Summer Rolls with Shrimp
It's summer, so that calls for summer rolls on your plate! This is a Vietnamese dish, and unlike spring rolls, summer rolls are not fried but made from rice paper and fresh ingredients, vegetables, herbs, and shrimp. It may seem like a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, you'll have these fresh spring rolls prepared in no time.
Nieuw Blokje
For 8 rolls
- 8 round (25 cm) rice papers
- 4-6 lettuce leaves
- 8 medium shrimp, peeled
- 50 grams of fine Asian rice noodles
- 1 medium carrot, julienned
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
- Basil leaves
- Mint leaves
- Sweet chili sauce and/or hoisin sauce
- Optional: crushed peanuts
Preparation
Wash the lettuce leaves and pat them dry. Cook the shrimp for about 2-3 minutes in a pan of water, scoop them out, rinse them under cold water, and let them dry on kitchen paper. Cut off the tails and slice them lengthwise.
Soak the rice noodles in a pan of hot water until soft. Drain after about 10 minutes and rinse under cold water. Cut the carrot and avocado, and remove the basil and mint leaves from the stems. Prepare everything in bowls.
Clear some space so you can start making the summer rolls. Fill a clean skillet or shallow dish with warm water to soak the rice papers. Lay down a clean, damp tea towel. Place one rice paper at a time in the skillet and wait until it becomes soft and translucent but not too soft. It will soften further on its own. Place the sheet on the tea towel.
Now you can start filling the rice papers. Work horizontally, in width, but leave the ends empty. Start with basil, add lettuce leaves, then rice noodles, carrot, avocado, and two shrimp halves. Finally, add mint leaves and peanuts. Fold the bottom of the paper over the filling, then fold in the sides. Roll the spring roll as tightly as possible and place it on a plate lined with damp kitchen paper so they don't stick.
Repeat until all ingredients are used and serve with sweet chili sauce or hoisin sauce. Enjoy!