Prawn Summer Rolls

These Vietnamese summer rolls make a great lunch or dinner on a hot summer’s day and the use of the fresh herbs and chopped chilli make it super tasty and fragrant.

I’ve used prawns in these ones, but you can switch things up and make vegetarian ones too.

They are a little fiddly to roll up once you’ve popped the ingredients in but they are totally worth any mess you get into. Also the rice paper is tricky to master, and it’s normal to mess up the first one, but you’ll soon get the hang of it.

The below makes four – enough for two people for lunch.

Prawn Summer Rolls

Here’s how:

• 12-14 king prawns
• 60g vermicelli rice noodles (I use Mama)
• 1 carrot
• Handful radishes
• 2 spring onions
• ½ green pepper
• 1 red chilli
• Handful beansprouts
• 2 iceberg lettuce leaves
• Handful coriander leaves
• Few chive leaves
• Handful mint leaves
• Vietnamese rice paper rounds

Dipping sauce:

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 red chilli
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• Juice of ½ lime
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2cm piece fresh ginger

Firstly soak the rice noodles in a bowl of hot water for ten minutes.

While they are soaking make the dipping sauce by combining the soy, sugar, sesame oil and fish sauce with the juice of half a lime in a small bowl. Mince the garlic, slice the red chilli (keep the seeds in) and peel and slice the ginger and add to the bowl and give a gentle stir. Set aside.

Now peel and finely slice the carrot into thin batons, then cut the radish into similar thin slices and set aside onto a plate.

Roughly chop the lettuce and add to the plate.

Finely slice the green pepper and the spring onion and pop onto the plate.

Roughly chop the herbs and place on the plate with the beansprouts.

Now remove the noodles, which will now be soft and pliable, and squeeze them a little to release any moisture and put them onto the plate with the vegetables, ready to assemble.

Now for the tricky part – the rice paper. Firstly get two plates ready, or a chopping board and a plate to put the assembled summer roll. Now use a bowl of warm water (the one that had the noodles in would be fine), use your hands to quickly plunge one rice paper round into the water fully for 5-10 seconds, then remove and it should be soft and ready to pack, just place onto a couple of sheets of kitchen paper or a clean tea towel then place onto the plate or chopping board.

Prawn Summer Rolls assembly

Place 3 prawns in a line down the centre of the round leaving a small gap at one end, then add some lettuce, carrot, radish, pepper, spring onion and beansprouts, then add the herbs and finally a handful of noodles. Be careful not to over-load, as it will make the rolling process difficult.

When you’re ready, take the gap end and fold over the prawn and vegetable mixture, then carefully roll up as tightly as you can, and set aside – the wetness of the roll means it acts like a bit of an adhesive and should hold together whilst you prepare the other summer rolls.

Enjoy with the dipping sauce.