Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Lately I've developed an obsession with Daisy Mint, a relatively new Vietnamese fusion restaurant in Pasadena. It's close to my house, but more importantly they serve a good variety of healthy and deliciously spicy Vietnamese food. I usually get an order of the summer rolls, and the Spicy Beef Salad with a side of brown rice. While I shouldn't indulge in the beef salad more than once a week (red meat = not good on a daily basis), the summer roll - with its fresh veggies and paper thin wrapper and $2.50 price tag - is something I could easily eat every day.

But I don't really want to go to Daisy Mint more than I already do, so I decided to make my own summer rolls. After all, I have a package of spring roll "paper" that I bought about 3 years ago and have yet to touch in my pantry.

The key, I learned, to making these types of rolls is to have everything prepped and ready to go. This is important because once you dip the hard paper into warm water and it becomes a soft, gelatinous sheet, you'll want to work quickly to assemble and seal the roll. With this in mind, I julienned some pea shoots, Persian cucumbers, romaine lettuce, jalapeno peppers, red bell peppers and scallions, and set aside a handful of cilantro and a few mint and basil leaves. I chose these vegetables based on what I like in a summer roll; you can choose just about whatever you want but the cilantro, mint and basil give the roll a real authentic flavor.

Though Daisy Mint's rolls are vegetarian, I was making my rolls for dinner, not an appetizer, so I included shrimp. I bought the cooked, tail-on, jumbo frozen shrimp from Trader Joe's, and picked a few out of the bag and let them defrost at room temperature. Next, I dampened a clean kitchen towel and filled a large bowl with hot tap water. In a nutshell, you place the hard paper into the hot water for about 20 seconds or until it softens. Place the softened paper on the damp towel. Place the veggies and shrimp toward the bottom of the paper, then wrap (see more detailed instructions here).

While my summer rolls didn't look as tight and neat as the ones at Daisy Mint, I have to say that I was very pleased with the end result. I served them with a side of sweet chili sauce from Trader Joe's, and a dinner salad with Asian dressing. The only thing I'd do differently next time is to use more jalapeno; the spice didn't come through (I was conservative fearing it would be TOO spicy). Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed these and will definitely make them again.