Passport & Plate - Prawn, Herb and Cashew Spring Rolls
Vietnam | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
1 x 250g packet rice paper (22cm round)
1 x 250g packet vermicelli noodles
2 x cups fresh mint
2 x cups fresh coriander, roughly cut
1 x large cucumber cut in long strips (around 10cms)
2 x large carrots cut in long strips (around 10cms)
400g fresh uncooked shelled prawns
200g whole roasted and salted cashew nuts
Peanut oil to fry the prawns
1 1/2 cups good quality sweet chilli sauce
Fish sauce
1 x tablespoon fresh lime juice
How to prepare this recipeTo prepare:
1. Lay a damp tea towel on the bench with a large bowl of luke warm water.
2. Slice the cucumber and carrot
3. Roughly cut the coriander
4. Blanch the vermicelli for 3 minutes. When the vermicelli has cooled add 1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce and mix with the noodles.
5. Fry the prawns quickly under high heat in the oil until cooked through, then cool.
To make:
1. Dip each rice paper in the water for 1 second then lay on the towel.
2. Lay mint leaves, prawns, two slices of cucumber and carrot, coriander, several cashews and a small handful of vermicelli, in that order onto a
third of the rice paper. Make sure the prawn touches the rice paper so you can see it when it's rolled.
3. Bring the bottom of the wrapper up over the filling, then fold the sides and roll up.
4. Add 1 tablespoon lime juice and a teaspoon of fish sauce and some finely chopped coriander to a cup of sweet chilli sauce.
5. Dip each roll and enjoy!
Note - if you have time you can make your own sweet chilli sauce. Do this by putting 300g chilli, 2 cloves garlic and 1 cup rice wine vinegar in a food processor to blend. Place this in a saucepan over a low heat with one more cup of rice wine vinegar and 2 cups caster sugar for 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
The story behind this recipeThree years ago I landed in Hanoi with two best friends. We were good friends at the start of the journey and even better friends at the end. There is nothing like getting to know friends better by travelling with them. You share everything. We shared the moment Dayle’s food poisoning came on as the flight into Hanoi descended. We shared the moment Jack’s iron stomach became a lot less iron at Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. We even shared the moment I paid $40USD for a bag of donuts from a very persistent and cheeky woman on the side of the road.
In travelling, we shared every meal. We shared breakfast, lunch and dinner. We shared some of the most spectacular breakfast buffets I have ever seen.We shared eating freshly picked lychees for the first time. We shared street food on plastic stools with locals. We shared hundreds of Vietnamese coffees.Most of all though,we shared spring rolls.
They were everywhere in Vietnam.Sometimes we had them for breakfast.Often we ate them on the hot dusty streets of Hanoi. Almost always we had them for dinner.Sometimes they arrived at the table without asking.I never got bored of them. In the end Dayle couldn’t take it anymore. It was near the end of the trip and was my turn to choose the restaurant. “Please Jane,” begged Dayle,“I just don't want spring rolls tonight.” I said I’d found a lovely looking place earlier in the day.We arrived there and were seated. We waited for a menu. It didn’t come. We beckoned the waitress and motioned with our hands to get a menu. She looked puzzled. Five minutes later dinner arrived. Piles and piles of spring rolls. It turned out they didn’t make anything but spring rolls. I looked at Dayle. He sighed.I laughed and dug in.We did the maths afterwards. One day in two weeks. One day in the whole trip to Vietnam that we didn’t eat a spring roll of some description.I enjoyed every last one of them and upon return have made thousands for friends and family back home. Vietnam, on a plate, in New Zealand.
