Whenever I go out for Vietnamese food, I like to start my meal with Vietnamese Spring Rolls. They are fresh and crunchy, and a great vehicle for yummy dipping sauce. I learned from a Vietnamese friend that they’re actually pretty straightforward to make. The hardest part is getting the hang of working with the moistened rice paper. The rest is just layering good ingredients and pairing with a nice dipping sauce. You can mix and match your fresh veggies – swap in mint leaves, lettuce, bean sprouts. The only thing I would for sure hang on to is the Thai basil. You can also add slices of pork, and one time I even threw in some Chinese sausage. You can also play with the dipping sauce – spice it up with a little Sriracha, add umami with some fish sauce, make it saltier with some soy sauce. That’s my kind of cooking!

Guessipe

• 1 pack rice vermicelli
• 1 TBSP sesame seeds
• 2 green onions, sliced into matchsticks
• 2 carrots, sliced into matchsticks
• 12 cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, sliced in half
• 24 Thai basil leaves
• 1/4 head shredded cabbage
• 6 rice papers

dipping sauce

• 2 TBSP peanut butter
• 2 TBSP hoisin sauce
• 1 TBSP water

Follow the instructions on the package to boil the rice vermicelli. Drain and rinse with cool water.

Mix the sesame seeds into the drained rice vermicelli. Set up a wrapping station with all of your spring roll ingredients and a large bowl of water.

Dip a rice paper in the bowl of water. It’s not necessary to get both sides wet, as the water will soak through, and it’s easier to work with the wrapper if it’s not too wet.

Lay the moistened rice paper onto your work surface. At the bottom of the rice paper – make a row with 4 pieces of shrimp laid colorful side down (I messed this up the first time and that roll wasn’t as pretty because the white sides of the shrimp were showing). Place 4 Thai basil leaves so they will show behind the shrimp. Add layers of cabbage, rice vermicelli, carrots, and green onions. Fold in the sides of the rice paper, then roll up from the bottom until the spring roll is completely wrapped.

Mix together the peanut butter, hoisin sauce, and water to make your dipping sauce. You can add more or less water depending on how thick you like your sauce. Cut the spring rolls in half and serve.