Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott, adapted from Zazen cooking class
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes concurrently
Makes: 8 summer rolls
Ingredients Needed
For Rolls
- 300g/10.6ozs cooked Tiger prawns
- 150g/5ozs raw pork belly
- 8 sheets rice paper
- 125g/4ozs thin, fresh rice noodles
- 60g/2ozs carrot and daikon pickles (optional)
- 30g/1oz soft lettuce, top 2/3rd of the leaf only
- 20g/0.7oz garlic chives
- 1/4 cup each fresh mint and coriander leaves
For Peanut Hoi-sin sauce (makes enough for 32 rice paper rolls)
- 100g/3.5ozs peanut butter
- 50ml/1.7flozs hot water
- 50g/1.7ozs hoi sin sauce
- 25ml/0.9oz coconut or evaporated milk
- 20g/0.7ozs sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
For Green Chilli Sauce (makes enough for 32 rice paper rolls)
- 50g/1.7ozs green capsicum
- 25g/0.9oz green chilli
- 100ml/3.5flozs lime juice
- 10g/0.3ozs lime powder (optional)
- 150g/5ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 25g/0.9ozs sweetened condensed milk
- 20g/0.7ozs salt
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 - First make the sauces and cook the pork belly. Place the pork belly in a small saucepan and cover with water. Simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes. Remove from the water and allow to cool.
Step 2 - While the pork belly is cooking make the sauces. To make the green chilli sauce place all ingredients in a blender or Thermomix and blend on high speed until smooth (Thermomix, 8 seconds, speed #8). Allow to settle and the sugar to dissolve.
Step 3 - To make the hoi sin sauce, in a small saucepan whisk the peanut butter and hot water and bring to a simmer on low heat making sure that the peanut butter doesn't burn. Add the hoi sin sauce, milk, sugar and fish sauce and bring to a boil again. Stir well and simmer for a minute. Remove from heat to cool. This sauce will thicken upon cooling so you can add a little water to thin it out.
Step 4 - Prepare the rest of the ingredients. Heat the rice noodles in the microwave for 20-30 seconds or until soft and then leave to cool off for a few minutes. Peel the heads and shells from the prawns and slice them in half lengthways so that you get two thin halves. Remove the sand vein. When the pork is ready, slice off the rind and top of the fat so you have mostly meat left. Wash the vegetables and measure out the pickles. Wash and pinch the ends off the garlic chives that may contain any trapped dirt.
Step 5 - Dip the rice paper briefly (2-3 seconds) into a bowl of cold water. Place on a clean surface and on the bottom third add some lettuce, noodles, pickles, coriander and mint in one rectangular shaped pile. Place the prawns in the centre just above them colourful side down. Fold over the sides and roll up starting from the lettuce and noodles. When almost finished, tuck the garlic chives into the paper and roll up. You should be able to see the prawns through the rice paper. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and make sure to not have the rolls touching each other on the plate. Serve with one or two sauces.
Personal Note
I loved making these in Vietnam and I think doing the cooking class there was the best way to learn how to make these properly. We just came back from Vietnam a couple of weeks ago. During our hotel stay, I was in a bit of a rush to get to breakfast one day. I did a workout and didn't realise that breakfast finished at 10:30 and not 11am. I quickly put on some makeup and rushed downstairs forgetting to put in contact lenses.
The woman that greeted us looked at me a bit oddly and did a double take but asked for our room number and showed us to a table for breakfast. I took a seat and then Mr NQN leaned in. "You look kind of weird" he said squinting. "Like you've got powder all over yourself".
There's this make up powder technique called "Baking" where you cover your face with lots of loose powder and then let it sit for 5 minutes or so. It then absorbs and then you brush away the excess. It really works but that day I had forgotten to brush it away! And because I didn't have my contacts in I had no idea! I am guessing that a hotel's staff see a lot of strange things every day ;)
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever left the house without having a good look in the mirror?