fresh rolls

One of my absolute favourite summer foods are Vietnamese fresh rolls. They are a tasty, cool, light and refreshing meal to have especially when the days get hot. They do take some time in terms of prep, but I promise the end result is "oh so good".

Ingredients:

• rice paper roll ups (can be found in all Asian grocery stores and some main grocery stores)
• vermicelli rice noodles
• fresh basil or fresh mint or both
• large romaine lettuce leaves
• thinly sliced cucumbers, carrots, avocado, bean sprouts (any or all of these are fine)
• cooked shrimp or marinated and cooked tofu (your choice)

STEP 1

Prep all ingredients first. Cut, wash, slice all ingredients and place in bowls.

Prepare vermicelli noodles according to the package instructions. Let them cool (pour cool water over them to speed up the cooling process)

In a large bowl, pour near boiling water and soak each rice paper roll once at a time. Turn the round disk until it starts to soften and make sure the whole roll is soft. This is the tricky part and if your roll ups are too soft they can easily tear.

STEP 2

Place your soft roll up on a clean, damp dish towel. I drape my towel over a cutting board. Fill the roll up much like you would fajita. Place the lettuce, fresh herbs, cold noodles, shrimp and veggies in a straight line down the centre.

STEP 3

Roll that baby up, being careful not to tear the rice roll up. Place on a clean plate and drape with a cool damp clean dish cloth. Enjoy them that day, they really don't taste great the next day. Have them with sweet chilli sauce.