Vietnamese Salad Rolls

With the summer heat making it almost unbearable to use the oven and stove without causing one to go into a gross sweat, I decided upon making a dish that would be quick, fun, easy and anti-diaphoretic. I'd always wanted to try making Vietnamese Salad rolls, as I often buy them for a quick lunch at my favorite Asian supermarket T&T. They usually come 3 to a pack and are accompanied by a delicious satay-peanut sauce. However, since I'm trying to save money (what with the crazy HST kicking in and making everything 12% more expensive then necessary) I thought I should try to save money by making my own salad rolls. Also... it's more fun making your own food :P
Vietnamese Salad Rolls (Yields 14 rolls)

Ingredients:
- 14 pieces of Rice Paper Sheets
- 21 pieces of shrimp, cooked
- 115g rice noodles
- 2 cloves garlic, minced very finely
- 2 tbsp ginger, grated finely
- 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 tsp soy sauce, or more to taste (add slowly - a little goes a long way)
- Pinch of sugar, to taste- 1 tsp white vinegar or rice wine vinegar- 1/3 cup carrots, shredded
- 1/3 cup snow peas, diced
- 1 cup lettuce, shredded
- Hoisin sauce, Sweet Chili sauce, or Spicy Peanut Sauce (see recipe below) to serve
Method:
1. Prepare the shrimp by cooking them and cutting them in half lengthwise; set aside.
2. Prepare Rice Noodle Filling: Place rice noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 2 minutes, strain, rinse with cold water, strain again to remove any access water and set aside in a large mixing bowl. To the noodles, add the grated ginger, garlic, onion, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, carrots and peas. Toss well with tongs to combine the ingredients and set aside.

Note: Adjust the flavor of the filling to your liking by adding soy sauce (to increase saltiness), sugar (to alter sweetness) or vinegar (to adjust sourness). Other vegetables may also be used in lieu of or in addition to the carrots and peas. Examples: shredded cucumber, green onions, sliced red pepper, sweet corn niblets and any other summer vegetable you enjoy!
3. Prepare Your Work Station: Arrange your work station so it is easy to wrap your salad rolls.
- Soak a clean cloth in warm water and ring until all excess water is removed, place on your work station.
- To the right of your cloth-covered wrapping area have the filling (noodles, shrimp, lettuce) ready to go.
- To the left of your wrapping area have a shallow pan of lukewarm water ready for soaking the dry rice paper sheets.
- Have a dish ready to place your completed salad rolls.

My poorly drawn illustration of what my wrapping-station looked like.

Rice noodle filling atop a sheet of rice paper

4. Ready to Wrap: Quickly dip 1 sheet of dry rice paper in the pan of water, wetting one side and then flipping it over to wet the other side. Place the rice roll on the damp cloth on your wrapping area, fold cloth to cover the rice wrap and let it remain covered for ~30seconds. Unfold cloth, place 3 half-pieces of shrimp onto the lower 1/3rd of the rice sheet, cover with some lettuce and place some noodle filling on top. Fold the lower portion of the rice sheet to cover the filling, fold in the left and right sides of the rice sheet and then roll the rice sheet to make your salad roll. Repeat process for the remaining salad rolls.

5. Can be stored in the fridge, but is best served the say of preparation. Serve chilled, with Hoisin Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce or Spicy Peanut Sauce.

Spicy Peanut Sauce (Yields 1/3 cup sauce)

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 1/2 tsp sambal oelek
- 1/2 tsp sriracha (adjust to spice preference)
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
- 1 to 2 tbsp warm water

Method:
1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.

I more or less guesstimated how to make these salad rolls, but a friend of mine liked this dish so I'm trying to standardize my ingredients list and the method. I think I've recreated the recipe to be almost exactly like the rolls I made yesterday, so if there are any issues with it please let me know and I'll try and touch it up a bit.

I will most definitely be making these salad rolls again sometime soon, especially if the weather continues to be unbearable warm. Well, since the weather is so nice, I should probably go out and enjoy it... so, bye bye computer :P