What to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner – a rice roll?
If you live in Asia, you know as much I do we have such a deep affection for rolls of any kind (except for rolls around the waist ha ha!).
In Hong Kong, there are spring rolls and cheong fun at dim sum lunches, in Singapore we have popiah (cooked radish with garlic and sweet sauce in a wheat roll), Japan is famous for sushi rice rolls or maki (which is to wrap/roll), in Korea there is kimbap and of course, in Vietnam rice rolls are also somewhat of a necessary accompaniment that is eaten as a starter before pho or as a main course for a quick meal on the go!
Of all the Viet rolls the easiest to make and perhaps the most portable of the lot – if you took all your ingredients to work on at a picnic has got to be the Summer Viet roll (aka Goi cuon)!
I was just at the supermarket and chanced upon this gluten free line of products by Mekhala living – I happily bought the lemongrass and tumeric one thinking of the time it would save in prep!
I doused the pork fillet that I cut into slices with a little tamari and Thai fish sauce which is much saltier than Viet fish sauce so 1 to 2 small splashes is more than enough! And added in oil and the lemongrass tumeric seasoning. (If you don’t have this seasoning a simple marinade of a clove of garlic, one teaspoon of minced ginger with a splash of fish sauce will work too).
I’ve prepped all my greens into match sticks; plucked the leaves off the herbs. You can use any fresh herbs you personally like. Spring onions, Coriander, Thai basil and Mint are my favourites for their antioxidants, anti inflammatory and anti bacterial benefits.
I bought this to fry little pieces of meat, it’s actually a fish pan for pan frying fish! What I love about the Happy Call pan is how little oil I use to get the pan going, and I don’t even need to flip each piece of meat. I just close the pan and flip the whole pan over to the heat so the other side can brown – ingenious!
Ohh look at that! Close and flip the pan around to the fire one more time to make sure the pork is fully cooked before removing from heat.
This is my assembly line – there isn’t any real cooking here and the hardest bit is – drum roll here…
I have to admit rolling these rice roll babies is a little work, prepping the greens is one thing – that will take about 15 mins. If it’s your first time rolling these don’t follow the instructions on the back of the rice paper pack instead do this:
Step 1– Prepare a bowl with water and a pastry brush
Step 2 – Place one piece of the rice paper on a clean plastic board (one that is used only for cutting vegetables and fruit)
Step 3 – Wet your rice paper with a large sprinkle of water using your hands to move the water around on both sides of the rice paper. Use the pastry brush to wet the sides.
Be warned: If the rice paper is soaked in water as in the whole thing is plunged into a bowl- you will end up with very soggy wet rolls that won’t hold your Lemak (fatty) ingredients! You will be able to roll your viet roll but expect these to burst after a while once you lay them on a plate.
With your rice paper wet, start with the basil. Add a piece of pork.
Layer in your romaine lettuce, quinoa, carrots and then spring onions. Top with the coriander and mint to finish. I added some left over fried shallots and also some quick fried fresh lemongrass slices.
Fun quinoa facts – quinoa protects the liver as it’s high in zinc which is crucial for cell growth, development and differentiation. In fact, zinc deficiencies have commonly been observed in patients with liver disease. Go ahead stuff the roll with more quinoa!
Fold one side over press down.
And then the other side, press down firmly, lift up the bottom towards the center of the roll and then roll, roll and roll all the way to the top of the board.
You should get a roll like this with the basil facing the top! Don’t despair you will get the hang of it!
This was my third attempt before I got a nice roll – don’t give up!
These are my lemak, lemak rolls, the root word from Malay – actually means fatty! (That’s why too much Nasi Lemak – fatty rice can do your waistline in). Mine are fatty, coz my rolling technique isn’t fabulous, plus I up sized these with lots of greens and quinoa! 😁
Where to buy Vietnamese rice paper – most local supermarkets sell them.
The ones I got here are from the Vietnamese restaurant chain Nam Nam Noodle Bar.
Tag this dish at #taystesg if you make it!
Lemak lemongrass pork viet rice rolls (GF)
Serves 2 to 4 persons (2 if its dinner!)
