We don't often get to taste Vietnamese food in Indian restaurants. And there's a lot of wonderful stuff to try.
Make Chef Manoj Sharma's Vietnamese Rice Noodle Rolls at home and bring a taste of Vietnam into your home.
For Chef Manoj, who trained at Le Meridien, Chennai, and worked with the Taj hotels group, Pan-Asian cuisine is what he likes to experiment with.
Photograph: Kind courtesy: Chef Manoj Sharma
Vietnamese Rice Noodle Rolls
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 2 rice paper, (packets of rice papers can be purchased online)
- 10 gm rice noodles
- 10 gm peeled carrots, julienned or cut in thin strips
- 10 gm peeled cucumbers, julienned or cut in thin strips
- 10 gm Chinese cabbage, shredded
- 10 gm peanuts, toasted and roughly crushed
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- Salt to taste, about ½ tsp
- 5 gm mint leaves, chopped
- Sweet chilly sauce, for serving
- Peanut sauce, for serving
Method
- Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil over high heat.
Add the rice noodles and boil for 1 minute or less.
Drain immediately and add into a bowl.
To the rice noodles, add the carrots, cucumber, cabbage, salt, peanuts, soy sauce, mint and lightly toss.
Keep aside.
- Fill a large bowl with boiling water.
Dip each rice paper into the water for 1-2 seconds to allow them to soften and pull them out carefully with tongs.
Lay the softened rice papers flat on a board.
In a row across the centre, place the noodle-vegetable mixture, leaving about 2 inches unfilled on each side.
Fold unfilled sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper.
Cut into 2 pieces.
Serve the noodle rolls with sweet chilly sauce and the peanut sauce.
Editor's Note: Make the peanut sauce from scratch by mixing 2 tbsp peanut butter with 1-2 tsp honey and 1 tsp Tabasco.
Chef Manoj Sharma is the executive chef at RCB Bar and Cafe, a pub owned by Diageo India in Bengaluru.