Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls
Thanh Vu
prep time: 01:15
serves: 8
cost: $4.50

Helen, our housemate, brought this recipe home one day. I was surprised at appearance of the wrappers. They are about 8" in diameter and are hard and brittle. You have to buy an entire package of them, which you'll never use up in a million years, so you'd better make these often once you start. There are two sauces that go with them. Joanna and Genevieve like the fish sauce and Jim likes the peanut sauce. We always knew he was nuttier than the rest of us.
fish sauce:
4 t fish sauce
1/4 c water
juice from 1/2 lime
1/2 clove garlic, minced
2 T sugar
1/2-1 t chili garlic sauce

peanut sauce:
3 T hoisin sauce
1 t chopped peanuts

2 oz rice vermicelli

8 large shrimp

4 t fresh Asian basil
3 T fresh mint
3 T fresh cilantro
2 leaves of red leaf lettuce
1 oz radish sprouts (optional)
8 round or square Vietnamese spring roll wrappers
 Make the two types of sauces by combining all sauce ingredients.

Boil water and put in vermicelli. Boil 3-5 minutes and drain. Put on a plate to cool. Boil more water and cook shrimp until it turns pink. Cool and peel.

Chop herbs coarsely. Wash lettuce and take off the hard middle vein. Chop coarsely. Cut shrimp in half, lengthwise. Arrange herbs, lettuce, shrimp, sprouts, and vermicelli on plates for easy assembly of the rolls.

To assemble a spring roll, mix boiling water with cold water in a large bowl until you can dip your finger in it. Rinse and roll wrapper around in water until it is just soft (about 1 minute). Lay wrapper on a plate.

Two inches from the top of the wrapper, lay 1/8 of the sprouts, herbs, vermicelli, and lettuce in neat rows. which run lengthwise across the wrapper . Leave 2" of wrapper on each side of the vegetables for rolling purposes. On the bottom third of the wrapper, lay two halves of the shrimp, pink side towards the wrapper.

Fold the roll by first folding in the 2" you left on the right and left sides. Roll the roll starting at the top "vegetable side" to the bottom "shrimp side"