Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Thanksgiving (American Thanksgiving, that is) is a few days away and I know that you are all planning to shovel forkfuls of food into your mouths...I am too.  So, for the few days before I try to stick with lighter meals.  What better way to do that than with summer rolls? They are basically salad wrapped up into finger food.  Summer rolls also make a fun appetizer, a small plate (maybe served with some soup for dinner), and they travel well for an easy weekday lunch.  I pack a bunch of colorful veges and herbs into these summer rolls making it easy to eat the rainbow!

Here is what we are making:

Let's get some ingredients together and get started!

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

-4 rice paper wrappers (they come in brown rice too)

-8 oz of mushrooms portabello, oyster, shitake, whatever you like chopped small

-4 cloves garlic, minced

-4 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced 

-4 red lettuce leaves

-1/2 cucumber, seeded and cut into matchsticks

-1 carrot, cut into matchsticks, steamed in the microwave for 1 minute to soften

-handful of pea shoots or sprouts

-8 large basil leaves

-12 mint leaves

Throw in anything else you like! Try baby corn, bamboo shoots, water crest, tomatoes, mangoes, avocados, cilantro, etc

First, saute the mushrooms, garlic, and ginger.  While those are cooking, get your veges and herbs all cut up and ready to go.

Ok, here comes the tricky part, softening the rice paper.

 Grab a round plate and some hot water.  Pour a few tablespoons of hot water into the bottom of the plate.  Then place a sheet of rice paper in the plate and pour a little more hot water on top.  Gently rub the rice paper with the hot water until it is smooth and soft.  Then gently lift it off the plate.  Don't let it fold over on itself!  It takes a little practice, but I know you can do it. :)

Hint: Make one at a time.  Soften a paper, fill it up with good stuff, roll it, and then on to the next.







Place your rice paper down on the cutting board and start to fill it up.









Put the lettuce down first, it acts like a second wrapper, then the herbs, carrots, cukes, pea shoots, and mushroom mixture.  Don't get too excited and over fill them or else you will never be able to roll them.  

Put your burrito skills to work and roll it up.  FYI the rice paper sticks to itself so they hold together pretty well.












Serve with some dipping sauces you like.  Pictured here are soy sauce, Thai sweet ginger sauce, and chili garlic sauce...I bought them, so don't ask me how to make them.

Enjoy!


Happy eating and best health,

Dr. G