Guides · Cook it at home
Gỏi cuốn, sold in Canada as fresh rolls, salad rolls or summer rolls, is mostly assembly. There is no frying. You poach a little pork and shrimp, cook some thin noodles and pick a pile of herbs. The skill is in the rolling: rice paper that is barely softened, a firm roll, and pink shrimp showing through the wrapper.
The dip is the southern-style one, hoisin and peanut butter warmed together with a little water and topped with crushed peanuts. It takes five minutes.
Ingredients
Rolls
- 225 g (8 oz) boneless pork belly or shoulder, in one piece
- 12 large shrimp (16/20 count), shell on
- 120 g (4 oz) thin dried rice vermicelli
- 12 round rice paper sheets, 22 cm (8½ in)
- 1 head butter or green leaf lettuce, leaves separated
- 1 bunch mint, 1 bunch Thai basil, 1 bunch cilantro
- 12 garlic chives or green onion tops, trimmed to about 15 cm (6 in)
- 1 tsp (5 ml) kosher salt, for the poaching water
Peanut-hoisin dip
- 120 ml (½ cup) hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) smooth peanut butter
- 120 ml (½ cup) water or pork poaching liquid
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tsp (5 ml) neutral oil
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) roasted peanuts, crushed
- Sriracha or chili sauce, to taste
Method
- Poach the pork. Cover the pork with water in a small pot, add the salt, and simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, until a skewer goes in easily. Cool it in the liquid for 10 minutes, then lift it out and slice it as thinly as you can. Save ½ cup of the liquid for the dip.
- Cook the shrimp. Bring the pork liquid back to a simmer, add the shrimp, and cook 2 to 3 minutes, until pink and just firm. Cool, peel, devein, and halve each shrimp lengthwise.
- Cook the noodles. Cook the vermicelli according to the package, usually 3 to 5 minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain well. Fluffy, dry noodles make neater rolls.
- Make the dip. Fry the garlic in the oil in a small saucepan for 30 seconds. Whisk in the hoisin, peanut butter and liquid, and simmer 1 to 2 minutes until smooth and just pourable. Top with crushed peanuts and a swirl of sriracha.
- Set up a station. Lay out a shallow dish of warm water, a damp tea towel or cutting board, and all the fillings in the order you will use them.
- Roll. Dip a rice paper sheet into the water for 2 to 3 seconds; it should still feel slightly stiff. On the bottom third, layer a lettuce leaf, a small bundle of noodles, herbs and 3 or 4 slices of pork. Fold the bottom edge over and roll once, tight. Fold in the sides. Lay 3 shrimp halves, cut side up, in a row just above the roll, and add a chive so it pokes out one end. Roll to the top.
- Serve. Serve within 2 hours, with the dip.
Tips
- Over-soaked rice paper tears. It keeps softening on the board, so pull it from the water while it is still a little firm.
- Do not refrigerate finished rolls, because the noodles harden. If you need to hold them, cover them with a damp towel and keep them cool for up to 2 hours.
- Rolls stick to each other. Space them on the platter or wrap each one loosely in plastic wrap.
- Vegetarian version: replace the pork and shrimp with firm tofu, pan-fried until golden and sliced, plus cucumber and mango.
- The dip keeps a week in the fridge; thin it with warm water before serving.
Where to buy the ingredients in Toronto
Rice paper, rice vermicelli, hoisin and fresh Thai basil are all sold at Asian supermarkets such as T&T, Btrust and Oceans, and at the grocers around Spadina Ave and Dundas St W, Gerrard St E and Finch Ave W. Most large mainstream supermarkets now carry rice paper and hoisin in the international aisle. Garlic chives are easiest to find at Chinese and Vietnamese grocers.
Elsewhere in Canada, large Asian supermarkets and Vietnamese grocers carry the same staples.
Prefer to eat it out?
Prefer to order a plate? The Vietnamese spots on YumYak: Pho Tien Thanh, Pho Ngoc Yen and The Lunch Lady.