Vietnamese Style Fresh Spring Rolls With Salmon Food

FRESH VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS

Steps:

• Pick your dipping sauce of choice above and mix all the sauce ingredients together. Make sure to use warm water for the nuoc cham so that the sugar dissolves more easily.
• Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings as necessary.
• I like to prepare the sauce before making the spring rolls so that the flavors have a longer time to develop.
• Fill a medium saucepan or small pot with water and bring it to boil on high heat (see note 6).
• Once the water boils, add the shrimp and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the water and let them cool for 5 minutes. Peel the shells from the shrimp.
• Lay a shrimp on its side on a chopping board. Gently press the shrimp down with one hand and use the other to slice the shrimp in half, horizontally (knife parallel to the chopping board). Repeat with the remaining shrimp.
• Fill a large saucepan or small pot with water and bring it to boil on high heat.
• Turn off the heat. Let the noodles sit in the hot water for about 5 to 8 minutes. Double check the package directions to see how long they should sit in hot water as the cooking time varies across different brands.
• Once the noodles have softened, drain and rinse the noodles under cold water. I like cutting the noodles with kitchen scissors several times so they are shorter and easier to grab.
• Fill a large bowl with lukewarm water to wet the rice paper sheets.
• Transfer all the vegetables, shrimp, herbs, and noodles into bowls and arrange them on your work top.
• Get a chopping board ready. Dip your hand in the water and brush water over the surface of the chopping board so that it is damp. I usually wet the surface again after every 2 spring rolls. Alternatively, lay a damp paper towel over your work surface.
• Quickly dip a sheet of rice paper in the lukewarm water to moisten the entire surface. This should take no longer than a few seconds.
• Lay the wet rice paper on your work surface. Place a piece of butter lettuce close to the bottom edge of the rice paper. Arrange a small pinch each of rice noodles, carrots, cucumber, red bell pepper, and mint leaves over the center of the lettuce leaf (see note 7).
• Arrange 3 pieces of shrimp about 1 1/2 to 2 inches below the top edge of the rice paper. Make sure that the orange/pink side is facing down.
• Grab the lower edge of the rice paper and lettuce and start rolling up the spring roll. Once you have reached the shrimp, fold in the left and right sides. Finish rolling up the spring roll all the way to the end.
• Repeat the rolling process with the rest of the ingredients. If the chopping board is looking dry, brush some water over the board.
• Serve the spring rolls with the dipping sauce.

VIETNAMESE-STYLE FRESH SPRING ROLLS WITH SALMON

Steps:

• Bring a quart of water to boil in a saucepan. Turn off heat and submerge vermicelli noodles in water. Soak for 3-5 minutes or until tender. Rinse with cold water in colander, and drain.
• Fill a pie pan or pot that is wider than 8" in diameter with hot water. Carefully remove one rice paper wrapper from the package and submerge it in this water. Let it soak until it's soft. For easier handling, allow parts of the sheet to remain a little bit stiff (some of the hatch marks that are in the design of most rice papers can still be visible). Remove from water very carefully.
• Place the rice paper wrapper on a smooth, dry surface. Surface should be ceramic, plastic or glass - Rice paper wrappers can stick to wooden surfaces. Take 1/5 of noodles and arrange lengthwise 1 inch from the bottom of wrapper. Leave 1-2 inches of the wrapper uncovered on the sides, as well.
• Add mint, cilantro or basil, lettuce, and 1/5 of the flaked salmon as separate layers on top of the vermicelli. Pull the bottom edge of the wrapper up to cover the filling. Now fold both sides of the wrapper up to cover the edges. Continue rolling, tucking the filling in towards you with your fingers and roll tightly so that the roll remains firm (but not so tightly that you rip the rice paper!).
• Carefully move spring roll to cutting board and cut in half with a sharp, serrated knife.
• Repeat steps with the remainder of the ingredients until all the rolls are assembled. Serve with a sweet and spicy peanut dipping sauce.
• A note about the rice paper sheets - As another RecipeZaar chef pointed out, it's important to make sure to get rice spring roll papers. These are not the same as eggroll or wonton wrappers. You can find them in Asian markets or online.

VIETNAMESE FRESH SPRING ROLLS

Steps:

• Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Boil rice vermicelli 3 to 5 minutes, or until al dente, and drain.
• Fill a large bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for 1 second to soften. Lay wrapper flat. In a row across the center, place 2 shrimp halves, a handful of vermicelli, basil, mint, cilantro and lettuce, leaving about 2 inches uncovered on each side. Fold uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper, beginning at the end with the lettuce. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
• In a small bowl, mix the fish sauce, water, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chili sauce.
• In another small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce and peanuts.
• Serve rolled spring rolls with the fish sauce and hoisin sauce mixtures.

VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS

Steps:

• Bring water in a medium saucepan to a rapid boil.
• Submerge cellophane noodles in water until just softened, about 30-45 seconds.
• Remove and reserving hot water, drain.
• Pour the reserved hot water into a wide, shallow pan (pie pan, casserole dish, etc.).
• Assemble all cold/salad ingredients including the shrimp and the cooked cellophane noodles in an assembly line format around an open, flat surface such as a cutting board.
• Place one dried rice paper wrapper into the warm water for a few seconds or until softened. Remove promptly or it will get soggy. Remove, let the water drip off and place on the cutting board.
• Fill with all ingredients, being careful not to overfill.
• Roll it up like a burrito (fold bottom over filling, then tuck each side in, then complete roll to form a neat, tight package), cut diagonally to create two halves and serve immediately.