Vermicelli Vegetable Rolls

With 10 people coming to dinner, we really wanted to avoid having the kitchen as a central hangout. We had moderate success with this by 1. Setting all of the glasses and cups on the kitchen table so that it wouldn't be tempting to sit at the table:



2. Setting up the appetizers in the other room:



Ingredients:

1 package rice-paper wrappers
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, picked
1/2 cup julienned red pepper
1/2 cup julienned yellow pepper
1 cup snow peas, stringed and julienned
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup pickled ginger
1 recipe seasoned vermicelli noodles (see below)

Seasoned Vermicelli Noodles

To cook the noodles - bring water to a boil - drop in noodles for no more than 2 minutes - drain. Mix noodles with:

1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 cup cooked vermicelli noodles

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the sesame oil and rice vinegar. Toss cooked vermicelli noodles in sesame mixture. Set aside.

Process:

1. In a large bowl filled with warm water, soak one rice-paper wrapper for about 20 seconds or until soft. Lay wrapper out on a tea towel to absorb excess water. Transfer wrapper to a flat surface.

2. About 1/3 from the bottom of the wrapper, create a 3-inch-long row with some cilantro leaves followed by some red pepper, yellow pepper, snow peas, bean sprouts, vermicelli noodles and a little ginger.





3. Carefully fold the bottom of the rice-paper wrapper over the vegetables. Turn in the sides and continue rolling up from the bottom.

4. To serve, slice the roll in half on a bias. Serve with Orange-Chili Dipping Sauce or your sauce of choice.
Note: Of course we deviated from the instructions and didn't slice the rolls in half since we bought the smaller rice paper. It would make more sense with the larger rice paper rounds. Also, important to note - when serving, having some attractive looking lettuce as a) a base and b) to interweave between the rolls is important. If you just stack them, they'll stick together and you'll end up with a mess.



Orange-Chili Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup fresh orange juice
3 tbsp granulated sugar
3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp salt

Whisk together all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Allow sauce to stand for 30 minutes for flavours to infuse. Serve at room temperature.

I also made a peanut dipping sauce to go with the rolls. Unfortunately, I can't find the exact recipe. Here is one that looks similar:

Peanut Dipping Sauce



1/2 cup natural-style creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 small garlic clove, mashed to a paste
1 teaspoon chile-garlic paste
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
Siracchi Chili Sauce (to taste)
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup water



The general consensus was that the peanut dipping sauce was the sauce of choice.

Seasonal Ontario Food have also posted a similar version of this recipe.

We'll be submitting these rolls to next week's Presto Pasta Night Roundup.