Lemongrass chicken rice paper rolls
Lunch | Vietnamese
These are fresh Vietnamese-style rice paper rolls filled with lemongrass-marinated chicken, rice vermicelli, herbs and vegetables. The marinade is lemongrass, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, light soy and brown sugar. Lemongrass gives the chicken a fragrant, citrusy quality that is distinctly Southeast Asian. After marinating, the chicken is chargrilled so it picks up some colour and a slightly smoky edge before being cooled and rolled.
The lemongrass chicken is what takes most of the work in this recipe but it’s still very simple. We’re going to marinate it in a lemongrass mix for 30 minutes in the fridge before cooking. When it’s ready to cook, heat a grill plate or you BBQ and get it quite hot before adding the chicken. This will allow it to get a nice colour, adding to the flavour and texture. Once it’s cooked, place the chicken on a rack with a tray so it can cool down before you add it to the rice paper rolls.
A little tip when rolling these, the rice paper will have a smooth side and a textured side. Once you wet it, make sure the smooth side is facing down so it becomes the outside of your roll, not the textured.
Ingredients
- 1 stick lemongrass, finely grated
- 1 shallot, finely grated
- 2 cloves garlic, finely grated
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 chicken breast fillets, thinly sliced
- 100g rice vermicelli
- 8 rice paper sheets
- Vietnamese mint leaves, carrot battons, mint, coriander, butter lettuce, sliced spring onions, cucumber battons to fill.
- peanut dipping sauce, Nuoc Cham, to serve
Directions
- Combine lemongrass, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar in a large bowl and mix well.
- Stir through chicken, then cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to marinate.
- Cook vermicelli in a saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute, until softened. Drain and refresh under cold running water. Drain well.
- Heat an oiled chargrill pan over medium-high heat.
- Cook chicken for 5-6 minutes, turning, until well browned and cooked through. Set aside to cool.
- To assemble, dip a rice paper sheet in a shallow bowl of cold water, until just wet all over, then place the smooth side down on a clean work surface.
- Start layering towards the top end of the paper with Vietnamese mint, carrot, cucumber, some lettuce, onions, slices of chicken then vermicelli.
- Fold over the top to encase the fillings, then bring in the sides and roll up to completely enclose.
- Repeat with remaining ingredients, then serve immediately with dipping sauces, or store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Recipe notes
Lemongrass:
Finely grate using a microplane or fine grater. Make sure when you’re grating it to remove any large pieces that break off. You want it all to be quite fine otherwise it will be hard to mix in with the marinade.
Rice paper sheets:
Rice paper sheets are thin, dry rounds made from rice flour. They soften quickly in water and become pliable and sticky enough to roll. The key is a brief dip in cold water, just 5 seconds or so, until the sheet is barely wet. It will feel stiff but continues to absorb moisture on the board. By the time you’ve arranged the fillings it will be perfectly pliable. Over-soaking makes them tear easily when you fold.
Chicken breast:
Slice the chicken as thinly as possible, around 3mm, so it marinates quickly and cooks through fast on the chargrill. Allow it to cool fully to room temperature before rolling, otherwise the heat softens the rice paper from the inside.