Vietnamese Spring Rolls

From "Ethnic Paris" by Charlotte Puckette and Olivia Kiang-Snaije, DK Publishing 2007

It's hard to go wrong with these spring rolls, a fixture in Parisian take-outs, which resemble individually wrapped salads. It takes practice to get nice tight rolls, but once they're in a package, they are neat and easy to eat, healthy, and delicious, with just the right balance of crunchy vegetables and lightly seasoned shrimp. Some of the peanut sauce goes inside the rolls to add punch, but be sure to save enough to serve alongside for dipping.

Serves 5

Lime-Peanut Dipping Sauce

• ½ cup crunchy peanut butter
• ¼ cup unsweetened coconut milk
• ¼ cup lime juice
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Asian chili sauce
• 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon nuoc mam
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 shallot
• 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 bird's-eye chili
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• ¼ cup roasted peanuts, crushed

Filling

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 large shallots, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 pound shrimp, shelled, deveined, and sliced lengthwise in half
• 1 tablespoon nuoc mam
• 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
• 5 ounces rice vermicelli
• 1 small seedless cucumber, peeled
• 1 small carrot, peeled
• 1 small green papaya, peeled, halved, and seeded (or substitute jicama)

Vegetable Marinade

• ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 10 6-inch, round rice papers
• 1 head red or green leaf lettuce
• handful each of fresh mint, cilantro, and Asian basil leaves

1. To make the lime-peanut dipping sauce, combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and blending until smooth. The sauce can be made 1 day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator.

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat and stir-fry the shallots and garlic until soft, about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook until just pink, about 1 minute. Spoon in the nuoc mam and sesame oil and cook, stirring, until the sauce is slightly reduced and the shrimp are well coated, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl.

3. To cook the rice vermicelli, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add the noodles and cook 3 to 5 minutes, giving the pot a stir from time to time. The noodles are done when soft and white but still firm. Drain and rinse in cold water until cool. Transfer to a bowl and, using scissors, cut the noodles into 4- to 5-inch pieces.

4. In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients for the vegetable marinade and heat over medium heat, stirring until sugar and salt have completely dissolved, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour into a medium bowl and let cool completely.

5. Cut the cucumber, carrot, and papaya into large chunks, then grate on a box grater or in a food processor or julienne using a mandoline. Toss with the cooled marinade. Set aside.

6. To assemble, slip a rice paper into a shallow bowl of warm water. Remove after 10 seconds; it should be moist but still slightly stiff. Lay flat on a work surface lined with a paper towel. Tear off a piece of lettuce leaf the size of your palm and place it on the bottom half of the rice paper. Arrange 3 pieces of shrimp on top of the lettuce, then layer ¼ cup of marinated vegetables, a heaping tablespoon of noodles, and several leaves of mint, coriander, and Asian basil. Lastly, dribble a tablespoon of lime-peanut sauce over the ingredients. Fold up the bottom of the rice paper over the filling as tightly as possible, then bring in the sides and roll up to form a tight cylinder. Repeat with the rest of the rice papers and filling.

7. The rolls can be prepared 2 hours in advance and kept at room temperature on a tray lined with slightly damp paper towels, covered with plastic wrap. The rolls should not be refrigerated, as this would toughen the rice paper.

8. Slice each roll crosswise in half on a diagonal and arrange on a lettuce leaf-lined platter. Serve with the remaining lime-peanut dipping sauce.

About Ethnic Paris

Paris is a great food city. Its unrivalled reputation spans the globe. The city's exceptional and delicious culinary scene has been slowly evolving so that today, eating in Paris is no longer limited to traditional French cuisine. Mouth-watering ethnic cuisine cooked, more often than not, by immigrants from former French colonies, has turned Paris into a delight for Epicureans who not only relish a traditional French confit de canard, but who also savor the flavors of a Moroccan prune tagine or a delicate Vietnamese Pho. Ethnic Paris is the first book on the market to focus on the ethnic influences on Paris' haute cuisine; the more than 100 recipes-including starters, main courses, and desserts-are selected and adapted from internationally renowned chefs such as Fatema Hal of the Mansouria restaurant and Hisayuki Takeuchi of Kaiseki-Sushi, as well as from food lovers transplanted from places as varied as Vietnam, Morocco or Cameroon who are now established Parisians but retain their culture through their cuisine. But complex flavors don't necessarily mean complicated recipes. These are easy-to-follow recipes with step-by-step instructions. The regions included in this book are the Maghreb: Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria; Southeast Asia and China: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and China; Japan; Lebanon and Syria, and a selection of countries from former French West Africa and islands in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean: Cameroon, Senegal, Reunion, Mauritius and Guadeloupe.

Get The Ethnic Paris Cookbook at:

• Amazon.com

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