Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls can serve as a light summer meal

Hello, summertime, and welcome longer days, sunshine – at least we hope – and lighter fare for dinner. Summer feels like a vacation from cooking since most meals are made on the grill and we’ve moved on from more laborious dishes like soups and braised meats.

My family is crazy about all foods Asian, particularly these Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls. They make the perfect simple summer dinner, and after you make the Peanut Dipping Sauce, you can let people roll their own, which is pretty fun.

A trip to an Asian market is an adventure worth taking, and you’ll find that the ingredients are reasonably priced. Load up on fresh herbs like cilantro, mint and basil for other cooking if you go. But if you don’t have time to go to an Asian market, most grocery stores have the ingredients you need to make these rolls.

These recipes come from “The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook,” which is a great beginner Asian cookbook to have in your collection. Some other favorite recipes from this book are Japanese Mushrooms in Soy Sake Butter, Korean Japchae Noodles with Beef, and Chinese Beef and Broccoli.

Served with either peanut or hoisin sauce, the fresh version of spring rolls is delicious. Included you’ll also find a recipe for Peanut Sauce, which is so tasty, I usually double the recipe. It makes a great dipping sauce for fresh vegetables if you have leftovers.

Whatever is for dinner on these summer days, I hope you can enjoy it al fresco (sans rain, of course). Cheers to fun summer memories ahead.

Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls

1 12-ounce package rice paper wrappers

1 head soft leafy green lettuce leaves, separated

1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks

2 carrots, cut into matchsticks

1 bell pepper, cut into matchsticks

1 big handful fresh mint

1 big handful fresh Thai basil or sweet Italian basil leaves

28 cooked large shrimp, deveined and tails removed, butterflied

1 portion Peanut Dipping Sauce

Fill a sauté or pie pan with warm (not hot) water. Dip the edge of a rice paper in the water and quickly use both hands to turn the rice paper so that each side can dip in the water for 2 seconds.

Lay the still-stiff rice paper on a clean, dry surface. Fold the rice paper in half. The paper should be pliable and may still be a bit stiff. If the rice paper is floppy, soggy and too slippery, try using cooler water or dipping the paper in the water for a shorter amount of time.

On the bottom half, lay lettuce first to create a bed. Layer on your vegetables, shrimp and herbs. Do not over stuff. Each roll should have 3-4 shrimp. If you put too much filling in the rolls, they will be difficult to roll up.

Starting from the bottom, roll up. Tuck the ingredients in to create a tighter roll. Continue rolling, and you can make a slight tug back on the roll to make tighter. If your work surface is dry, tugging will be easy. Wipe your work surface dry before rolling your next roll. Roll until ingredients are used. Serve with Peanut Dipping Sauce (recipe below).

Peanut Dipping Sauce

Makes 1 cup

2 teaspoons cooking oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed in garlic press

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

3 tablespoons sweet chili sauce

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2/3 cup water

3 tablespoons peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. When the oil is just starting to get hot, add the garlic and ginger and fry for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the sweet chili sauce, hoisin sauce, water and peanut butter and stir until smooth. Simmer until thickened. Let cool. Keeps in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. If the sauce is too thick after storing, whisk in a bit of water to thin it out.

*The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 1:44 PM.