Satisfying appetizer rolled in rice paper with shrimp, rice vermicelli, with assorted vegetables, sprouts and herbs. Served with authentic Cambodian tamarind sauce.
Nhaim Chaow – Cambodian Spring Rolls with shrimp and fresh crispy veggies
Cook vermicelli in 7 cups of boiling water for 50 seconds, drain, place in cold water bath, then squeeze the water from the vermicelli. Lay them flat on a plate, set aside.
Sauté shrimp over medium high heat with oil and fish sauce until cooked (shell turns salmon color and flesh is firm). When shrimp have cooled, remove shells and slice lengthwise into half, then deveined with moist paper towel. Set aside.
Prepare the remaining vegetables and herbs. Slice or strip crunchy vegetables lengthwise, so they are easy to wrap. Set aside.
Assemble Rolls
Submerge each sheet of rice paper in a bowl of lukewarm water (105ºF) for 5 second; lift and gently shake off the water. Place the wet rice paper on a cutting board, with a corner pointing away from you, when looking straight down you should see a diamond shape.
Just off the center of the rice paper (closer to you), place the ingredients in the following order: 3 pieces of shrimp, lettuce, the rest of the vegetables and herbs, then vermicelli. Fold the side corners of rice paper over the vermicelli, roll the corner that is closest to you away from you just as you would roll a burrito. Firmly press the filling, while you are rolling.
This recipe yields 12 spring rolls. Enjoy this light meal Cambodian way, by serving them with Angkor Tamarind dipping sauce and Angkor Chrouk Metae, or freshly slice chili. If not served right away, wrap each roll in saran wrap keep up to 2 hours.In Cambodia, this is a main dish, with all ingredients placed on a large platter and everybody sitting around the platter in circle makes their own wrap using just lettuce no rice paper needed. It is normally a harvest meal when the hot weather ripens the tamarind, neem flowers are budding, fish were easily caught by hands from drying up fields and baked in clay over open fire. Making it with salmon: substitute shrimp with salmon fillet. heat oven to 475°F. Cut salmon 1/4″ thick and 1/2″ wide. Marinate salmon with oil and fish sauce. Broil salmon on middle rack for 10 minutes until the salmon is golden brown. Angkor Tamarind Sauce, sweet and sour traditional Cambodian tamarind sauce traditionally used as dipping sauce for wraps and string rolls. Made in USA
Chef Channy is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. Chef was formally trained as an engineer and worked in Aerospace industry building jet fighters, and in Biotech industry building instruments that assist oncologist diagnoses and treats cancer patients. Additionally, Chef published her award winning memoir ShortHairDetention.com; and created a non-profit organization to support educators with teaching about Cambodian Genocide: CambodianGenocideResourceCenter.org. Currently, Chef spends most of her time perfecting Cambodian recipes for her food manufacturing company AngkorFood.com and cooking at her restaurant AngkorChef.com in downtown San Jose. View more posts
One thought on “Spring Rolls with Tamarind Sauce”
Spring rolls are really simple to make, but they’re not something I want to prepare on a weeknight. Instead, I skip the rice paper wrapper, toss all ingredients into a bowl and use a simple dipping sauce as the dressing. Deconstructed spring rolls! It s so much simpler and just as delicious. Spring rolls are traditionally served with a tangy dipping sauce. I’m suggesting Angkor’s Tamarind Dipping Sauce as the dressing to top these bowls. If you’re not familiar with it, tamarind is a tart, sticky fruit commonly used in both sweet and savory dishes throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean. It’s often used in stir-fries, noodle dishes (like Pad Thai) and curries. Angkor’s is made with both fish sauce and tamarind and is the perfect blend of savory-sweet. Look for it at Heinen’s in the International Foods Aisle.
Spring rolls are really simple to make, but they’re not something I want to prepare on a weeknight. Instead, I skip the rice paper wrapper, toss all ingredients into a bowl and use a simple dipping sauce as the dressing. Deconstructed spring rolls! It s so much simpler and just as delicious. Spring rolls are traditionally served with a tangy dipping sauce. I’m suggesting Angkor’s Tamarind Dipping Sauce as the dressing to top these bowls. If you’re not familiar with it, tamarind is a tart, sticky fruit commonly used in both sweet and savory dishes throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean. It’s often used in stir-fries, noodle dishes (like Pad Thai) and curries. Angkor’s is made with both fish sauce and tamarind and is the perfect blend of savory-sweet. Look for it at Heinen’s in the International Foods Aisle.