Recipe: Summer Rolls and Spicy Almond Dip (2024)

FAQs

What are summer rolls made of? ›

They're of Vietnamese-origin, and typically consist of rice noodles, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, herbs, and shrimp or pork wrapped in a rice-paper wrapper. Summer rolls are typically served with a peanut or hoisin dipping sauce.

Make ahead: These summer rolls can be made up to 2 hours in advance. Keep tightly covered in plastic wrap at room temperature.

Use lettuce to hold fillings together.

Wrap tiny shredded vegetables, slippery noodles, and flyway herbs in a piece of lettuce before wrapping them in the rice paper. The lettuce corrals the filling, making the rice paper easier to roll and the summer roll easier to eat.

Wrap individual summer rolls tightly in plastic wrap and store the rolls in an airtight container. These summer rolls can be stored like this for up to two days for best results.

Spring rolls can be made a day ahead. Cover them with a damp paper towel, then wrap well in plastic wrap, and refrigerate.

Once rolled, they last only about two hours at room temperature. So if you're not serving them right away, cover with a clean, wet dish towel to keep them moist. If you end up with leftovers, store them individually wrapped in plastic wrap in an air-tight container in the fridge for about two days.

The best side dishes to serve with spring rolls are crunchy Asian slaw, steamed rice, stir-fried vegetables, steamed dumplings, shrimp fried rice, egg roll in a bowl, orange chicken, bok choy, cold sesame noodles, peanut dipping sauce, pickled vegetables, sweet chili sauce, and cucumber salad.

Peanut sauce: made with peanut butter, coconut milk, hoisin sauce and more, an absolute must! with spring rolls a match made in heaven! Vietnamese dipping sauce: my version of Nuoc Cham with sweet chili sauce, lime juice, vinegar chili garlic sauce and more.. no fish sauce!

Summer Rolls Are Plant-Based

With summer rolls, it's thus hard not to get in your daily dose of fruits and veggies. As you probably know, fruits and vegetables are the keystones to a healthy diet. Here's the scientific evidence behind it: You're eating minimally processed foods.

Are summer rolls healthy for you? ›

Summer Rolls Are Plant-Based

With summer rolls, it's thus hard not to get in your daily dose of fruits and veggies. As you probably know, fruits and vegetables are the keystones to a healthy diet. Here's the scientific evidence behind it: You're eating minimally processed foods.

The Bottom Line

Vietnamese summer rolls are served chilled. An easy memory trick is to think about what you'd like to dive into on the steamiest days of summer. Spring rolls are fried and served hot, and are typically heartier than summer rolls.

Fresh spring rolls are very healthy, especially if you pack them full of raw veggies and lean protein. The biggest question people have about the healthfulness of spring rolls is the wrapper. Spring roll wrappers are low in fat and calories. One piece of rice paper usually has between 30-40 calories.

There's really no definitive rules about what goes inside Spring Rolls. But typically, you'll find a mix of some kind of meat (usually ground pork / mince) with finely chopped or shredded vegetables, plus seasoning. I like to add chopped mushrooms which adds extra umami (savoury flavour) into the filing.