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Ingredients:
Summer rolls with shrimp, mango, basil, rice vermicelli and red bell peppers, served with a nuoc cham-style and peanut dipping sauces
Having just come back from Kauai, I was still feeling the influence of Asian and Polynesian flavors and textures.
This is light, vibrant, and a wonderful mix of colors, flavors and textures. These came out so very well that I will definitely be making these again. They make a great appetizer or, as my husband begged, if you make enough it could be a great light supper.
Make your sauces: for the nuoc cham, you will need a lime, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, garlic, a Serrano pepper, and sambal olek.
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Step 1:
Mince your pepper and garlic.
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Step 2:
Add it to a medium sized bowl. Squeeze the juice of one lime into the bowl. Add about 2-3 TB of rice wine vinegar, about 2-3 tsp of sugar, about 1 tsp of fish sauce and about 2 TB of sambal olek to taste. Mix. I sample and adjust as necessary until it tastes right. Put it aside in the fridge until ready to use; it will keep for a day or two.
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Step 3:
To make the peanut sauce: you’ll need peanut butter, coconut milk, brown or palm sugar, sriracha or other Asian style hot sauce, lime juice, garlic powder, and dried ginger (you can use ground but the whole dried roots from Penzey’s are awesome, just grate them as you need them).
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Step 4:
Put roughly 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/3 cup coconut milk, 1 TB sugar, 1 TB sriracha, 1 tsp lime juice, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/4 tsp ground ginger in a small saucepan. Let cook slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally, until everything has melted and combined. If it is too thin, add more coconut milk. You can keep this over super-low heat, or put in the fridge until ready to use. This also works well for satay and swimming rama.
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Step 5:
Now, onto making the summer rolls. You will need 1 package of rice wrappers, some rice vermicelli, a mango, a red bell pepper, several leaves of fresh basil, and shrimp. How many shrimp depends on how many rolls you want to make – my wrappers were about 7” in diameter and each wrapper held 1.5 shrimp, and I made 5 rolls. I had enough mango and pepper to make about twice that, though, so plan accordingly. Ignore the greens in the picture, I decided not to use them.
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Step 6:
Prep your shrimp (I'm not good at beheading and deveining shrimp and this took way too long). In a medium pan of lightly salted water, boil your shrimp until pink and curled. This will only take a minute or two, so keep a close eye on them! When done put in the fridge until ready to use.
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Step 7:
Now, julienne your red bell pepper, wash and separate your basil, and slice several mango strips. Eat the rest of the mango greedily over a sink. Slice your shrimp in half down the center.
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Step 8:
Boil a few ounces your rice vermicelli for just a few minutes until al dente. Drain well, and add to your plate. Create a station to make your rolls: a shallow dish of hot water to soak the wrapper, your dish of fillings, a surface to work the rolls, and a serving platter.
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Step 9:
Soak your wrapper in hot water for 15 seconds or so, until soft and pliable. Pat dry gently on a smooth tea towel if necessary.
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Step 10:
Set shrimp halves slightly below center, face down.
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Step 11:
lace basil leaves on top of shrimp, face down.
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Step 12:
Add on the mango.
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Step 13:
Add on the vermicelli.
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Step 14:
And add the red bell pepper on top.
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Step 15:
Roll up like a burrito- roll halfway, tuck the sides in, and finish rolling. Repeat for your remaining rolls. Cut in half on a diagonal, and serve with the dipping sauces.
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Step 16:
Serve your summer rolls with shrimp, mango, basil, rice vermicelli and red bell peppers, served with a nuoc cham-style and peanut dipping sauces like so:
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