Vietnamese Fresh Salad Roll

Gui Cuon or Vietnamese Fresh Salad Roll (Jan 2012)

I LOVE Vietnamese food! Simple & refreshing yet dense & vibrant at the same time! How do you beat that food that taste like that?

I learned to make Goi Cuon, as the Salad Roll is called, from my Vietnamese housemate, Marissa, in Brisbane. At her quaint little wooden house in an eclectic West End, Marissa took me under her wings and taught me the essentials of Vietnamese street cuisine. Not far away, her parents' house smelled like basil & mint and there's always a large pot of beef stock simmering away in the kitchen! Anyone can have pho bo (beef noodle soup) no matter what time it was! See how my thoughts roam when it comes to food? Can you focus on the spring rolls first, dear brain?

Gui Cuon with Prawn

Goi Cuon is great if you've had too much oily food and want to cleanse your body (Well, it feels like it anyway!) The key to a good Gui Cuon is not the roll itself. Everyone can make the roll but it is the dipping sauce! Usually, the rolls are served with peanut sauce dipping but I just love Nuoc Cham, the fish sauce dipping. I've provided both recipes for you to enjoy!

Salad Roll Recipe:

Ingredients:

Rice Paper (I prefer to use the "Rose" brand")

Thin Rice Noodle (Mee Hoon)

Lettuce Leaf

Chives

Mint leaves

Beansprout

Carrots, shredded

Peanuts (roasted lightly and crushed)

Additional ingredients:

Thinly sliced cooked pork belly

Blanched prawns, shelled

Nuoc Cham Sauce: (for a rice bowl serving)

3 tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bird's eye chili (cili padi), chopped finely

Lime Juice

Peanut Dipping Sauce:

Hoisin Sauce

Crushed Peanut

A lil warm water ( to thin sauce)

Method:

1. Soak & blanch mee hoon.
2. Clean & dry vegetables.
3. First, soak rice paper into hot water until it softens. Place it on a dry surface
4. Place ingredients in the centre of the rice paper in this order for nice presentation: Meat/prawn, lettuce leaf, mint, noodle, peanut, carrot, chives.
5. Roll it as you would with any other spring roll.

Mmm... I just realised that it's hard to describe the process without showing you! Do look out in the near future as I shall make an effort to provide you with step by step pictures!