Summer Rolls

Fresh, not fried, light, yet filling, with no cooking required. What is not to love? I created my own plant based version of the popular spring rolls in Vietnamese restaurants, Banh Trang.

Banh Trang

I am a big fan of Vietnamese food. I’ve tried different restaurants all over Orange County, and throughout my travels. The heart of Vietnamese culture is Little Vietnam in Westminster. On one I went to one of the malls, and noticed freshly made Banh Trang just sitting on a counter, wrapped in plastic on a foam plate.

Little Vietnam

But there is no need to trek to Little Vietnam to find these rolls. They are just about everywhere now. Even the trendy Camp in Costa Mesa, has a Vietnamese place called East Borough, with delicious reasonably priced Garden Rolls. Those ones were plant based, and were the inspiration for making these.

A Learning Curve

There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to rolling these perfectly. But who says it has to be perfect to taste good? My first few attempts in making these resulted in wet, gloppy, and disintegrating rolls, where the ingredients spilled out the sides. 

How I Found Banh Trang

I was first introduced to these when I worked in catering, and I would watch the chefs would roll as part of the sandwich menu where I worked. They would soak them in warm water, and lay them on a commercial stainless steel prep table. In assembly line fashion, they would fill them one by one, with traditional ingredients.

Classic Banh Trang

The classic Ban Trang uses shredded lettuce, pickled julienned daikon and carrots, mint, pork, and shrimp. It’s easy to substitute the protein, and vegetables of your choice. Tofu is an easy plant based protein to substitute.. You can find Rice Paper Wraps, in most grocery stores, and Asian markets. All the ingredients are now widely accessible, and if you cannot find rice wrapper in store, you can even order them online. I have ordered them at vitacost.com many times. They even have a healthy brown rice version.

Ingredients

• Rice Wraps
• Baked Tofu Sliced thin
• Shredded Napa Cabbage or Lettuce
• Julienned Carrot
• Julienned Daikon Radish
• Seasoned Rice Vinegar
• Peanut Butter
• Hoisin
• Red Chili Paste
• Water

Best Eaten Fresh

You can adjust the amount of each ingredient, to make one roll, or ten. I made 8 rolls with one block of baked tofu. How much you make it up to you. They are best fresh, so make what you are going to eat today, or in the next few hours. In the fridge these will stiffen up, so eating them soon is a key thing to take into account.

Optional Ingredients

Cold Rice Noodles (Mei Fun), Sliced Mango, Sliced Red Peppers, Avocado, Julienned Cucumber, Bean Sprouts, Cilantro, and Nori Crumbles.

Tools

You will need a wood cutting board, saucepan, colander, storage containers, sharp knife, large bowl, and plastic wrap to prevent the rolls sticking to one another.

Directions

• Fill a bowl with warm water
• Dip rice wrappers in
• Lay wrapper on a wood cutting board
• Layer the fillings in the desired way

Prepare Ingredients in Advance

When you are preparing spring rolls, having everything prepared, and measured, saves time, along with preventing omissions of key ingredients. You will want all ingredients ready to be placed in the spring roll, since making these is time sensitive.

Get Pickling

Begin by pickling your daikon and carrots. The easy way to do it is simply blanch in hot water for 15 seconds. Then place daikon and carrots directly into an ice bath, and after cooling, drain in a colander. Place in a container with seasoned rice vinegar in the fridge for at least an hour, and you have pickled veggies.

Peanut Sauce

Mix peanut butter, water, hoisin, and red chili in the desired amounts. I tend to use one part peanut butter, one part water, a 1/2 part hoisin, and a dash of red chili. Use a small food processor, or just a fork to mix. Give the sauce about 30 minutes to meld in the fridge, for best results.

Remove Excess Water

You don’t want excess water on the ingredients, so be sure to dry veggies, after washing them. The drier the rolls are, the better they will come out.

Chop Chop Chop

Chop and slice all your remaining ingredients you plan to use ahead of time, and set aside. You can use a plate or another cutting board.

Get Rolling

Place rice roll in warm water, flip it twice, for 15-20 seconds, until it slightly softens to the touch, then put it on the wood cutting board. 

Tip: Wood cutting boards help absorb excess water, so they come out nice.

Start Layering

Place your napa cabbage or lettuce, carrot, daikon, and baked tofu on top of the lower 1/3 quadrant of the roll. 

Roll it Like a Burrito

Simultaneously roll, from three sides, folding like a burrito, as snugly as you can without breaking the roll. It should stick together. Set aside on the cutting board edge, to evaporate more water for about 5 minutes. Enjoy with Peanut Sauce, or the dipping sauce of your choice. 

Make It Your Own

Don’t have a lot of ingredients on hand? You can still roll a few of these rice wrappers up in no time, with your ingredients of choice. Perhaps you just want to roll up rice noodles, veggies, and herbs. I have made a version where I added mango to this, and red peppers. The possibilities are endless.

Cooking Rice Noodles

If you are using rice noodles, you would want to cook, cool ,drain, and dry them ahead of time.

I hope you get it right the first time, and enjoy my plant based version of Vietnamese Banh Trang at home too.

About me

I’m Serafina! I’m a writer and California girl who loves to go exploring. Hope you will get outside today, breathe some fresh air, and be happy!

Follow my Journey…

@serafinabenjamin

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