Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Mmmm...rice paper rolls....

After Mexican food, my all time favourite cuisine is Vietnamese (but don't tell my Lebanese aunties, or I'll be in strife for culinary disloyalty!). Rice paper rolls are a reasonably regular staple at our place these days, as Brisbane isn't quite the mecca of Vietnamese cuisine we were used to in Melbourne, so we make our own.

I fill mine with rice vermicelli, firm tofu marinated in whatever spins my wheels at the time, grated carrot and cucumber, finely chopped shitake mushroom (the dry kind, rehydrated), coriander, mint, and crushed dry roasted peanuts (or cashews). I dress the filling with fish sauce, lime and a bit of sweet chilli (hmmm, sounds a bit Thai-Vietnamese fusiony).The mixture is awesomely good and carries me through in standalone form as a salad for work lunches. However, it takes on an even more stellar flavour when wrapped in rice paper skins and dipped in...a combo of hoi-sin, fresh peanut butter, lime juice and chopped chillies. Tasty!

2 comments:

  1. Are they chewy? I always thought they would be kind of tough.

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  2. Hi Lori, they are slightly chewy, in a good way. They have to be made fresh, otherwise the rice paper dries out and becomes hard and gross. Hope you're leg's starting to feel better.

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