Vietnamese Shrimp Rolls

Step by step recipe of one of the star dishes of Vietnamese cuisine

Vietnamese cuisine exudes exoticism and flavor in every bite. Popularized throughout Europe, it has in its cookbook exquisite proposals to eat with your hands, «finger food», often seen at many street food fairs.

One of its most international dishes are the Vietnamese rolls or nems, which in the south of Vietnam are called Chà giò and in the north of the country, Nem rán. Its filling is based on minced pork with sautéed vegetables and spices, which are wrapped in a rice wafer and when fried, they become crispy and with small bubbles that explode in the mouth.

The difference between the Vietnamese and Chinese rolls, is that the nems are accompanied by leaves of lettuce and mint, along with a sauce with a slight spicy touch. Instead, the Chinese are larger and wrapped in a wheat dough.

How to make Vietnamese rolls

Ingredients for 12 rolls

• 10 shrimp (350 g)
• 12 prawns (150 g)

For the filling

• 1 chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons grated ginger
• 1 small carrot
• ½ zucchini
• ½ fresh onion
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped nuts (almonds, peanuts, cashews …)

For the rolls

• 12 rice wafers
• Roasted Sesame
• Mint leaves
• Lettuce leaves

For the sauce

• 100 g of mayonnaise
• 50 g of sriracha

Step by step elaboration

1. Peel and chop the shrimp. Peel and reserve the prawns.
2. Heat a wok, add the sesame oil together with the garlic and the chopped ginger. Sauté the shrimp and remove from the heat.
3. In the same pan, add a tablespoon of sesame oil and sauté the carrot, zucchini (we will only use the green part) and the cut onion, all cut into thin strips (small strips). Add soy sauce and oysters, nuts and remove from the heat. Let it cool down.
4. Stretch the rice wafers and paint them, with the help of a brush, several times with water on both sides until they can be handled perfectly. Fill with three spoons of stuffing, place on top the raw prawn and a mint leaf.
5. Close each roll by folding the edges inwards and rolling gently. Paint the edges with egg yolk to prevent them from opening. Fry in plenty of hot sunflower oil.
6. Serve with lettuce leaves, mint and a touch of sesame, and accompany the sauce to which we have mixed both ingredients.

‘Harmonies in Flavors and Fragrances’. By Juan Muñoz Ramos.

Mediterranean flavors of prawns with oriental textures such as soy and spicy mayonnaise, a mixture of both continents. Aromatic finish marked by mint leaves … unctuousness in the union of fragrances with wild touches under the marine flavors that the shrimp marks. Tasty dish to start a very healthy and pleasant agape.

So are these two products and in these reasons we base our advice: on pleasure and health. That’s why we started with one of the most elegant and fine waters internationally, Acqua Panna, and next to it a rather strange cava, since it joins the Xarel’lo variety with the Castaño wood (Vilarnau Reserva Castanyer), that gives it a unctuous and fatty flavor that gives balance to the wonder of the softness of Acqua Panna.

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