- Fresh Vietnamese spring rolls are easier than you think.
Plus, you'll love our two-ingredient dipping sauce.
Check these out.
(upbeat music)
(grunts)
Hey everybody.
It's Natasha with natashaskitchen.com.
Today, we're making spring rolls.
[Natasha] These are healthy, crisp, so fresh.
Plus, they're simple to make.
We're gonna start with the shrimp
and have everything prepped and ready to go
before we start rolling them.
This is everything you need to know
to make the best homemade spring roll.
So, let's get started.
(drumming)
Plus, if you haven't already,
make sure you subscribe to our channel to get notifications
every time we post a new recipe.
[Natasha] We're gonna boil our own shrimp
because they taste so much better.
Peel and devein one pound of large shrimp,
put the shells in a medium saucepan
along with one tablespoon of garlic salt,
half a teaspoon of black pepper, and a bay leaf.
Add eight cups of cold water and bring that to a boil
over medium-high heat.
Once it boils, add all of the shrimp at once
and simmer it until they're pink.
This takes just two to three minutes,
depending on the size of your shrimp.
Just as soon as they're cooked through,
immediately transfer them to a bowl of ice water
to stop the cooking process.
Boiling shrimp at home is so fast and so easy.
Set those aside to cool completely
while you prep the noodles.
You'll need three to four ounces
of Vermicelli rice noodles or angel hair rice noodles.
Cook those according to the package instructions
until they're tender.
What I like to do is fill a saucepan with water,
bring it to a boil, then add the noodles,
turn off the heat, and let them sit in hot water
for about five to seven minutes or until they're softened.
Once the noodles are done,
drain them in a colander and rinse with cold water
to stop the cooking process.
Then, you wanna set them aside and just let them drain well.
I will link to this colander in the recipe notes,
it's one of my favorite kitchen tools.
All right, our noodles are well-drained
and our shrimp is cooled down.
We're gonna go ahead and cut the shrimp in half, lengthwise.
I find it's easiest to do this using a serrated knife,
and it's faster and safer to do it over a cutting board.
If you've done a good job deveining your shrimp,
you should not see any veins inside the shrimp.
If you do see any traces of a vein,
just go ahead and rinse the cut portion under cold water.
Now, we're gonna move on to prepping the vegetables.
I love that fresh spring rolls
are packed with crisp, fresh veggies.
You can use either three to four fresh garden cucumbers,
small ones like these,
or you can use half of a large English cucumber.
Julienne the cucumber into thin slices.
And I like to leave the cucumber skins on
for a little extra crunch.
Next, peel two carrots.
You'll wanna either julienne them
or grate them on a box grater.
And I love this julienne slicer,
I will link to it in the notes.
Since this recipe yields about 15 spring rolls,
you'll need 15 lettuce leaves.
We're using a butter lettuce,
which is a tender leaf lettuce.
Sometimes, it's called Boston lettuce or Bibb lettuce.
If you have larger leaves, you can cut them into two,
just make sure to remove that thick stem in the center.
The stems will make it difficult to roll your spring rolls,
which is why I like to remove them.
All right, we have 15 pieces of lettuce.
Now, our last bit of prep,
you wanna have some coarsely-chopped fresh cilantro,
a little cilantro goes a long way.
I'm using about half of a small bunch of cilantro.
To assemble these, we'll need to hydrate
our rice paper sheets.
Fill a round dish like this pie pan with very warm water.
You want it to be wide enough
to hold an 8 1/2 inch diameter rice paper.
Working with one sheet at a time,
submerge the sheet in warm water for 10 to 15 seconds
or until it feels soft and flimsy.
You also don't wanna oversoak it,
or it will be hard to work with.
Keep an eye on it
and the timing will depend on the temperature of your water.
If your water is warmer,
it will soften faster.
Place your wet spring roll wrapper
over a lightly-wet cutting board.
Add a lettuce leaf in the bottom half
of the spring roll wrapper,
then add a generous pinch of rice noodles.
Top that with some cucumber slices, your julienned carrots,
some sprigs of cilantro,
and now we're gonna add the shrimp.
Place three halves of shrimp with the cut side up
on the top half of the wrapper.
You want them to be visible
when the spring roll is wrapped up.
Keeping a tight roll, start wrapping from the bottom,
then fold in the sides over the shrimp
and finish rolling the spring roll.
Transfer your finished rolls to a serving platter.
All right, and it's super important
to keep those covered as you're rolling them,
so that those rice paper wrappers don't dry out, okay?
Now, I'm about to make a whole lot of spring rolls
and really, once all of your ingredients are prepped
and ready to go,
these are so quick and easy to roll up and make.
But I'm hungry
and I'm really craving one of these spring rolls.
To serve these, what I really like to do
is cut them in half on the diagonal.