Frying time - 5 mins; Marination - 20 mins or 4 hours if you have time; Greens Prep - 15 mins; Quinoa cooking time - 10 mins (done simutaneously with the greens prep)Wrapping time - 20 mins
Active cooking and prep- 40 mins; Inactive marinating time- 20 mins/4 hours for pork
Utensils - Clean board used only for fruits and vegetables, pastry brush, frying pan.
Ingredients
Meat – pork fillet 300g (chicken/beef may be used)
Marinade for Meat
2 teaspoons Mekhala living – Lemongrass Tumeric Seasoning (No tumeric seasoning, use one garlic clove, with 1 teaspoon of minced ginger instead)
1 teaspoon Tamari (optional)
A dash of fish sauce
1 tablespoon coconut/olive/grapeseed oil to marinate
2 teaspoons of same oil as above for frying on the pan
Vegetables
2 carrots peeled and cut into match sticks size
4 sprigs of spring onions cut into match sticks size
1 bunch of Thai basil, coriander and mint washed, leaves only
Optional – Sliced Fried shallots, fried lemongrass rings (4 shallots, and 3 cm of the white tender part of the lemongrass cut into rings)
Shallots and lemongrass can be fried separately in 6 tablespoons of oil.
Carbs
1 Pack of Vietnamese rice paper wraps
Cooked quinoa (1 cup quinoa, washed and cooked with 1.75 cups of water for 10 mins on a low simmer and then cooled)
Or – fresh rice vermicelli that has been blanced in hot water and cooled
Dipping Sauce – (Makes a third of a cup)
1 tablespoon of maple syrup, kaffir lime juice (use limes/calamansi for substitutes) and Vietnamese fish sauce
A third of a cup of water
0.5 teaspoon of minced garlic
Instructions
Prepping for the roll ingredients
Cut pork fillet into 3 cm slices, marinade with the meat marinade. Set aside for 4 hours if you have time or 20 mins if you are time short.
Prep all the greens, vegetables and herbs you will use for your rice roll.
In a pot, cook your quinoa at the same time (1 cup quinoa, rinsed throughly and cooked with 1.75 cups of water for 10 mins on a low simmer and then cooled). Quinoa will fluff up in the pan after it’s cooked, fork through and leave in the pan for another 5 mins and then remove from pot.
In a small saucepan or wok, make your shallot and lemongrass rings. If doing so, fry in 6 tablespoons shallow oil for each ingredient for a few minutes separately till golden, keep wok heat low when shallow frying. Drain and set aside in separate bowls.
Dipping Sauce
Combine the maple syrup, lime juice, Vietnamese fish sauce and a third of a cup of water with minced garlic. Set aside.
Cooking and assembly
Pork – Sear the sliced pork fillet on both sides till fully cooked and browned. I did this by flipping my fish pan on each side a few times. Kindly refer to pictures. If using a traditional grill, wok, make sure to fully cook pork. Set aside to cool.
Rice roll – My rice roll wetting suggestions are in the footer section if you aren’t fully confident on winging it!
- On a clean cutting board, with the rice paper now wet, add your Thai basil in the middle of the roll; follow on with the cooked pork.
- Layer on the romaine lettuce, quinoa and then carrots, spring onions, herbs and fried shallots and lemongrass if using. If you have no nut allergies, some walnuts would add a nice crunch instead of the shallots/lemongrass.
- Fold rice paper on one side and press down.
- Fold over the other side and press down.
- From the bottom of the rice paper roll, fold up and roll your roll towards the top of your cutting board.
- It’s done, your basil should be facing you!
Time to finish all the wrapping and rolling, place all of your finished rice roll babies on a plate and then cover with cling wrap if not serving immediately!
Serve – With dipping sauce!
How to wet your Viet rice paper roll
Step 1– Prepare a bowl with water and a pastry brush
Step 2 – Place one piece of the rice paper on a clean plastic board (one that is used only for cutting vegetables and fruit)
Step 3 – Wet your rice paper with a large sprinkle of water using your hands to move the water around on both sides of the rice paper. Use the pastry brush to wet the sides.