Recipe - Vietnamese Spring Rolls

My friend wanted to have a little dinner get-together with some friends for her birthday and needed help deciding foods to make. I gave her three ideas that we could whip up together pretty quickly while giving people options: chicken quesadillas, bruschetta, and Vietnamese spring rolls. Now…I’ve already posted the former two so I want to address the last one!

Vietnamese spring rolls are quick, simple, and easy to make on top of being deliciously healthy. Everything is quite fresh, and they fill you up well. This recipe will be different from others however because the portions will depend on how many you want to make.
 
Step 1: Ingredients (serving size: varies by choice)

• rice wrappers
• shrimp, sliced in half, size 31-40 or larger
• carrots, shredded
• red leaf lettuce
• vermicelli

      Sauce

• lemon juice (optional)
• 1 part peanut butter
• 2 parts hoisin sauce
  

Step 2: Cooking the shrimp and vermicelli
Cook the vermicelli as the package’s instructions go. While the water is boiling for that, boil some water for your shrimp as well. You may shred your carrot during this time. The lettuce will have to be torn in manageable sizes for wrapping.

Step 3: Making the sauce
Mix the hoisin sauce with peanut butter until well blended. This is for dipping. You may add lemon if you’d like. Slice the shrimp when you’ve finished cooking them.


Step 4: Wrapping
The rice wrappers will have to be made wet to start wrapping. Put them on a non-stick surface. I have my own little plastic sheets for spring rolls.

This part is the most tedious because you have to roll each spring roll individually. How you want your spring rolls to look will depend on how you arrange the ingredients inside the wrapper. Experiment to see which ways turn out the prettiest. I generally put the lettuce on the bottom for ease’s sake though sometimes I’ll put the shrimp there so they’ll show up better. I don’t have any pictures for this part but fold in the right and left sides and roll from the bottom up, making sure to use your forefingers to tighten the roll. It will take some practice to make them tight and good-looking…but keep trying! =]

Step 6: Completion and eating
Enjoy with the sauce. This can be eaten cold.