Vietnamese prawn rolls

Vietnamese prawn rolls

Hello hello!! I hope you've all missed me very much, as much as I have missed blogging about my kitchen actions. This time I've been feeding myself with the very carb-conscious version of Vietnamese prawn rolls, omitting the vermicelli (which is already very healthy and low in fat) and substituting it with salads, tonnes of it! You don't only get the crunch from the bits and pieces of the dressing, the leaves, cucumber and carrots, but also prawns. You can use either freshly peeled prawns or like me, you could use frozen prawns which is of course very versatile and easy to source. This dish is super healthy and gives you a wholesome punch of goodness and it's so easy to make!

Lime juice as part of the awesome dressing

First and foremost, the soul of the dish is in the dressing. I promise you, this dressing is so delicious you're going to want to have it with anything and everything! I have in fact trialed this dish on my friends and I'm really glad to report that they devoured it. I'm not sure how close my recipe is to the authentic Vietnamese dressings but please if you have suggestions, I would be so happy if you could share it with me. Have a look at my recipe below! :)

Dressing

For the Midnight Bakery's Vietnamese prawn roll dressing, you'll need:

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 small shallots, finely chopped
  
• the roots of a bunch of coriander, wash it clean, bash it and chop finely
• 1 teaspoon of sugar (even better if you have palm sugar)
  
• the juice of 1 small lime
• 1/4 cup of fish sauce
  
• 2 bird eye chilli (chilli padi/cabe rawit)
• 2 tablespoons of peanuts, roasted and ground

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. If you don't have a mortar and pestle to ground the peanuts, fret not. What I do is put the peanuts in the cup and crush it with the end of the rolling pin.

Easy and fun to assemble

For the Midnight Bakery's Vietnamese prawn roll, you'll need:

• rice paper (available in supermarkets or Asian grocers)
• prawns, boiled
• cucumber, julienned
• carrots, seeds (middle bit) discarded and julienned
  
• mint
• coriander
• loose salad leaves

Alright, once you have everything on hand, you're well to the fun bits, assembling! Get a big bowl and fill it half with boiling water and half cool water. Test that it is not too hot that it'd burn your hand. A good rule for this is that if you can keep your index finger in there for 30 seconds comfortably, it's good to go. Next, take 1 rice paper sheet and dunk it in the warm water until it's all soft. Take it out and lay it on a plate, try to smooth it out as much as you can and avoid it folding over on itself.


Now, you can go nuts on laying your fillings on one part of the rice paper as illustrated above. Lay the prawns, salads, mint and coriander leaves, top it up with carrots and cucumber. Fold over the top bit of the rice paper and the sides. Then holding the roll with both hands, roll it as tightly as you can. Don't worry if it doesn't look too fantastic. It's the taste that matters and with practice, your rolls will look more and more attractive.


Serving/eating suggestion:
Take a small bite off the top, then top with a teaspoon of the dressing, take a bite, add dressing, take a bite, and so on until you bit your own fingers. Enjoy!