Vietnamese Spring Roll

Spring season is here and the weather is getting warmer gradually.  Now is a good time to make Vietnamese spring rolls.  It's a healthy option for a meal with almost no cooking involved, although there is quiet a bit of prepping to do to get the ingredients ready but not too extensive so it is not too bad at all, at least for me.  This is one of our favorite take out foods to buy in Vietnamese food places, along with Vietnamese sandwich.  I learned how to make it from my niece and her boyfriend.  This spring roll is an excellent menu to make for family or friends gathering, everybody takes part in his/her food and each can customize his/her roll, very interactive and hands-on, I would say.  

This spring roll has become part of Asian-American fusion staple in culinary world.  Most catering venues offer the spring roll as one of their appetizers.  Many chefs have substituted the ingredients to fit their target audiences.  For example, any color of bell peppers, carrot, cilantro, green onion, shiitake mushroom have been used as fillings for this spring roll so you can be as creative as you want as long as they work well in the roll.  Staying true to its originality as much as possible, normally I use the following ingredients.  

Ingredients for the roll:

• "green" three ladies brand of dry rice noodle - regular size, not "fine" size
• romaine or iceberg lettuce - wash, shredded cut
• bean sprouts - wash
• shredded pork or pork patty (cha ja?) - I buy from Vietnamese food places or market, if you don't have that option, you can always cook/boil "pork but" meat with whatever seasoning you want, then thinly slice it
• shrimps - peel shells, blanch in hot water and quickly take out, then cut in half
• mint leaves - leaves only, wash
• Thai basil or rau ram leaves - wash before use, leaves only.  Rau ram is Vietnamese fragrant herb, it is not readily available outside Asian markets so Thai basil leaves work just fine.
• "green" three ladies brand of rice paper (round, regular size) 

Direction:

1. cook rice noodle according to instructions, rinse with cold water, drain and sprinkle with some cooked oil to avoid sticking
2. prepare a rather flat plate with some warm water in it for dipping the rice paper (individually as you eat)
3. quickly run each sheet of rice paper through step 2, and let it drain a bit
4. start filling up the roll with the ingredients
5. wrap one edge of the rice paper with your fingers holding tight the ingredients, then fold-in left and right sides toward the center, then keep rolling until the end of the paper

To make the dipping sauce:

• Hoisin sauce - 1 jar, depends on how many people, one jar can feed at least 10 people or more, so adjust accordingly.  The last time I made it, I use about 1/2 jar and I have plenty left over for three people.
• adequate peanut butter or according to your taste, preferably crunchy one.  When I used 1/2 jar of hoisin sauce, I added approx. 5-6 tbsp peanut butter
• some sugar to taste
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups water, depending on how thick you want the sauce to be
• combine all ingredients and boil on medium heat and stir it often to avoid burn or sticking
• add hot chili sauce (sambal oelek or bajak) and ground peanuts on top of the sauce before serving (chili sauce is optional)