LAV@NUS

Making (Vietnamese Cold Roll) - our journey.

The Recipe.

Ingredients:

12 rice paper wrappers, large, round
2 carrots julienned
4 oz rice noodles
4 green onions sliced fine
1 cp bean sprouts
1/4 cp mint leaves
1/4 cp chive leaves
12 boston lettuce leaves

Spicy peanut dipping sauce:
1/4 cp rice vinegar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs water
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 fresh chilli
1 tps sugar
1 tbs roasted peanuts, chopped
1 tbs fresh chive leaves, finely chopped

Directions:

- Blanch carrots in boiling water for 45 sec. Refresh under cold water and drain well.
- Cook the rice noodles in pot of boiling salted water for about 2 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain well.
- In a large shallow dish of warm water soak the rice paper wrappers (one at a time) for about 45 sec. and remove from water and place on clean dry work surface.
- Place one lettuce leaf over the surface of the rice paper. On the bottom half of the roll, place approx 4 tbs of the noodles, 1 tbs each of bean sprouts and carrots

- Sprinkle with the green onions, chive leaves, and mint leaves.
- Fold the bottom of the rice paper over the vegetables. Tuck in the sides and continue to roll (like making cabbage rolls).
- Repeat with remaining ingredients.
- Place on large plate covered with damp towel and plastic wrap.

Dipping sauce:
- Combine all ingredients except chive leaves into bowl.

-Sprinkle chive leaves over just before serving.

- Easiest way is to have wrappers just moist enough so that they are pliable, yet not too wet that they fall apart when rolling.

Our Experience

Our group faced several hiccups during the course of this project, but every hurdle we crossed and solved together helped to bring us closer and enjoy the experience better and most rewarding of all, we accomplished our cold roll masterpieces. Come along as we take you through our journey through our photo and video gallery. Hope you enjoy it!

Here is (Diem and Nyuet) starting on the preparations on the spring roll.
In this picture Diem is Julianne-ing the carrots. We had a tough time figuring out how to Julianne carrots but after some mishaps Cô Lé came to our rescue and told us to use Cô Bich's shredder which helped to expedite our preparation processes. Cám ơn các Cô!

We were also told, to our surprise and pleasure that Vietnamese Cold rolls required that all vegetables were to be prepared fresh and did not require blanching. Crunchy roll YUM yum! And there was Nhung helping out with the garnishing material - Red Chili!

Relax... Everything is under Cô Bích's control =)

Dững after taking a bite from Nhung's very first cold roll - which was an utter mishap due to its larger than life size LOL.

Interview of Diem and Hao

Thanks Phong for teachin Diem and Nhung to roll. Without you and the other classmates who gave us your opinions and help we might not have been able to do it. Thanks alot guys! Cám ơn các bạn!!

That was the first monster roll we made. Say AAAAHH!
Ăn Nhe!

Close up view of the finished display product. Our garnishing theme consisting of the Vietnamese flag and red chili. Served in white-blue ceramic characteristic of Vietnamese ceramic.

On the left, the dipping sauce which was probably the toughest thing to make. We started out with a very sour sauce due to rice vinegar overdose but thanks to the help of Cô Lé and Cô Bich and their taste buds, we managed to make a sauce that was deemed okay by Cô Bich in the end.