You see barbecues on every corner now. Everybody is doing them. In the past couple of weeks I swear I ate what felt like 20kg of meat and my body doesn’t like it at all. That’s why I’ve been looking for healthy but just as filling alternatives you could bring to a barbecue when it suddenly hit me: Why not opt for one of mom’s all time favorites: Nem Cuon or Vietnamese summer rolls!
For eight summer rolls you’ll need:
8 x rice paper
50g thin vermicelli noodles
½ cucumber
lettuce
30g soya bean sprouts
coriander, basil, mint leaves
Choose between: pork belly, eggs, shrimps (or put everything in like I do.)
Preparation:
Cook your vermicelli noodles in salt water until it’s done. Whilst the noodles are cooking why not get your cucumber ready. Cut it into thin slices and wash your lettuce as well as your herbs. Then take out the noodles, quench it in cold water and let it dry for a couple of minutes. Depending on your choice of filling prepare your pork belly or shrimps by cooking it in hot water or fry your eggs.
Rock’n’Roll!
Once you got all of your ingredients ready, go ahead and carry it to your dining table to have everything nice and ready to actually roll the rolls. Fill a shallow plate with a little bit of water, take a piece of rice paper, wet it and place it onto a new plate.
Then start off with a nice piece of lettuce as a base. Stack cucumber, soy bean prouts, noodles as well as herbs, meat, shrimps and eggs onto the center of the rice paper. Once you have every bit of your filling actually in the roll, start closing it. With a tight grip slowly roll the rice paper around the filling whilst folding the two ends inwards and voilà, there’s your perfect roll.
As a dip you actually have a vast selection. You could use fish sauce, even soy sauce as a dip basis.
The rolls are fresh, absolutely delicious and a healthy option on hot BBQ nights!
Images: ©Readthetrieb
