Prawn and Avocado fresh spring rolls for your next party!
I've been a meat lover most of my life and this dish is really something that I grew to love only after being exposed to Vietnamese cuisine during my student days in Australia since you could practically find at least a couple around the corner in every other Sydney or Melbourne suburb. Back then, there weren't as many Vietnamese restaurants in Singapore so the cuisine, with its refreshing combination of fish sauce, garlic, mint, basil, lettuce in almost every other Vietnamese dish you can think of was a new and interesting taste sensation, at least for myself!
For this dish, the most popular types you'd find at a Vietnamese eatery are made with prawn and boiled pork slices. However, I'm cutting out pork in this version and replacing it with avocado instead and the buttery texture of the fruit really enhances the overall bite of the spring rolls.
For the sauce, instead of nuoc cham, I'm recreating the hoisin sauce version which has a creamy earthiness to it in contrast to the fish sauce version.
Ingredients:
(makes 5 rolls)
8 prawns
1 avocado, sliced into smaller pieces
Vietnamese vermicelli, boiled and drained according to package instructions (I used Bun Tuoi)
Lettuce
Mint
Chives
Rice paper
Sauce:
1 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
4 tbsp hot water
1 tbsp oil
Chopped chilli and peanuts for garnishing
Directions:
Boil the prawns in their shells. When they are cooked, remove the head and shells, slice into half and wash off the guts in the middle.
For the spring rolls, take a piece of rice paper, dip the edges in a plate of water to moisten the corners. Place on a wet towel on a chopping board.
Place 1 lettuce leaf, followed by some mint on the lettuce, and some vermicelli and avocado slices.
Right above the lettuce and on the rice paper, place the halved prawns, 3 in a row.
Folding in the edges on the side, roll the rice paper tightly, making sure all the ingredients are compacted properly. When the roll is halfway through, add the chives so that the ends are sticking out.
Continue to roll till the edges are sealed.
To make the sauce, stirfry the garlic in the oil.
Add the hoisin sauce and let it sizzle.
Turn off the heat, add the peanut butter and stir through.
Add the hot water and stir till you get a creamy consistency.
Garnish with the peanuts and chilli.
Serve with the prepared spring rolls.
