Vietnamese Summer Rolls (Goi cuon) served with our Peanut Satay Sauce

These are a great starter or light lunch. They’re a bit of a moveable feast, so you can put whatever you like in them – so if you want them to be vegetarian, you can just use a mixture of grated vegetables, or marinated tofu.

INGREDIENTS

2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded – you can buy ready cooked or else just poach in water with half an onion, some salt, 2 cloves and a few peppercorns and a bayleaf.

1 packet of cooked king prawns

1 butterhead lettuce

1 or 2 carrots julienned

½ packet of bean sprouts blanched in hot water and drained

1/2 bunch mint

1/2 bunch chives

1/2 pack dried spring roll wrapper (rice paper)

1/3 pack dried vermicelli rice noodles

Method

Cook your rice noodles according to the package instructions. Immediately cool the noodles under cold running water and allow to drain. Set aside.

Pick the leaves off your mint, wash your lettuce and have your carrot ready julieened. To make it easier, have each of these in separate bowls, along with the shredded chicken, beansprouts and prawns.

From here on in, it’s just a matter of construction!

Add warm water to a plate and soak a rice paper sheet for about 5 seconds. The rice paper should be just soft enough so that it is pliable and easy to handle, but remove the sheet before it gets too soft and sticky. Lay the rice paper on a chopping board and begin to assemble your roll.

Add lettuce towards the bottom of the rice paper. Leave 1 to 1½ inches of space on either side of the rice paper. Layer with mint, carrot, beansprouts and chives. Try to not add too many items because it will be harder to roll and might tear your rice paper.

Add shrimp in the middle of the rice paper with the orange skin facing down.

Layer the chicken on top of the shrimp.

Add the noodles across the vegetables, spread evenly across.

Fold the left and right sides towards the middle so that it's snug. Then fold the bottom up to cover the noodles. You want to keep the roll tight, so lightly squeeze it together as you roll. Continue to roll upwards to complete the spring roll.

Repeat with more rice paper and filling. Should make 6 rolls. Serve with our peanut satay sauce