In August 2019 I spent two weeks travelling from South coast of Vietnam to the North, starting in Ho Chi Minh City and ending in Hanoi. Vietnam is vibrant, busy and is home to some great traditional dishes, one being Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls. Being coeliac in a place like Vietnam does come with a few struggles, the language barrier is the main one and they are not very familiar with coeliac/gluten free being a dietary requirement. However, the one dish/meal I could always be sure was safe were their fresh spring rolls! By the end of the trip I had felt like I had tried almost every single fresh spring roll possible, sadly there was not much difference between any of them, but they were still tasty! One activity we really wanted to do on our trip in Vietnam was a Vietnamese cooking class which we managed to do with a local chef in a small village outside of Ho Chi Minh City. It was such an exciting day and we were taught so many different recipes, one of course being fresh spring rolls! So I thought it was about time I put together my own recipe of what I would include in a fresh spring roll, having tried so many!
I made these the other day with my family and they loved getting involved! It is a fun afternoon activity if you’re looking to try something a little different…
I hope you enjoy trying them out!
Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls
RECIPE (Makes 12):
Ingredients:
- Vietnamese Rice Paper sheets** (I ordered a pack from Amazon – CLICK HERE)
- Rice Noodles (I bought the @Amoy ready to eat rice noodles)
- 100g Prawns (sliced in half horizontally)
- 3 Large Lettuce Leaves (chopped small)
- 1 Carrot (halved and sliced thinly)
- 2 Spring Onions (slice thinly)
- 1/2 Cucumber (sliced thinly)
- Handful of Coriander (chopped)
- Handful of Mint leaves (chopped)
Sauce:
- Sweet Chilli Sauce or Peanut Satay Sauce
**you won’t use the whole pack of the rice paper sheets as there are a lot in there but they can be saved for another day**
Method:
- Using a large flat bowl or frying pan, fill it slightly with luke warm water.
- Make sure you have a plate ready for the next step. Take one of the rice paper sheets and place it in the water so the whole thing is covered. Leave it in with water until it softens slightly – around 30 secs, depending on water temperature. Then take out of water and let excess water drip off. Place onto your plate.
- Then add the prawns towards the top of the rice paper sheet, then add a lettuce leaf followed by a few of all the other prepared veg.
- Then fold the top of the rice paper over the ingredients (tightly), then pull in the edges to cover the ingredients and then roll towards yourself to create a tight and neat roll.
- The rice paper will be sticky so it is easier to get a tighter roll made.
- Repeat all steps above until all your ingredients are used up, it is up to you how much you put in each.
- You can serve the spring rolls with any preferred sauce, traditionally it is with either sweet chilli sauce or a peanut satay sauce.
- If you want to deep fry the fresh spring rolls you can do at this point.
- ENJOY!
If you do try out this recipe then do let me know how you find it by tagging me on Instagram or commenting below! I’d love to hear!
Instagram – @glutenfreeizzy