Smarty Cooking School: Love Vietnamese? Make Your Own Fresh Spring Rolls At Home

By Erin Brighton campbrighton.com

My kids LOVE Lang Van restaurant. Love. They will do anything for their fresh spring rolls that you make yourselves at the table. However, I can’t always drop everything and head over there so we have learned how to make our own spring rolls at home. The other day, my teen reminded me that we haven’t made Vietnamese Spring Rolls In.So.Long.Mom. She was right. 

Making your own fresh Vietnamese spring rolls are so easy. Kids can put whatever ingredients they want inside them. I love the flexibility! These are so delicious. Surprisingly filling. The boys ate 2 each. My daughter and I both had 3ish – possibly four, to be honest. We love to make these fresh shrimp spring rolls, but we only had tofu and chicken tonight so we went with that. 

Ingredients

Rice Paper Wrappers

Cooked shrimp, chicken, or tofu – or a combination

Bibb Lettuce

Rice noodles, cooked

Carrots, shredded

Bean curds

Cucumbers

Jalapeno peppers (optional)

Herbs – basil, cilantro, mint – anything you like!

Preparation 

– You can buy the Vietnamese rice paper wrappers just about anywhere. Our Harris Teeter grocery store carries them. So does Whole Foods. You just need really hot water to get your wrappers ready. One at a time. 

– For the filling … we have done shrimp, chicken, and tofu as options in the past. Tonight, we went with crispy tofu and chicken.

– For the veggies … Bibb lettuce to use as your bottom layer is always a good idea. Just one piece per roll. Sometimes, I use one large leaf of basil as my bottom layer and skip the lettuce.

– Rice noodles are essential. Pop them into boiling water until they are soft and then rinse with cold water. You can use the white rice noodles or the clear cellophane ones. 

– Veggies! Shredded carrots, scallions, beam curds, jalapeño peppers, cucumbers, basil, cilantro, mint … all good ideas! Whatever you have on hand can work. You want to cut all of your veggies so they are roughly the same size so everything fits neatly into your spring roll when it’s time to roll it up.

The kids love the DIY aspect of this meal! As always. Easy for me, too. They can help themselves to seconds (or thirds!).

To Make Crispy Tofu 

Use extra firm tofu. Drain the package. Slice the tofu into strips and lay on a towel. Wrap the towel around the tofu and press as much moisture out of it as you can. Cut the strips into bite-sized pieces and toss with salt and cornstarch. We like to toss ours with garlic salt and cornstarch. Spray a cookie sheet with oil and spread the tofu evenly on the baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Turning about halfway through the cooking time.

To Make Crispy Chicken Strips 

Cut your chicken breast into thin strips. Toss with some cornstarch and tamari (gluten free soy). Cook over medium high heat in some toasted sesame oil. The chicken will be ready in a few minutes.

For dipping sauces

Use for dipping or use on the inside before you wrap your roll. We highly recommend some type of Peanut Sauce. It is everyone’s favorite here! The kids like to put it on top of the veggies before they wrap up their roll and then use it for dipping, too. I also like spicy chili sauce. Yum. But that’s not for everyone.

Fold it Up! Kind of like a burrito 

When you layer your lettuce, protein, veggies, and sauce, you want to fold one side over the top, two sides over the middles and then seal it all together with the final side. That’s it. Sometimes they look professional, sometimes they look like an episode of nailed it. Always delicious!