| Level: | Advanced |
| Total: | 1 hr 33 min |
| Prep: | 52 min |
| Inactive: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 11 min |
| Yield: | 12 rolls |
Ingredients
- 5 ounces thin rice stick noodles
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
- 1 pound unpeeled large shrimp
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon sambal chili paste
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 large cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and cut into matchsticks
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- 3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 3/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
- Twelve 8 1/2-inch round rice paper wrappers
- 12 leaves Bibb, Boston, or other soft lettuce
- Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce, recipe follows
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
- 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Soak the rice sticks in enough hot water to cover by 1 inch for 15 minutes.
- Bring 1/2 gallon of water to a boil in a large pot set over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Add the shrimp and cook until just firm, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the cooked shrimp to a cutting board and cool for 3 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel, devein, and coarsely chop. Set aside.
- Return the water-soy sauce to a boil. Drain the rice stick noodles and add to the hot soy-water. Cook until tender, approximately 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk the lime juice, remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce, chili paste, and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl.
- Drain the noodles in a colander. Add the noodles to the lime juice mixture, toss, and set aside while preparing the vegetables.
- Toss the cucumber, carrot, cilantro, and mint together in a small bowl. Transfer any unabsorbed liquid from the noodles to the cucumber mixture and toss to combine.
- Cut the noodles into small 1 to 2-inch pieces with kitchen shears.
- Fill a pie dish with warm water. Dip 1 rice paper wrapper into the water for 10 seconds, then transfer to a cutting board until the wrapper is pliable and slightly tacky, approximately 1 minute.
- Place 1/4 cup of the vegetable mixture on the bottom 1/3 of the wrapper nearest to you. Spoon 2 tablespoons chopped shrimp on top of the vegetables. Top with 1/4 cup noodles. Bring the bottom edge of the wrap tightly over the filling, and then fold in the 2 sides. Finish rolling from bottom to top until the entire wrapper is rolled. Be careful not to tear the rice paper. Place on a parchment-lined half sheet pan and cover with a damp tea towel. Repeat with the remaining wrappers until the filling is gone. Wrap each roll in a lettuce leaf and serve with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce.
- Add all of the ingredients to a lidded jar and shake well to combine. Serve as a dipping sauce for spring rolls.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 140 |
| Total Fat | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 23 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 3 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 61 mg |
| Sodium | 619 mg |
Reviews
These were great! I didn’t make the dipping sauce. I just made peanut sauce instead.
Decent recipe – however, I feel like there were too many noodles. I only used 5oz, and they absorbed all of the lime juice mix, and really did not get much flavor even after letting them sit for 30 mins… I guess i could have made more of the mixture, but didn’t think to. I like cilantro, but I would say that it was a bit overpowering in this dish – Next time I will use a little less. I feel like cutting the rice noodles is an incredibly unnecessary step, however the instructions to deal with the spring rolls were great! Overall I think they turned out pretty well, and with a few tweaks, I will be making these a lot! Thanks Alton! 😉
Very good, with adjustments. I doubled the recipe for a party except I used one 6.75 oz. pack of rice stick noodles, and that was PLENTY. Also, I made it into a type of Thai noodle salad by combining the noodles, shrimp and vegetables. Hint: I grated the carrots in a food processor, and chopped the mint and cilantro in it, too. Even chopped most of the shrimp in it. Seems like a pain to cook the shrimp and then save the water for the noodles, but it makes such a difference – the noodles have a flavor of shrimp and soy sauce. I served my “salad” in lettuce cups with the dipping sauce (a little of which goes a long, long way. A crowd pleaser.
I left out the cilantro as my friend hates it, but otherwise followed the directions.
As someone else said, cutting the noodles seems an unnecessary step. I also felt there were too many noodles and that they had very little flavor.
Overall I thought they were way too much work for something rather blah and tasteless. The only “real” taste was the mint.
As someone else said, cutting the noodles seems an unnecessary step. I also felt there were too many noodles and that they had very little flavor.
Overall I thought they were way too much work for something rather blah and tasteless. The only “real” taste was the mint.
