Vietnamese cold spring roll

Happy (belated) Holidays to all of you! I hope you had a memorable and very Merry Christmas. Wish you have a Wonderful New Year 2009!

Some of my friends asked for the sauce recipe for these fresh and healthy spring rolls. They reminded me that there are still a lot of recipes on my Vietnamese blog that I have not translated into English.

Recipe by van--chop chop a to z
Ingredients:
Serves 4

4 rice wrappers 25cm (10-inch) diameter
150g (5 oz) pork belly, sliced, boiled in salted water
4 large black tiger shrimps (*), cooked, peeled, deveined and butterflied in half
50g (1.7 oz) rice vermicelli, scalded in boiling water for 3~5 minutes or until al dente, drain well
150g (5 oz) mung bean sprouts (**), scalded in boiling water for 1 minute, dried
3~4 leaves Romaine lettuce, washed, dried
4 garlic chives, washed, dried, cut into a 5-inch length (optional)
3 sprigs fresh mint, use leaves only, washed, dried
few fresh Thai basil leaves, washed, dried (optional)
few fresh cilantro, washed, dried (optional)

• (*) You can use other kinds of shrimp but Black tiger becomes reddest after cooking, bringing color contracts to the spring rolls.
• (**) Fresh English cucumber can be substituted to mung bean sprout. Wash cucumber and cut into thin strips

For sauce: (make 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup finely chopped shallot
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apricot jam
1/4 cup peanut butter

Or Vietnamese dipping sauce-Nước chấm

1) Dip one sheet of rice wrapper into the hot water. Dip quickly, no longer than 1 second or 2 so that it does not get soggy. Lay wrapper flat on a work surface.
2) On one edge, place in orders: green lettuce, vermicelli, meat, bean sprout or cucumber strips, basil, cilantro. Do not over stuff. On other edge, place 2 shrimp halves, skin-side-down, then some mint leaves.

3) Start to roll up carefully, fold uncovered sides inward, insert some garlic chives, then continue to roll up tightly. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

• Spring rolls may be made up to 2 hours ahead. Cover with damp clean kitchen towel then plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To make sauce:

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, add minced shallot, saute until fragrant. Add Hoisin sauce, apricot jam and water. Stir often and simmer for 2 minutes. Add peanut butter, stir well then remove from the heat.
The sauce can be stored in an air-tight jar in fridge up to 1 month.