Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river!
I’m afraid this has nothing to do with the Creedence Clearwater Revival, but rather, is about one of my favourite summertime dishes, rice paper rolls 
When you’ve got a family with 5 adults all doing their own thing with their own schedules to follow, it ultimately means that you don’t get a lot of ’sit down together’ time, and in particular it means that family mealtimes are rare - you hardly get more than 3 members of the family sitting at the dining room table at any one time. For someone who cherishes time with their family as much as I do, this is something that makes me quite sad. Don’t get me wrong, the essense of my nature is quite solitary and I need to have at least some time to myself everyday otherwise I start to feel a little strained, however I also love my family very much and adore the time I get to spend with them.
What does this have to do with rice paper rolls? Patience, patience, I’m getting there Despite the different tastes that we all have, one thing that every member of my family adores is rice paper rolls. Because we do not pre-roll, but rather just prepare the ingredients so that all the rolling is done directly at the table, it makes this a very communal meal with fingers/hands colliding and taking long enough to allow conversation at the dinner table to flow. I’ll usually prepare this on Sunday evenings for dinner as the rest of my family is out to church (whilst they are all Roman Catholic, I’m athiest as I gave up my faith years ago), and by the time they get back and have changed out of their Sunday best, dinner is waiting on the table for us to sit down and tuck in!
It’s easy enough as all you’re really doing is just making sure the ingredients are all ready to be placed into the rolls, and the fact that you use lots of veggies makes it lovely and refreshing for those hot summer nights!
What really makes this dish for us is the tangy sauce that you add just before rolling which adds a whole nother element of flavour. It’s not vegetarian as it features fish sauce, but you can replace it with light soy sauce to make a vegetarian friendly variation!
Tangy sauce for rice paper rolls
Ingredients
1 cup pineapple juice
Juice from 1 lemon
2-3 tbsp cup fish sauce
3-5 tbsp caster sugar
2-3 birdseyes (thai) chillis, finely sliced (or as many as you think you can handle!)
Add all the ingredients to a leak-proof container and shake/stir till sugar has dissolved and everything has combined. Taste, and alter to taste (if it’s a bit salty for your tastes, add a little more lemon and sugar. If it’s too sweet, add a little lemon and fish sauce, etc).
Being a very watery sauce, this is not one for the rolls to be dipped into, so if you want a dipping sauce you’re probably better sticking with sweet chilli sauce
Technorati Tags: rice paper rolls, Vietnamese rice paper rolls, Asian cooking, Vietnamese cuisine, dipping sauce
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Comments
I love rice paper rolls, and I’m old enough to have seen Creedence Clearwater Revivial once in concert!
I’d love a tuck into dinner like that. It really does make a great way to do dinner doesn’t it. The first time I tried it I was stunned at how easy it is. Maybe it would be so easy if we had to hand make those rice papers.
I make my own rice paper rolls all the time but this dipping sauce sounds way better than anything I use. I’m copying this one.
Oooooh my Ellie darling!!!
You made these rice rolls for me (please let me assume, hehee…)! And actually I longing for a recipe of that dipping sauce now I got it here!
I haven’t thought of adding fried tofu and avocado, but I like them… surely will make these rolls when I come back! Ok, I got to go now… *smooch*
ooohhh i love rice paper rolls! do you get those thinly sliced pork bellies from korean butchers because i can’t figure out where to get them from.
What a great idea to roll up at the table, that way I can leave out the pineapple - not on pizzas and not in my rice paper rolls!
Lis - In essence it’s an Asian dish, but we use easily accessible ingredients as it’s meant to be an easy meal Give it a try, you’ll see what I mean about a great dinner for hot summer nights 
Kalyn - Rice paper rolls are fantastic! Mind you, I’m yet to make up my mind on CCR 
Tanna - Funnily enough I was watching a doco about life in Vietnam and they had a section about the village women making rice paper sheets! Of course, being old hands at it, they made it look as easy as falling off a log
Brilynn - Glad you like it
Kat - That sounds like a good idea…except I’m a terrible sushi roller
Suze - I know what you mean! You have a really filling meal and then feel righteous and healthy because of all those veggies
Gattina - Of course I made them for you! Hehehe! The dipping sauce is very basic, so there’s room for you to play and alter it to your own tastes I think the avocado goes well with the pineapple and pork - I’ve even put sliced apple in these before and they tasted great! Hope you’re having a great trip
Peabody - Nah It takes a few tries to get into the rhythm of rolling, but as Tanna said, once you give it a try you’ll be amazed at how easy it actually is!
Ivonne - They’re a winner in that department Much more refreshing than my basic salads - but I think that’s actually the tanginess of the dipping sauce that does it.
Iling - Actually, the Korean butchers overprice their ’sam-gyup-sahl’ (Korean phrase for this thinly sliced pork belly), there’s a butcher in Box Hill that we buy this from who gives a pretty good price However, they do need you to preorder so that they can slice it up and pack it this way.
Neil - Aww come on, what’s wrong with the humble pineapple? Hehehe, at least I didn’t put up a ham steak with a ring of the tinned stuff - now that’d be atrocious!
Bea - Thanks hon
I’m with Neil, jury is still out on pineapple for me. BUT I can’t wait to try your sauce with the pineapple juice in it!
Ali-K - Oh, humble tinned fruit, why art thou so shunned? Hope you like the sauce!
Susan - And I’m jealous of your heading into fall! Not the cold so much, but the apples and quinces and pumkins…sigh!
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What a pretty plate of fillings! I love the different flavors and textures that your family uses to stuff the rice paper - yum! Thanks for sharing the sauce too. This is something I feel confident that I can recreate in my own kitchen and I look forward to it.