Vietnamese Salad Rolls with Mango and Shrimp

I made these yesterday. Spent the morning working on assignments, was able to finish 3 of 4 assignments, which I was pretty happy about. Decided to give my brain a rest for the rest of the day and enjoy the sunshine. It was beautiful weather here yesterday.

I love these salad rolls. I usually only make them in the summer time, they are great because you don’t need to turn the oven on and they are refreshing on a hot sunny day. My kids, however – refuse to try these..so they ended up eating Macaroni and Hot Dogs – they really don’t know what they are missing. But oh well – more for Alex and I to enjoy I guess.

These are a little “fiddly” if this is your first time making them The key is to be organized and have a little workstation – and then it works rather like an assembly line. You can really mix up the fillings any way you like, be creative. I love to include fresh mint, basil and mango in mine (I find it goes nice with the shrimp) and then of course some nice greens, bean sprouts and matchstick carrots for some crunch.

You need the following:

– Rice Paper Wrappers (you can find these in most grocery stores in the ethnic aisle)
– Rice Vermicilli Noodles (also in the ethnic aisle)
– sesame oil and rice vinegar (optional I season my noodles with this)

Assorted veggies for filling I used the following:

– nice organic mixed greens
– matchstick carrots (already packaged like this), or just grate your own
– red pepper, julienned
– bean sprouts
– fresh mint and fresh basil leaves (thai basil would be really nice if you can find it)
– fresh mango, julienned

Optional:
– cooked shrimp

These are just suggestions, really use whatever you like.

Step 1: Soak Vermicilli Noodles in a bowl of hot tap water while you prep your ingredients
Step 2: Prep your veggies
Step 3: Once Vermicilli Noodles are cooked, drain and I like to toss with a bit of sesame oil and rice vinegar to season
Step 4: Have a bowl ready, with hot tap water in it, soak 1 rice wrapper (at a time), until pliable. I like to rest it on a clean tea towel while I fill, to soak up some of the moisture. While I am filling one roll, I soak my next rice wrapper for use – makes things move a little quicker
Step 5: Fill you wrapper (kind of like a wrap) I have placed a picture below to show you what it should look like. I find it easiest to roll once first (tucking nice and tight) and then bring the sides in and continue to roll. Don’t worry if you break a few – it takes a little practice.
Step 6: Store finished wrappers on a plate and cover with a dampened clean tea towel, while you finish the rest.