If you’d like a cool, fresh and refreshing appetizer during the hot summer weather, check out this Vietnamese Fresh Spring Roll with Peanut Dipping Sauce Recipe!

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Tools

• Frying pan
• Kitchen knife
• Cutting board
• Bowls for ingredients
• Measuring spoons/cups
• Pot for boiling noodles
• Strainer

Ingredients – Spring Roll

• Protein (shrimp, pan fried tofu, pork belly)
• Round rice paper (Three Ladies Brand, see link below)
• Veggies (green or red leaf lettuce, mint, cucumber, basil)
• Thin rice noodles (aka rice sticks or rice vermicelli) (Three Ladies Brand, see link below)
• Olive oil or butter for cooking shrimp and pork belly
• Sea salt and pepper to season shrimp and pork belly

Ingredients – Peanut Sauce

• ½ cup hoisin sauce
• ¼ cup peanut butter or imitation peanut butter (for those with a peanut allergy like my kids)
• ¼ cup coconut water
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted peanuts, chopped, plus extra for sprinkling

Instructions for the Peanut Sauce

In a medium bowl, blend the hoisin sauce, peanut butter (or use immitation peanut butter if you have a peanut allergy), coconut water, rice vinegar, and peanuts until smooth. Add more coconut water if you would like the consistency thinner. Then, transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Instructions for Fresh Spring Roll – Prepare Ingredients

Boil the rice noodles (aka rice sticks or rice vermicelli), see instructions on package. Typically, bring 3 to 4 quarts water to a boil, add rice noodles and stir to separate. Cook until barely tender to bite, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.

We use the “Three Ladies Brand” noodles, see below. You’ll want to experiment on how much to boil, depends on size of your family and how much they like noodles in their fresh spring rolls. You can also use left over noodles to make cold noodle bowl served cold with a dipping sauce called tsuyu. The dipping sauce is same Japanese dashi-based broth used in hot soup, but more concentrated in flavor. Or, use the left over noodles to make Vietnamese noodle bowls. See link below to purchase online.

Vietnamese Rice Stick (vermicelli) Three Ladies Brand – https://amzn.to/30hHEQ5

You can put whatever vegetables you prefer. I like the vegetables listed in the ingredients list above. I also like to add fresh basil and mint leaves to my rolls, but they are not pictured here. My wife doesn’t care for basil, mint or chives.

You’ll want to wash and cut so that you can lay in a line on top of each other so it is easy to roll. You’ll also want to cut the fried tofu similarly. Note, we included fried tofu because my wife’s mom is vegetarian and my wife likes it in her rolls with the meat. I don’t care for the fried tofu, but again you can put whatever ingredients you enjoy.

Prepare the pork belly and shrimp. We use a couple of long strips of pork belly and about a pound of fresh shrimp. We buy our pork belly at Costo. See my blog post about how Costco can save you money, click here.

You’ll want to cut the pork belly into thin pieces so they can lie flat on the other ingredients of the fresh spring roll. And, if you’re using fresh shrimp, you’ll want to peel and devein the shrimp. Below is a video I found on Youtube about how to clean and devein shrimp. You can also use frozen cooked shrimp if you prefer.

After you’ve prepared the pork and shrimp, you can cook in a frying pan with just salt and pepper (non-stick pan) or you could cook in butter or olive oil…whatever you prefer. Be sure to cook thoroughly.

Instructions for Fresh Spring Roll – Roll the Rolls

We use the “Three Ladies Brand” rice paper that is about 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter. I couldn’t find the 30 cm rice paper online, so the links below are for 22 cm and 25 cm diameter rice paper. You could use whatever size you prefer.

Three Ladies Spring Roll Rice Paper Wrappers Round 25cm (3pks) – https://amzn.to/30kC7IR

5 Packs Three Ladies Spring Roll Rice Paper ( Round 22 Cm ) – https://amzn.to/30jEPOr

We use a rice paper tray because it makes it easier to roll, see picture below. You’ll want to take out a single sheet of rice paper, run it under warm water (on both sides) in the sink, then place on tray. You can try to use a regular plate instead of a tray, but it will make it harder to roll because the rice paper becomes very flexible and sticky. Below are links to some rice paper trays if you’d like to buy online.

TANISA rice paper wrapper tray set for spring roll maker (10 round plastic mesh plates + 1 collapsible stand) – https://amzn.to/3j9Ggrz

Large Spring Roll/Egg Roll Wrapper Tray (12 pcs) – 13 inch (33cm) – https://amzn.to/3j7fyzL

Place the ingredients below the midway point of the rice paper in a line, see picture below. Then roll up, folding in sides after you’ve made one rotation, then continue to roll up…kind of like rolling a burrito.

Then place on a large plate because you don’t want them to touch as you place more rolls on the plate because they will stick together. Repeat. Finally, dip in the peanut dipping sauce and enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed my Vietnamese Fresh Spring Roll with Peanut Dipping Sauce Recipe.

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