Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Vietnamese Spring Rolls


These spring rolls make a fabulous lunch out of leftovers, and will really impress your co-workers. They only take about 15 minutes to make, but look like they take a lot longer. I made this with my leftovers from the Smoked Duck and it was super tasty, but really they can be made with any meat, or even tofu or just vegetables if you want to keep it simple. I served them with Thai Peanut Sauce (thinned out a bit with milk to make dipping easier).

Vietnamese Spring Rolls (4):
2 small bundles dried rice vermicelli
assortment of veggies and greens
(I used carrot, snow peas, & spinach)
green onion
4 round rice papers, 20cm/8" dia.
1/3 of a cooked duck breast, sliced

Bring water to the boil in a small saucepan, and lower the vermicelli into the water in a strainer. Cook according to package directions, or for around 10 seconds until al dente. Drain & run through with cold water to keep the noodles from sticking; it may make it easier to separate the noodles now into 4 piles. Arrange all of your fillings on a tray to prepare the rolls.

Separate and soak 2 rice papers at a time in a tray with room-temperature water for 1-2 minutes. Set a clean dish towel beside the tray, and when the papers are softened move them to the dish towel and blot them dry. Add the fillings to the papers, and roll as you would a burrito - that is, work about 1" from the edge of the paper, fold the bottom edge over the fillings and fold in the sides. The only tricky part here is getting the papers tight enough to keep the filling solidly together, but not so tight that the papers rip.

3 comments:

  1. I think I end up going through spring roll phases where I either make a ton of them, or forget I have wrappers in the cupboard.

    Smoked Duck sounds like a fantastic filling.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will definitely give this one a try. It is always good to have something different to turn to for lunches or a quick supper.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Using the duck is the way to go. Good one!

    ReplyDelete