That way, you can see inside
and see all those yummy top or fillings.
[Natasha] Look at that.
Yay! (laughs)
Oh, and I love how the shrimp just kind of curls around it.
That's why it's a smart idea to cut them in half like that.
And also you can make a whole lot more spring rolls.
Look at that, so tempting. (laughs)
[Natasha] This is one of my favorite summer treats.
Okay, cut the next one in half too
'cause I fully intend to eat both of these as my snack.
Taste test, that's what I'm talking about.
Now, the sauce.
I wanna share with you two different sauces
and you can pick whichever one you like,
because they're both amazing.
If you wanna go for more of a traditional sauce,
we have this one right here.
It is a Vietnamese dipping sauce.
[Natasha] It's fresh, it's light, and super flavorful.
In a mixing bowl, combine 1/3 cup of water,
1/4 cup of fish sauce, and this is the kind that I use.
Also, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.
Then, squeeze in two tablespoons of fresh lime juice,
make sure you use freshly-squeezed and not from concentrate.
Also, add two teaspoons of rice white vinegar,
then two teaspoons of garlic chili sauce
or chili garlic sauce.
Add two grated garlic cloves or you can use a garlic press.
Then, add one tablespoon of shredded carrot,
and, last but not least, one tablespoon of sesame oil.
Just whisk that together until it's well-combined
and it's ready to serve.
Or you can use our two-ingredient peanut sauce.
This is the same peanut sauce
that we use for our lettuce wraps.
It couldn't be any easier, we have loved this for years,
so if you want a shortcut recipe for a great sauce,
check this out.
All you need is Newman's Own ginger dressing
and some creamy peanut butter,
and try to get the one that's no stir
because it combines a little easier.
Basically, combine one cup of the ginger dressing
with two heaping tablespoons of peanut butter.
Then, put that into a Mason jar,
cover it with the lid tightly.
Shake, shake, shake, shake until it is creamy and smooth.
So, we're gonna taste test both of them.
Here we go.
Okay. Now, time for the Dunkaroo. (laughs)
I'm so excited, I'm just really hungry.
It's late.
It's 2:30 and we haven't had lunch, okay? (laughs)
Okay, here we go.
[Natasha] A little dunk.
We'll start with the traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce.
And my friend, Adrian, is the one that showed me
how to make this sauce.
She did an Asian night at her house,
and I brought the spring rolls,
and she made the sauce,
and I just fell in love with it, it's so good.
(crunching)
Oh.
(muffled chuckling)
I love that the veggies in here are so fresh
and crunchy when you bite into it.
You can really taste that cilantro, don't skip it,
It's like that little secret ingredient
that makes these next-level fresh.
[Natasha] And the boiled shrimp in here,
cooking it the way I showed you
produces the best boiled shrimp.
It's also a great way to make shrimp for shrimp cocktail,
just saying. (laughs)
Oh, yum. Everything about this is good and so satisfying.
[Natasha] Oh, and then the noodles, cooked to perfection.
This is so good, so fresh.
Okay, and now I wanna try a little peanut sauce.
Here we go. We'll Dunkaroo.
We'll get another one, so I'm not double-dipping. (laughs)
[Natasha] Okay, look at that, so creamy, so smooth.
(crunching)
Mm.
This dressing has all the great Asian flavors mixed into it.
So, you just need to get two ingredients instead of 10
to make a sauce, I love it. (laughs)
That's like signature in my kitchen.
I will take the shortcuts when I can.
I can not wait to finish these,
but I've gotta make a whole bunch more.
So that's what I'm gonna do because my husband
is hungrily looking my way, (laughs)
as I'm enjoying these delicacies.
I hope you guys love this Vietnamese spring roll recipe.
It's gonna become a new favorite, I'm telling you.
I guess we'll see you next time!
- This is you, mom, this is you.
- Those are my cucumbers!
(Natasha screams)
- [Diana] Mom, look. - This is you.
- Okay. - This is me.
- Okay, can you train me on that move?
- Mom, look.
- Is it appropriate, at least? - Mom, look.
- Yeah, it's called the dab.
- Ready?
- No, mom, watch. You put your hands like this.
- Come a little closer to me.
- Like, just above this eyebrow.
- Diana, I need those cucumbers, here.
- What's up, gap.
- Come closer to me.
Ready? Wait, what about that?
Diana, get out of the way,
so David doesn't eat you in the head.
(all laughing)
- [Vadim] Go.
(Natasha laughs)
(Diana blabbering)
- You too? Okay, everybody.
Ready? Everybody yeet. Ready?
I don't even know what this means. Diana, stop please.
Ready?
One, two, one. - [Vadim] Three, two, one, go.
(Diana continues blabbering)
Here, bud.
(Diana continues blabbering)