Nem Chua Cuốn (Rice Paper Rolls with Fresh Herbs)
Recipes with Nem Chua
Nem chua cuốn is the roll-it-yourself approach to eating fermented pork sausage. Softened rice paper goes down flat, a slice of nem chua lands at one end alongside cucumber batons, rice vermicelli, mint, and perilla, and the whole thing rolls into a compact cylinder. The dipping sauce, nước chấm sharpened with lime and chilli, provides the only heat. The nem chua carries the sourness; the herbs cut through the fat of the pork skin; the rice paper keeps it all together.
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
5 min
Servings
2
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- 8 nem chua parcels
- 8 round rice paper sheets (bánh tráng)
- 80g rice vermicelli (bún), cooked and cooled
- 1 small cucumber, cut into thin batons
- 1 handful fresh mint leaves
- 1 handful perilla leaves (tía tô)
- 1 handful bean sprouts
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 bird's eye chillies, sliced
- 1 clove garlic, finely grated
Steps
Make the dipping sauce: combine fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and water in a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add garlic and half the chilli slices. Taste and adjust the balance of sour, salty, and sweet.
Unwrap the nem chua parcels and slice each sausage crosswise into three or four rounds about 1 cm thick.
Fill a wide, shallow dish with warm water. Dip one rice paper sheet in the water for 8–10 seconds until it turns soft and pliable but not limp. Lay it flat on a clean surface.
In the lower third of the rice paper, layer a small amount of vermicelli, two or three nem chua rounds, two cucumber batons, and a few sprigs of mint and perilla. Add a pinch of bean sprouts.
Fold the bottom edge up over the filling, fold in the sides, then roll forward firmly to make a tight cylinder. Repeat with the remaining sheets.
Serve the rolls whole or cut on a diagonal. Place the dipping sauce and remaining chilli slices alongside.
Tips
Rice paper tears if it soaks too long. Pull it from the water while it still feels slightly stiff — it softens further on the board as you add the filling. Nem chua should be at room temperature before rolling: straight from the refrigerator it is too firm and its sourness is muted.