These rolls look beautiful. Dealing with the rice paper is tricky, but you soon get the hang of it. The dipping sauce is hot and strong, depending on the number of chillies you use. Ridge cucumbers are drier with an intense flavour. Makes 18.
Ingredients
For the summer rolls
½ small ridge cucumber
18 rice paper wrappers
1 cheek of green mango, peeled and cut into batons
40g beansprouts
10g each mint, Thai basil and coriander, leaves picked
For the dipping sauce
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1-2 red bird’s eye chillies, halved, deseeded and chopped
2tbsp caster sugar
2 limes, juiced
6tbsp fish sauce
Method
Peel the cucumber, cut it in half and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Discard the seeds and cut the flesh into batons.
Dip the rice papers, one at a time, briefly into a bowl of water and let them soften. (Do not leave them to soak or they become too soft and sticky.) As you lift each one out, fill it with all the other ingredients, including the herbs. Make sure you include a little of each component in each roll. Lay the filling down the middle of each piece of rice paper.
Roll each rice paper tightly, tucking in the ends as you go, then put the rolls on a plate and cover them with damp kitchen paper. You can make these up to 12 hours in advance and keep them in the fridge.
To make the dipping sauce, put the garlic and chilli in a mortar and grind with a pestle. Gradually add sugar, lime juice and fish sauce, pounding as you do so. Serve the rolls with small bowls of dipping sauce.
This article originally appeared on House & Garden UK.
