Recipe: Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls

Rushina blogged about her Spicy Prawns and Mango Rice Paper Rolls and Sprout Stuffed Rice Paper Rolls that she demonstrated at Godrej Nature Basket in Bombay and mentioned how the Rice Paper rolls were flying off the shelves after her demo.

Since she will be here in Delhi this week for Demos at the Def Col and GK branches on 23rd and 24th (17:30 onwards, all are welcome), I thought I would pick up my rice paper rolls while I was in the store yesterday, rather than fight for supplies with the hordes once she had demonstrated how to make them. (Always plan ahead)

But once I got them home, I wasn't ready to wait. I wanted Vietnamese rice paper rolls immediately. I have never made them before, but I had an idea of what I wanted them to taste like and I quickly scanned my refrigerator to see what was available. My meat was all frozen and I didn't have the time to thaw and cook it, so I used Chicken luncheon meat that wasn't frozen.

Its perfectly easy to make this dish in a vegetarian version. I added meat because this was going to be dinner, not a starter for us.

These are really easy to make and husband was polishing them off as soon as I was rolling them. Its a wonder I was able to get any pictures of the finished product. LOL (Those are the last 4 of the 20 rolls that I made)

Notes:
You can choose any combination of ingredients. I used what I had at hand. Just make sure everything is sliced really thin.
Saute whichever vegetables need to be cooked and use whichever ones you like in raw form.
I made a sauce to stir into the mix, you can use your favorite ready made sauce.

Ingredients:
For the Stuffing:
5-6 button mushrooms thinly sliced and sauteed

5-6 baby corns cut in half and then thinly sliced (sauteeing optional)

2 grated carots

4 slices of chicken luncheon meat cut into strips
I also added one thinly slice cornichon for extra bite

Lightly toss all these ingredients together.

For the Sauce:
3 thinly sliced green chillies
1 petal of star anise/biryani phool
an inch of ginger thinly grated
juice of 1 lime
a squeeze of honey  (to taste)
 salt to taste
4-5 cloves of garlic lightly roasted (to remove the raw taste)
a few flakes of red chilli (to add color)

Smoosh this all together in a mortar and pestle

Then mix it into the stuffing.

For the Assembly:
About 20 rice paper roll sheets

 How many you use depends on how much you stuff each one. You can use less stuffing for an appetiser (so its bite sized) or more for a substantial dish.

The paper sheet needs to be dipped into boiling water (just taken off the heat) for a few seconds till it cooks.

Then lay the cooked sheet on a plate. Place stuffing in the center and roll or fold

If you make 4 folds from each edge you have squarish parcels.
If you want rolls, fold the ends perpendicular to the length of the stuffing, then roll.

Serve with you favorite dipping sauces. (with the sauce I made, it really didn't need any extra dipping sauce)

Enjoy!

This is a dish that can be eaten cold and is very light on the stomach, especially good in sweltering summers.

And easily assembled from whatever bits and bobs you have around your kitchen.