Vietnamese Salad Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Did you know that you could make salad rolls at home?  They are a lot cheaper and surprisingly easy.  Salad rolls can even be a meal in itself.

Peanut Sauce:

What you need:

• 1 small pepper, finely chopped, the smallest sold in grocery stores, i think they are called serrano peppers.  this is optional if you do not like it spicy or you can use half the pepper.
• 1 clove garlic chopped
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 rounded tablespoons smooth peanut butter

What you do:

• in medium heat saute garlic and pepper in a little bit of oil
• add water, fish sauce, and soy sauce and brown sugar
• once the water mixture is close to boiling add peanut butter
• stir mixture until sauce thickens
• serve warm

Ingredients for Salad Rolls:

• rice paper, you will find this at most grocery stores in the asian aisle.  it is cheaper to buy them at asian grocery stores.
• vegetables such as lettuce, cucumber (chopped into small and thin sticks), carrots (grated or chopped into small and thin sticks)  I've even seen apples and pears used.
• herbs such as cilantro, mint or basil
• thin rice noodles.  you can use rice vermeccelli or bean threads.  i personally like the bean threads the most.  again you will find these at most grocery stores in the asian aisle.
• protein such as firm tofu, chicken, pork, or shrimp.  you can either boil, grill or bake.  Cut into strips
• optional (i love eggs in my salad rolls. i've never seen them do this in restaurants but we always had them growing up).  the eggs are made by breaking the yokes and beating them well.  add a little salt or a few drops of fish sauce.  fry in a little bit of oil, cover and once set and the underside is a little browned, flip over and brown the other side.  cut the finished eggs into strips.

How to roll the rolls:

There are many ways to do this.  Because I am lazy, I will prepare the sauce and the filling ingredients, soak the rice paper then have everyone roll the salad rolls themselves.  I prepare the rice paper by soaking it for a couple of seconds in a bowl of hot tap water, then I just stack it on top of each other.  we usuall peel two rice papers to make one salad roll.

But if you are industrious, you can prepare the salad rolls and serve them fully wrapped.  Soak one rice paper for a couple of seconds in a bowl of hot tap water, place it on a wooden board, put all the ingredients in the center of the rice paper, fold the end closest to you, then the two sides, and start rolling until you reach the opposite end: exactly like you would roll a burrito.

Finale:
Dip the salad roll into the peanut sauce and enjoy!