Baked salmon in Vietnamese rice paper rolls

A twist on a crowd favourite, these Vietnamese fresh rice paper rolls are light, packed with fresh herbs, vegetables and are super easy to make. Guaranteed to keep you coming back for more!

Make the process of creating rice paper rolls fun by inviting your family and friends to build their own. Just don’t get too carried away and overfill.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

Baked Salmon Marinade

• 500g Salmon steak (can be any other fish protein you like)
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce (or normal soy sauce is fine)
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• ½ tsp black pepper

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nu?c Ch?m)

• ½ cup Fish sauce (Viet Huong Brand is preferred but not essential)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 ½ cup water
• ¼ lime
• ¼ rice wine vinegar (alternative: white vinegar or more lime)
• 1 small garlic clove finely chopped
• 1 chilli finely chopped (add per your chilli tolerance)

Filling

• Round rice paper wrapper
• Vermicelli (cooked to packet instructions)
• Cucumber cut to thin rectangles (julienne)
• Lettuce
• Mint
• Coriander (optional)
• Perilla leaves (optional)
• Fried Shallots (optional, but adds a delicious layer of crunch)

Method

Baked Salmon

1. Mix all the ingredients listed for the baked salmon in a bowl and marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge. While it’s marinating you can prepare the dipping sauce.
2. Preheat the oven to 230C and when it’s marinated, bake in the oven for 15 minutes. If you have skin on salmon, place it skin facing up.
3. Then brush on leftover marinade and broil for 2-3 or until slightly charred.
4. Top with fried shallots and roasted peanuts. Serve in the middle of the dining table with everything else.

Dipping Sauce

1. Pour the sugar, fish sauce and water into a microwave safe bowl. Lightly stir before placing into the microwave for 1 minute.
2. If the sugar has not dissolved, heat again for another minute or so.
3. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Once cool add in lime and vinegar, pour in half of each, taste and if you want more tartness add the remaining half.
4.  Add in super finely chopped chilli and garlic before serving.

Rolling

1. Lightly wet a round of rice paper with warm water, it’ll still feel slightly firm but once you’ve assembled the ingredients, it’ll become soft and gelatinous. Don’t soak the paper for too long or with boiling water, because it will break down too quickly, making the rolling more difficult.
2. Starting on the bottom 1/3 of the rice paper closest to you, lay lettuce first. It’ll serve as a cup for all your ingredients and less likely to puncture the rice paper.
3.  Add in herbs and vegetables and finish with a row of baked salmon. Do not overfill! This will make the paper rip, so start slow and small before adding more
4. Gently pull away the edge of wrapper from the plate and roll over the filling. At the same time, use your forefingers to gather and “tuck” fillings together under the wrapper. “Tucking” allows you to keep all filings together and tight, so that the roll remains firm and straight.
5. Once you’ve got the filling wrapped over, fold in the sides to close the ends. Continue to roll until rice paper is fully sealed.

Tips

Have all your filling ingredients washed and prepped on the table before rolling. Including a bowl of warm water.

Vermicelli noodles tend to stick to each other, so run it under cold water when you finish cooking and let them cool in sections.

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