Phoebe NewellGỏi cuốn) Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Gỏi Cuốn) By: Phoebe Newell

These are the fresh kind, not the deep-fried kind of rolls that are sometimes also called spring rolls. You do need to eat these fairly fresh, they won’t really keep well as leftovers.

Ingredients:

Fillings-- you can use whatever you like! I put a * by my fav: • Lettuce* (butter or green leaf best) • Mint* (chopped) • Cilantro* (chopped) • Cucumber* (cut into slices, persian cucumbers work better) • Bean sprouts* • Avocado (cut into slices) • Carrots (julienne) • Shrimp (traditional, but I don’t eat them and don’t know how to prep them) • Tofu

Wrap • Rice Paper (Three Ladies brand is my fav, I usually get the circular kind but there are square versions)

Noodles • Rice Vermicelli (there’s many types, you just need to follow the directions on the packet)

Sauce • Nuoc cham dipping sauce sauce (fish sauce + chili + sugar + lime juice) OR • Hoisin sauce • Peanut sauce

Instructions:

1. Prep the fillings 2. Cook the rice vermicelli noodles (directions for cooking vary by brand and type) 3. Make crude rolls by rolling the fillings and rice vermicelli in the lettuce leaves (helps hold it all together) 4. Take a rice paper sheet, and submerge it fully into a dish/bowl of warm water for 3-5 seconds (replace water as necessary between rolls to keep it warm) 5. Remove the rice paper from the water (it will still be somewhat stiff) and lay it flat for up to 1 min (you need to let it get soft and pliable) 6. Place the crude lettuce wrapped fillings in the spring roll and fold/roll it tightly (do it like they do at Chipotle basically)