One of my first jobs in Canada was at a catering company managed by a friend. Major the Gourmet specialises in tiny little canapes, created with extreme attention to detail. There were little crepe purses filled with minced chicken that was freshly braised every morning, tied up with a chive, (very tricky), quails eggs that were almost impossible to peel, resulting in much frustration and many other exquisite things. We were allowed to sample occasionally and one thing I remember really enjoying were the Nicoise salad rice paper rolls. Thinking I didn't like tuna, only being used to the horrible tinned variety, I was surprised how much I liked the thinly sliced raw version, lightly seared to char the edges and rolled up with salad leaves, those quails eggs, olives and tomatoes. They were a surprising twist on what is basically a Vietnamese standard, the rolls more likely to contain shrimp with some spices.
Before I had this blog, I would write everything I cooked down in a book, thinking I was Nigel Slater and one day someone would publish my 'culinary journal' (yeah, right). I found this recipe for rice paper rolls while browsing through and thought I'd test drive my own recipe. At the time I was watching my carb intake and so had to perform some incredibly complicated maths to work out the carb content of each roll, which I can see is 6.5g, (not too bad, depending on fillings).
I've recreated the recipes not expecting anyone to decipher the tiny writing in the image.
Recipe : Rice paper rolls with fried shrimp and chili peanut sauce
2 large raw prawns, peeled
2 tsp oil
2 slices of Serrano ham or prosciutto or parma ham, (I used Serrano and gave them a 1 minute blast in the microwave to crisp)
1/4 small bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 chili pepper, seeded and finely sliced
1 small shallot, peeled and finely diced
1 inch piece of cucumber, peeled and finely diced
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely diced
small handful of fresh mint, shredded
1/4 tsp Sriracha sauce (or other hot sauce)
1/4 tsp of sugar
1/4 tsp rice wine vinegar (or white or red wine vinegar)
juice of half a lime
salt and pepper
2 rice paper rolls
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the prawns until pink and opaque and cooked through. Chop coarsely and add to all the other ingredients in a bowl, mixing together well. Season with the salt and pepper
Pour some warm water into a tray or dish big enough to soak the rice paper rolls. Place one roll into the water and allow it to soak and soften for a few minutes. When it is soft enough to use, carefully remove it from the water and lay it out onto a clean tea towel, taking care not to fold or crease it at all. Use the tea towel to dry the roll and then lay out half of the filling close to one edge. Tuck in the edges and carefully roll the rice paper over the filling to form a sausage shape which will naturally stick to itself.
Repeat with the second roll. Try to roll as tightly as possible otherwise the filling may fall out quite easily, (as mine did).
After all that work a simple dipping sauce is required. They don't get much easier than this one.
Recipe : Chili peanut dipping sauce
2 tbsp of peanut butter
1 tbsp of sweet chili sauce
Mix, stirring well until they eventually combine, (OK, a little work required) and use to dip your rice rolls into.
From my notes, here are several other options for dipping sauces or fillings:
Other filling ideas:
peanuts, chopped small
micro shoots, watercress, beansprouts, sunflower shoots
vermicelli
cooked, shredded cabbage
cooked, shredded meat
seared tuna, sliced thinly
olives
quails' eggs, halved or hens' eggs, finely diced or quartered
Dipping sauce ideas
1. Peanut
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp soy sauce
2. Chili and ginger
1 tbsp chili sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3. Vinegar and garlic
1 tbsp wine vinegar
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp garlic powder or fresh chopped garlic
4. Vietnamese style
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp sugar
1/3 small carrot, peeled and very finely diced
1 scallion, finely diced
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