Prawn and Rice Noodle Summer Rolls
Cool rice paper rolls filled with cooked prawns, crisp carrot and cucumber, fresh mint and tender rice noodles, served with a peanut sauce dip. A no-cook, high-protein lunch that comes together in minutes.
- Total
- 25 min
- Prep 25
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Julienne
- Savory
- Asian
- No cook
Instructions
-
Pour 500 ml water into a large bowl. Add the rice noodles and soak for 6 to 8 minutes, until they are tender but still slightly springy. Drain well and set aside to cool.
~8 min
Soaking rehydrates rice noodles without heat, keeping them tender but springy so they don't turn mushy in the roll.
-
While step 1 waits
While the noodles soak, peel the carrot and cut it into thin matchsticks about 5 cm long. Cut the cucumber into similar thin matchsticks. Pick the mint leaves from their stems. Pat the prawns (cooked) dry with a clean kitchen towel and season them lightly with a pinch of salt and black pepper.
~8 min
Cutting vegetables into uniform matchsticks ensures even texture and lets them pack tightly so the rolls hold together.
Julienne Cut vegetables into even 5 cm matchsticks by squaring the sides first, then slicing thin planks and stacking them to cut uniform strips. Uneven pieces make rolls lumpy and hard to wrap.
-
Fill a shallow wide dish with warm water. Dip one sheet of rice paper in the water for about 5 seconds, until it just begins to soften, then lay it flat on a clean kitchen towel.
~2 min
Brief dipping softens the rice paper just enough to become pliable; it continues hydrating off the water, so oversoaking causes tearing.
Do not oversoak the rice paper: it keeps softening after you lift it out, so pull it while it still feels slightly firm or the rolls will tear.
-
Lay a third of the rice noodles, prawns (cooked), carrot, cucumber and mint across the lower third of the softened rice paper, leaving a 2 cm border. Fold the sides in, then roll tightly away from you. Repeat with the remaining rice paper and filling to make 3 rolls.
~5 min
Folding the sides first traps the filling, and rolling tightly removes air pockets so the roll doesn't fall apart when cut.
Keep the filling in a neat log rather than a loose pile; a tight, even layer is what lets you roll without splitting the wrapper.
-
Spoon the peanut sauce into a small bowl. If it is thick, stir in 1 tsp water to loosen it to a dipping consistency. Serve the rolls whole or cut in half on the diagonal, with the peanut sauce alongside.
~2 min
Loosening thick peanut sauce with water brings it to a dippable consistency so it coats the rolls instead of clumping.