월남쌈 - Wollamsam (Korean style rice paper rolls)

The Way the Cookie Crumbles,. 'Summer Rolls'. N.p., 2008. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.

Feature Ingredient: Rice paper (Báng tráng)

Rice paper rolls refers to these edible wrappers made mainly from rice starch (and other ingredients), commonly used in Vietnamese cuisine. They come in various textures and shapes to suit the dish being made - a popular recipe that they are used in are Vietnamese rice paper rolls/summer rolls. The Vietnamese rolls are known for the tasty herbs inside - coriander and mint. There is also a Korean version of these rolls, called Wollamsam, which I tried. The main difference I notice between the two is that the Korean version usually includes a wider variety of ingredient filling, whilst the Vietnamese versions tend to use a few key ingredients and have more herbs. Below, I included elements of the Vietnamese rolls (herbs!) with the Wollamsam platter because I really like the taste of them!

Recipe: 월남쌈 (Wollamsam)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 packet of rice vermicelli noodles

200g of tofu, sliced into small rectangular pieces

2 fish cake pieces, sliced thinly

4 eggs, beaten

500g of mushrooms, rinsed and sliced thinly

1 packet of rice papers

Wedge of white cabbage, shredded

2 avocados, sliced

3 cucumbers, cut into spears

2 carrots, shredded 

4 tomatoes, sliced

1 can of pineapples, drained 

1 bunch of coriander, rinsed

1 bunch of mint, rinsed

A few leaves of lettuce, shredded

500g of cooked prawns 

Warm water

Sauce (lazy edition):

Sweet and sour sauce

Water

A dash of pineapple juice 

Method:

1. Begin by soaking the rice vermicelli noodles in warm water until they become soft and white coloured. Drain the water.
2. Fry the tofu slices in a pan for a few minutes on each side or until they become brown.
3. Cook the egg mixture in a pan like an omelette. Once cooked to your liking, cut into strips. 
4. Prepare all the other ingredients and assemble on a plate. Also provide a large bowl of warm water to allow guests to soak their own rice paper in before assembling their roll.
5. To make your roll, submerge a piece of rice paper in warm water for 5 - 8 seconds and lay flat on a plate. 
6. Add your desired fillings to the centre of the paper - don't forget to add a spoonful of the sauce over your filling. 
7. Flip the sides of the now soft rice paper to cover the filling and roll together to form your rice paper roll! 
8. Serve at room temperature.

Below are photos of the prep process:

Some of the fresh ingredients you'll need

Chop the egg omelet into small slices

Frying up the tofu

Soaking the rice vermicelli noodles

Slicing the fish cake into smaller pieces

Most of the ingredients all prepped and assembled on a plate

You'll also need shredded cabbage!

Sliced up 2 avocados

What the rice vermicelli looks like after being soaked in warm water

Table set up (don't mind the brown dish)

One filling combination - vegetarian

The wrapped up look of a roll

Another filling combination - seafood

Ratings/Comments:

Price: Approximately $??? per serving (sorry)

Difficulty: 3/5 

Taste: 5/5

Overall: 5/5

(1 being lowest/not good - 5 being highest/best)

This is a really fun dish to serve at a dinner gathering with friends - you can chat as you roll out your rolls (and also complain how 'ugly' your roll looks like initially). It is particularly great for dinners with people who have different diets; you can easily make a vegetarian or vegan version of these rolls! Moreover, the leftovers from your roll making dinner can easily be used to make an awesome salad for lunch the next day. Or you can just pre make some extra rolls! I'm not sure of the exact price per serving seeing as though it will be different for each try depending on how many people are eating, how many they make, how much ingredients they use etc. All I can say is that it is not easy to finish it all in one sitting! Hope you'll give it a try.

- C