noodles, this should take about three minutes. Once they're cooked, take them out of the water and place in a bowl and also let cool.


Next, fill a wide bowl (I use the mixing bowl) with lukewarm water. Place a sheet of rice paper in the water until it goes soft, then take it out and place on a chopping board or similar smooth surface and begin to add your ingredients.

Start with the noodles, and place them in the middle of the rice paper roughly two centimetres from the top. Then place whatever ingredients you like on top. Try not to put too many ingredients in the one roll otherwise it may be too hard to roll.

               When you're ready to make the roll, fold the bottom half up, as pictured:

 

Then fold one side across, towards the middle: 

And then roll the remaining side.

While they look small, the rolls can actually be quite filling. The below was enough for two people, but you can always make as many as you like to suit your appetite.

The dipping sauces used here were dumpling sauce, sweet chili and soy sauce.