SPRING ROLL PARTY 101

All Viet rice paper rolls follow a similar pattern, so once you’ve got it down, you’re set to improvise and have some fun. Have an interactive meal and allow your diners to roll their own. You provide a dinner plate to roll on, set out several shallow bowls of water for soaking the papers, filling options and premade dipping sauces. Here are a few tips and guidelines to get you going.

• Work on dinner plates.

• Fill large shallow work bowls or casseroles with 2 inches of hot water. Refill them when they cool.

• Prepare the fillings ahead of time and lay them out on plates where everyone can reach.

• Matchstick size the vegetables, cut the herbs into bite-size pieces, remove the lettuce spines, and cut the proteins into ribbons or sticks.

• Make a basic dipping sauce ahead of time.

How we roll around here

• Slide and submerge a rice paper into the warm water. Wait a minute until it’s tacky and pliable.

• Lay it on the plate, and fill the center with fillings, start with lettuce as a foundation, and improvise from there. Lay flowers or other beauties so they’ll show through the papers.

• Bring the left and right sides into the center. Start closest to you, the bottom, and fold it over the filling. Apply just enough pressure, not too tight so the ingredients puncture the rice paper, but tight enough so the ingredients don’t fall out.

• Practice makes perfect!

Filling Possibilities

Remember, you want to get a bit of flavor from each ingredient, but not overfill and make it difficult to roll.

• Lettuces, spring greens, arugula, sprouts, edible flowers

• Herbs like—dill, cilantro, mint and basil

• Matchstick veggies—carrots, daikon, radishes, cucumbers

• Mung bean cellophane noodles or rice noodles

• Baked tofu, smoked fish, shrimp, chicken, crab, ham, tempeh, turkey

• Avocados, mayo, spiced mayos