Gỏi cuốn

Ingredients

• Rice paper16
• Prawns400 g
• Pork belly300 g
• Rice vermicelli150 g
• Lettuce150 g
• Mint30 g
• Garlic chives30 g
• Peanut butter4 tbsp
• Hoisin sauce4 tbsp
• Roasted peanuts50 g
• Garlic2 clove
• Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Simmer the pork belly in salted water for thirty minutes, cool it and slice it thin.

   35 min

2. 2

   Boil the prawns two minutes, cool them and split each one lengthways.

   8 min

3. 3

   Boil the vermicelli, rinse it in cold water and drain it well.

   8 min

4. 4

   Let the peanut butter down with the hoisin, garlic and water to the thickness of pouring cream.

   6 min

5. 5

   Dip a sheet of rice paper in warm water for two seconds and lay it on a damp cloth.

   4 min

6. 6

   Lay two prawn halves cut side down in the upper third, and below them the lettuce, noodles, pork and herbs.

   15 min

7. 7

   Fold the bottom up, tuck the sides in and roll it tight. Serve with the peanut sauce.

   12 min

About the dish

The rice paper is dipped for one or two seconds and laid on a damp cloth. It softens on the table: left in water it tears at the first fold.

The filling goes near the lower edge rather than in the middle. Only then does the roll come out tight, with the prawn sitting neatly under the top layer and visible through it.

The sauce is either peanut-hoisin or nước chấm, and both are correct. Northern Vietnam tends to the fish sauce version, the south to the peanut one — a regional difference rather than a hierarchy.

Worth knowing

• — Drain the noodles and meat thoroughly. A wet filling softens the paper from inside and the roll opens within a minute.
• — The rolls are not kept. Within half an hour the paper dries and stiffens; they are made immediately before eating.
• — Do not overfill. An overstuffed roll tears as you close it, and there is no fixing it — the sheet is single-use.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

28 g

Fat

16 g

Carbs

44 g

More from Vietnam

• Phở bò — A clear beef broth with charred ginger and whole spices, rice noodles, and beef that finishes cooking in the bowl.
• Bánh mì — A French baguette with Vietnamese filling: pâté, pork, pickled vegetables and coriander in one sandwich.
• Bún chả — Charcoal-grilled pork in a warm sweet-sour broth, with rice vermicelli and herbs.