Last night, I decided to try out a new recipe from the Kitchen Nomad Vietnam box - Saigon Summer Rolls. (You can see the recipe on the Kitchen Nomad website.) I have eaten these (or something similar) in the local Chinese restaurant that we sometimes go to for their self service buffet, but I always find them a bit rubbery and bland. I was therefore keen to see if my homemade ones would be any better.
This recipe called for lots of ingredients from the Kitchen Nomad box : rice vermicelli, rice paper sheets, peanuts, birds eye chillis, fish sauce and Hoi Sin sauce.
I'd never used rice paper sheets before. You need to dip them in water so they become soft and pliable. They're also quite sticky which makes it easier to prevent the rolls falling apart !
The recipe suggests a vegetarian option to replace the prawns, but I decided to use both together, which worked really well.
After moistening the rice paper, you lay out the ingredients, fold over the sides and the bottom, then roll it all up. It's actually a lot simpler than I expected.
I made the Hoi Sin dip following the recipe but wasn't too keen on the taste (although Madhouse Daddy liked it). I did have some other dips in the cupboard though - Mango Chilli sauce, Sweet Plum sauce and Chilli & Ginger sauce - which all worked really well with them.
Suddenly the Madhouse kitchen was invaded - everybody else wanted to have a go because it looked great fun ! Juliette was first to try.
She did it like a pro (although she did forget to put the vermicelli in !) and declared that it was just like making fajitas. Spoken like a true mini-foodie !
Pierre helped by passing the ingredients and dunking the rice paper in water.
Then big sister Sophie wanted to join in and took over preparing the rest of the meal - bonus ! There's absolutely no cooking involved so it's actually a great recipe for kids to get involved in.
I had a bit of a production line going at one point ! It's great to see the kids getting so involved and so excited about trying out new tastes and combinations that they may not have tried if I'd just put it in front of them on their plates.
We were all really impressed with how well they turned out. The ultimate test was tasting them though and, again, we were all very impressed. I've just prepared a dish better than my local Chinese restaurant which is a bit mind-blowing really !!
Disclosure : I received a Kitchen Nomad box in order to write an honest review.
Other blogposts you may be interested in :
Wow well done you guys, they look absolutely delicious! Thanks for linking up too x
ReplyDeleteThey were really nice but above all, great fun to make ! :)
DeleteOh wow those prawns look immense!!
ReplyDeleteLOL They're "gambas" which I think are king prawns
Delete