These Vietnamese style salad rolls are my new obsession! I cannot stop making (and eating!) them, I made the first batch last week and have made two more batches since. They are so tasty, light and relatively easy to make once you get the rolling down. Salad rolls are usually done with shrimp but I’m allergic so it was chicken for these guys. I think adding a little bit of fruit made them really special, it brings a sweetness and tones down the spicy sauce a bit.
The most tedious part is the prep. You have to do a lot of chopping, once everything is ready and you start rolling things go pretty fast. The best part of these is that you can basically put in whatever you want and substitute or add things the more you make them. This batch I put in plums and cabbage, then took that out next time and used pink lady apples and spring mix instead, I think the apple was better.
What you’ll need for the wraps:
- One – two red bell peppers, sliced thin
- english cucumber cut in half then sliced thin
- 3 plums, cored and sliced thin
- red cabbage cut into thin slices
- 2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks (I bought a bag of pre cut matchstick carrots to save myself some time)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, shredded
- Rice vermicelli noodles (find in the “asian” section of any grocery store – cook as directed)
- rice paper wrappers (find in the “asian” section of any grocery store)
- one bunch cilantro, use to your liking
A note on using the rice paper. I fill a pie plate with luke warm water, and the key with these is to get them just the right amount of soft and wet. I soaked two at a time, about two and a half minutes. If you have never used them before, they start out hard and crispy. Lie them in the water, touch them periodically to see how soft they are getting. It might take a few tries, but don’t get discouraged – too soft and they’ll rip, still too crisp and they’ll rip. Once you get a few good wraps you’ll know the right texture to take them out at. I also found wrapping them on a wooden cutting board was the easiest because the wraps will be soaked when you take them out of the pie plate, it will absorb a little bit of that water so they’re easier to work with and they won’t slide around like on a plate.
What you’ll need for the dipping sauce:
- 3 tablespoons natural rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha hot sauce
- 3 heaping tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon all natural honey
Whisk it all together! This sauce does definitely have a bite to it, my husband preferred it with a little more peanut butter, I prefer it with a little less – do whatever works for your tastes.
Now start rolling those babies! Soak your rice paper then transfer to your rolling area. I always build in the middle of the paper then wrap them like a fajita; fold up the bottom, fold up the sides and roll up to the top – you really want to tuck as you’re rolling to the top or they can get messy, the wrappers will get a little sticky as they dry and self adhere. I usually did my rice noodles first, laid peppers on one side of the noddles and cucumbers on the other, topped with plum, chicken, then finished with cabbage and carrot, I added cilantro to all of mine but I love cilantro, I know some people hate it.
Your final product should be a pretty snug wrap, it might take a few times – I had no clue what I was doing at first.
Then you can drizzle the wrap with the peanut sauce or dip as you eat.
These refrigerate really well, just make sure they’re in an air tight container or the wraps will harden and get stale. I made a bunch and ate them for lunch all week. Then when those were gone I made a new batch with a few changes to the filling and made my husband eat them for dinner, I love them!
This recipe was adapted from buzzfeed.
Enjoy! Have fun making them and mixing up the recipe!
Alex at Liberty 