Summer Rolls

A summer roll is a Vietnamese food that resembles an un-fried egg roll. Summer rolls are served cold, and are much healthier than their fried cousins. You will start with freshly cooked sheets of rice paper, and roll together a variety of vegetables with pork, chicken or seafood. This is another dish that lends itself to your creativity. I prefer shrimp rolls, but you can try adding fresh mint leaves, or substituting the shrimp with cooked lobster, chicken, or pork. I also add slivers of sweet cherry peppers, but you can substitute any hot or sweet pepper to enhance the flavor of this dish.

Peal the raw shrimp then boil them until cooked. Set in refrigerator and let cool. Remove shrimp and split in half. Set aside. Put rice noodle in boiling water until cooked and set aside. Note: the following steps should be done very quickly to keep rice paper from setting up and sticking to plate. Lay a clean dish towel over a plate. Take one sheet of rice paper and drench it quickly in warm water (approximately 30 seconds). Then delicately place the sheet of rice paper on top of the dish towel.  Take a piece of green leaf lettuce, 3 mint leaves, a piece of cilantro, 4 shrimp, sweet cherry pepper slices, and place them on the edge of the rice paper. Take the rice paper with all of the ingredients inside and roll halfway. Fold the ends over and then finish rolling.