Monday, May 16, 2011

summer rolls & nuoc cham

It was my first time making these summer rolls. I had bought the rice paper awhile back and the expiry date was coming up, so I thought it would be nice to make some for dinner.

I followed the directions on the rice paper package.

The harusame (vermicelli noodles) I bought were kinda too fat.

After blanching the shrimp, I cut them in half, because I saw online that they are easier to roll.

I also added some thinly sliced carrot, cucumber, a few pieces of lettuce & some cilantro.

Actually, the cilantro I had on the lanai, had "fainted" with the heat, so I used what I could salvage.

For the dipping sauce, I adapted a recipe I copied down from Saveur's May 2008 issue, which I found online here.

I didn't have Thai chili and subbed Chinese chili paste instead. I also didn't add the garlic.

The sauce could've been a little more spicy, and maybe I could've rolled these a bit tighter, overall the hardest part was getting all the components together.

But for a first try, these were good.

I have a couple more sheets of rice paper, and have a feeling I'll be having these for lunch this week.

Hope you have a good week!

15 comments:

Kathy YL Chan said...

Mmm! My family is Chinese but we grew up eating Vietnamese food b/c my parents were raised in Vietnam. Summer (and spring!) rolls were definitely part of our weekly diet ;)

jalna said...

Very impressive! I remember trying to make these and ripping the rice paper trying to wrap. Probably requires a more delicate touch than I have. Hahaha.

OkiHwn said...

That's a lot of shrimp!

K and S said...

so lucky Kathy!

Yeah delicate hands and you also gotta work kinda fast too Jalna :p

Not really Nate, only 2 whole shrimp per roll (each one cut in half).

Take care everyone!
Kat

kish said...

hmmmm this is posting from the future! INSANE! haha

always tough to find decent vietnamese food in japan. recipe looks like it turned out great!

Deb in Hawaii said...

These are one of my favorite warm weather dinners. Seeing your rolls makes me want to make them again soon. ;-)

Nami | Just One Cookbook said...

Hi Kat! You made the rolls so nice! Is it hard for you to find some ingredients in Japanese market? I know it's getting more International in even local store, but I just wonder how's the experience getting all the ingredients that are not used for typical Japanese cooking. :-)

Rowena said...

Broke da mout'!

K and S said...

there are some places kish, but kind of limited.

I hope you get some soon Deb in Hawaii!

Most bigger supermarkets carry chinese & mexican ingredients, Nami. But for east asian, korean & some other harder to find items, I usually check out import supermarkets, pricey but good way to get the real ingredient.

Thanks Rowena :)

Take care everyone!
Kat

Japan Australia said...

It is a popular Vietnamese food and called nama harumaki in Japan. I love eating these in Summer dipped in sweat chili sauce.

Japan Australia

Rowena said...

Kat did you lose your profile pic when blogger went down? Only now I notice that I don't have mine, and wondered if you had to upload it again on your profile.

K and S said...

Nope Rowena, didn't have to upload it again...though I did lose some comments.

Take care.
Kat

K and S said...

Yes namaharumaki is very popular here J-A!

Take care.
Kat

Marie said...

Yum! I love these rolls. I've never attempted at home, though. :P

K and S said...

Pretty easy Marie, just getting all the different items to put into took some time. You should try :)

Take care.
Kat