Vietnamese Spring Rolls and Grilled Pork over Rice Noodles

Vietnamese Spring Rolls and

Grilled pork over Rice

Noodles

For the spring rolls I purchased all the ingredients in my

local grocery Safeway store. They can be found in the

asian section of the grocery store. So we need the rice

noodles shown to the left and the spring roll wraps shown

on the right. 

The secret to making spring rolls is to make sure all your

ingredients are prepared ahead of time and cut

up ready to go. I start marinating the pork for these spring rolls

the night before or early morning of the day of. I used

a pound of pork loin but you could also use pork shoulder or butt.

This is the marinade for the grilled pork:

1 lb pork chops, loin, butt or shoulder. Sliced thin.

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 shallots, minced

1 Tbs fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil

In a plastic zip lock bag, combine all the 

ingredients. After marinating over night or for several

hours, grill pork (the grilled pork tastes best when

I can grill it on the outside grill in a grilling basket)

but being in the winter I just use my cast iron grill

pan.  

Making the noodles: 

These noodles, unlike regular pasta noodles only

need about two minutes cooking time and they 

are ready. In a pot boil the water and then 

add the noodles. Stir around. After about two minutes

of cooking, drain and run cold water over the noodles

to stop them from cooking further and they need

to be cold to wrap them into the rolls

Let's Wrap!

About 6-10 rice paper wrappers

a bowl of warm water that we are going to dip

one at a time the rice wrappers. 

Leaf Lettuce

Cucumber, cut into long very thin slices so

it is easier to roll into the wrap

fresh mint and cilantro

Bean sprouts

Carrots, sliced thin and then set in a small bowl

and sprinkle sugar all over the sliced shredded

carrots and let stand for about 15 minutes until 

they become limp

Rice noodles

So here we are all ready to go with the ingredients:

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of warm water, dip each rice paper wrapper 

for about 10 seconds until it is pliable...place on a plate or work 

surface  on work service. Lay the lettuce as your first layer to add

strength to your wrapper, then place the pork, herbs and the 

other vegetables. (you can also add shrimp but due to its

Cholesterol content I left it out) 

 Roll up spring roll about 1/3 way through, then fold in the sides

(just like a burrito)  

Serve with hoisin peanut dip.

Hoisin Peanut Dip Recipe:

1 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbs rice vinegar
2 garlic, crushed
1 minced thai chili, or more for desired spiciness

GRILLED PORK OVER RICE NOODLES

I used the extra rice noodles and put them into a bowl

then added the rest of the grilled pork on top

then the same vegetables used for the spring rolls

and the same herbs mint and cilantro. I then chopped

up some peanuts and sprinkled on top. Then you 

make a sauce that will be poured all over on top

and you mix everything together.

Here is the sauce recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar 

3 tablespoon lime juice

Add fish sauce, water, sugar and lime juice in a small bowl and mix well. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.