Good recipe and great instructions on dealing with the wrappers. This was my first time making spring rolls. I liked the method of getting flavor into the noodles and vegetables. However, for my taste, there were too many of the bean noodles (could have done with half the amount or even less and it became a little bland. Next time I’ll try the thai basil as that might have a stronger flavor than the cilantro, which I would like.
I used wheat free tamari (to be gluten free, so that may have affected the dipping sauce flavor…mine was pretty overpowering with soy sauce taste.
Thanks to the commenter that mentioned the draining of the noodles,,being forwarned I just scooped out a little before dumping it in the colander.
I used wheat free tamari (to be gluten free, so that may have affected the dipping sauce flavor…mine was pretty overpowering with soy sauce taste.
Thanks to the commenter that mentioned the draining of the noodles,,being forwarned I just scooped out a little before dumping it in the colander.
Delicious and fresh. Re the delicate rice wrappers, if you put a damp, clean dishtowel on the cutting board, you can lift it and easily roll the bottom 1/3 of the wrapper over the filling (the same principle as rolling sushi. And “Drain the noodles in the colander” means you also discard the water-soy mixture at that point. And it makes more sense to mound the filling just under the halfway point of the wrapper (not the “bottom 1/3”, which means you’d have to lift the filling WITH the delicate wrapper and that’s what tears it. I wouldn’t bother cutting the noodles into short lengths–it was easy enough to pick up the right amount with my fingers and drop them on top of the shrimp. This took me a long time to make, but I bet it will go faster next time!
This was great and a lot of fun. The best part was the Thai Basil {mentioned on the show} and Cilantro. Skip the mint. Only use Thai Basil, not Italian. The rice paper was difficult at first, but then I learned to just be gentle. If it folds on itself a little bit, let it. You won’t know the difference 5 minutes later. Get wild shrimp if you can, and boil the shells in the “broth”, let cool a bit, then drain the shells away. This one is a keeper!
EDIT: Here’s a great tip! I used a big cutting board {plastic} for my rolling surface, I tore my first two rolls. Then I sprayed some PAM on the board, and tried again. EUREKA! After that, it looked like I knew what I was doing!
Excellent! You either love cilantro or hate it, and I’m delighted that my son and I are in the first bunch. We followed the recipe scrupulously, except that we halved it, and it was amazing. I’ve never used the wrappers before, and was just charmed to see how quickly they softened up. The whole thing, from turning on the burner for the shrimp to loading the dishwasher, took 70 minutes with 2 of us working and then eating. The remainder of the cucumber became a “thai” salad with yogurt and the chili sauce and lime juice, and that was dinner! This would be a fun recipe to make with friends – have everything prepared, and everyone wraps their own. So easy at that point that children would have fun with it as well. Yummy and healthy! The recipe is missing the step shown in the video about soaking the noodles in hot water for 20 minutes, and then snipping them into thirds.
This is my first review and I just had to post. This recipe was only reviewed at three stars overall and it’s MUCH better than that. I don’t know what the other reviewers were thinking. I made it with chicken instead of shrimp (my wife is allergic. I used the dipping sauce in the recipe and made a simple peanut sauce with peanut butter, soy, lime juice, brown sugar, water and some chile for heat. Both were great and the spring rolls were really good. Light and very flavorful. A great summer dinner or as an appetizer with chicken satay. Likely would be even better with shrimp.
I feel really bad because I love G.E. and AB and this is the first recipe I have rated lower that 4 stars. Watching the episode actually convinced my husband to try these (he doesn’t like soft rolls) and even my 9 year old was intrigued. The shrimp cooked up perfectly ( I would eat them as is!!!).I cut back on the cilantro and mint, knowing that those herbs could be the recipe killer for my family…( mint is great for Mojitos and Juleps and that’s about all; Cilantro? I tend to avoid it like the plague but am willing to try it). Unfortunately, I really think those herbs are what did these rolls in for us. The lettuce wrap part is fantastic! It takes care of the “stickiness” issue beautifully (which my husband was always hesitant about). My advice is this: if you are hesitant about the mint and cilantro, wait until you find Thai basil. Make the shrimp as directed, it will come out perfect. Cut down just a bit on the lime juice in the noodles… made it bit too sour.