Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls
Rice paper wrappers come in small and large rounds and can be bought from Asian supermarkets. They soften when brushed with warm water, but they are very brittle so must be handled with care. Casualties can be used for patching other papers.
Ingredients
- 2 litres / 3½ pints / 8 cups water
- 1 small onion, sliced
- a few fresh coriander stems
- 30ml / 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 225g / 8oz piece belly pork, boned and rind removed
- 50g / 2oz fine rice vermicelli
- 225g / 8oz / 4 cups beansprouts, rinsed and drained
- 8 crisp lettuce leaves, halved
- fresh mint and coriander leaves
- 175g / 6oz peeled cooked prawns, thawed if frozen
- 16 large rice papers
- ground black pepper
For the black bean sauce:
- 15-30ml / 1-2 tbsp groundnut oil
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 fresh red chilli, seeded and sliced
- 60-75ml / 4-5 tbsp canned black salted beans
- 30ml / 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 5ml / 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 10-15ml / 2-3 tsp light brown sugar
- 15ml / 1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
- 15ml / 1 tbsp sesame seeds, dry fried
- 5ml / 1 tsp sesame oil
- 90ml / 6 tbsp fish, pork or chicken stock
Preparation
- Mix the water, onion slices, coriander stems and fish sauce in a large pan. Bring to the boil. Add the pork and boil for 20-30 minutes, turning the pork from time to time until it is tender when tested with a skewer. Lift the pork from the pan, leave to cool, then slice it into thin strips. (Strain the stock and reserve it for making soup.)
- Make the sauce. Heat the groundnut oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic and chilli for 1 minute. Stir in all the remaining ingredients, mix well, then transfer to a food processor and process briefly. Pour into a serving bowl and leave to cool.
- Soak the rice vermicelli in warm water until softened. Drain well, then snip into neat lengths. Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the vermicelli. As soon as the water boils again, after about 1 minute, drain the noodles, rinse them under cold water, then drain them again. Put them in a serving bowl. Put the beansprouts in a separate dish, and arrange the lettuce and herb leaves on a platter. Put the prawns in a bowl.
- When almost ready to serve place the rice papers two at a time on a dish towel and brush both sides with warm water to soften them.
- Transfer two rice papers very carefully to each of eight individual serving plates. Each guest places a piece of lettuce on a rice paper wrapper at the end closest to them, topping it with some of the noodles and beansprouts, a few mint or coriander leaves and some strips of pork.
- Roll up one turn and then place a few prawns on the open part of the wrapper. Continue rolling to make a neat parcel. The roll can be cut in half, if preferred, then it is dipped in the black bean sauce before being eaten. The second wrapper is filled and eaten in the same way.
Serves 8.