- Fresh Vietnamese spring rolls
are easier than you think. Plus, you'll love our
two-ingredient dipping sauce. Check these out. (upbeat music) (grunts) Hey everybody. It's Natasha with natashaskitchen.com. Today, we're making spring rolls. [Natasha] These are
healthy, crisp, so fresh. Plus, they're simple to make. We're gonna start with the shrimp and have everything
prepped and ready to go before we start rolling them. This is everything you need to know to make the best homemade spring roll. So, let's get started. (drumming) Plus, if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe to our
channel to get notifications every time we post a new recipe. [Natasha] We're gonna boil our own shrimp because they taste so much better. Peel and devein one pound of large shrimp, put the shells in a medium saucepan along with one tablespoon of garlic salt, half a teaspoon of black
pepper, and a bay leaf. Add eight cups of cold water
and bring that to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it boils, add all
of the shrimp at once and simmer it until they're pink. This takes just two to three minutes, depending on the size of your shrimp. Just as soon as they're cooked through, immediately transfer them
to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Boiling shrimp at home
is so fast and so easy. Set those aside to cool completely while you prep the noodles. You'll need three to four ounces of Vermicelli rice noodles
or angel hair rice noodles. Cook those according to
the package instructions until they're tender. What I like to do is fill
a saucepan with water, bring it to a boil, then add the noodles, turn off the heat, and
let them sit in hot water for about five to seven minutes
or until they're softened. Once the noodles are done, drain them in a colander
and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Then, you wanna set them aside
and just let them drain well. I will link to this colander
in the recipe notes, it's one of my favorite kitchen tools. All right, our noodles are well-drained and our shrimp is cooled down. We're gonna go ahead and cut
the shrimp in half, lengthwise. I find it's easiest to do
this using a serrated knife, and it's faster and safer to
do it over a cutting board. If you've done a good job
deveining your shrimp, you should not see any
veins inside the shrimp. If you do see any traces of a vein, just go ahead and rinse the
cut portion under cold water. Now, we're gonna move on
to prepping the vegetables. I love that fresh spring rolls are packed with crisp, fresh veggies. You can use either three to
four fresh garden cucumbers, small ones like these, or you can use half of a
large English cucumber. Julienne the cucumber into thin slices. And I like to leave the cucumber skins on for a little extra crunch. Next, peel two carrots. You'll wanna either julienne them or grate them on a box grater. And I love this julienne slicer, I will link to it in the notes. Since this recipe yields
about 15 spring rolls, you'll need 15 lettuce leaves. We're using a butter lettuce, which is a tender leaf lettuce. Sometimes, it's called Boston
lettuce or Bibb lettuce. If you have larger leaves,
you can cut them into two, just make sure to remove that
thick stem in the center. The stems will make it difficult
to roll your spring rolls, which is why I like to remove them. All right, we have 15 pieces of lettuce. Now, our last bit of prep, you wanna have some
coarsely-chopped fresh cilantro, a little cilantro goes a long way. I'm using about half of a
small bunch of cilantro. To assemble these, we'll need to hydrate our rice paper sheets. Fill a round dish like this
pie pan with very warm water. You want it to be wide enough to hold an 8 1/2 inch diameter rice paper. Working with one sheet at a time, submerge the sheet in warm
water for 10 to 15 seconds or until it feels soft and flimsy. You also don't wanna oversoak it, or it will be hard to work with. Keep an eye on it and the timing will depend on
the temperature of your water. If your water is warmer, it will soften faster. Place your wet spring roll wrapper over a lightly-wet cutting board. Add a lettuce leaf in the bottom half of the spring roll wrapper, then add a generous pinch of rice noodles. Top that with some cucumber
slices, your julienned carrots, some sprigs of cilantro, and now we're gonna add the shrimp. Place three halves of
shrimp with the cut side up on the top half of the wrapper. You want them to be visible when the spring roll is wrapped up. Keeping a tight roll, start
wrapping from the bottom, then fold in the sides over the shrimp and finish rolling the spring roll. Transfer your finished
rolls to a serving platter. All right, and it's super important to keep those covered
as you're rolling them, so that those rice paper
wrappers don't dry out, okay? Now, I'm about to make a
whole lot of spring rolls and really, once all of
your ingredients are prepped and ready to go, these are so quick and
easy to roll up and make. But I'm hungry and I'm really craving
one of these spring rolls. To serve these, what I really like to do is cut them in half on the diagonal. That way, you can see inside and see all those yummy top or fillings. [Natasha] Look at that. Yay! (laughs) Oh, and I love how the shrimp
just kind of curls around it. That's why it's a smart idea
to cut them in half like that. And also you can make a
whole lot more spring rolls. Look at that, so tempting. (laughs) [Natasha] This is one of
my favorite summer treats. Okay, cut the next one in half too 'cause I fully intend to eat
both of these as my snack. Taste test, that's what I'm talking about. Now, the sauce. I wanna share with you
two different sauces and you can pick whichever one you like, because they're both amazing. If you wanna go for more
of a traditional sauce, we have this one right here. It is a Vietnamese dipping sauce. [Natasha] It's fresh, it's
light, and super flavorful. In a mixing bowl,
combine 1/3 cup of water, 1/4 cup of fish sauce, and
this is the kind that I use. Also, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Then, squeeze in two
tablespoons of fresh lime juice, make sure you use freshly-squeezed
and not from concentrate. Also, add two teaspoons
of rice white vinegar, then two teaspoons of garlic chili sauce or chili garlic sauce. Add two grated garlic cloves
or you can use a garlic press. Then, add one tablespoon
of shredded carrot, and, last but not least, one
tablespoon of sesame oil. Just whisk that together
until it's well-combined and it's ready to serve. Or you can use our
two-ingredient peanut sauce. This is the same peanut sauce that we use for our lettuce wraps. It couldn't be any easier,
we have loved this for years, so if you want a shortcut
recipe for a great sauce, check this out. All you need is Newman's
Own ginger dressing and some creamy peanut butter, and try to get the one that's no stir because it combines a little easier. Basically, combine one
cup of the ginger dressing with two heaping tablespoons
of peanut butter. Then, put that into a Mason jar, cover it with the lid tightly. Shake, shake, shake, shake
until it is creamy and smooth. So, we're gonna taste test both of them. Here we go. Okay. Now, time for the Dunkaroo. (laughs) I'm so excited, I'm just really hungry. It's late. It's 2:30 and we haven't
had lunch, okay? (laughs) Okay, here we go. [Natasha] A little dunk. We'll start with the traditional
Vietnamese dipping sauce. And my friend, Adrian,
is the one that showed me how to make this sauce. She did an Asian night at her house, and I brought the spring rolls, and she made the sauce, and I just fell in love
with it, it's so good. (crunching) Oh. (muffled chuckling) I love that the veggies
in here are so fresh and crunchy when you bite into it. You can really taste that
cilantro, don't skip it, It's like that little secret ingredient that makes these next-level fresh. [Natasha] And the boiled shrimp in here, cooking it the way I showed you produces the best boiled shrimp. It's also a great way to make
shrimp for shrimp cocktail, just saying. (laughs) Oh, yum. Everything about this
is good and so satisfying. [Natasha] Oh, and then the
noodles, cooked to perfection. This is so good, so fresh. Okay, and now I wanna try
a little peanut sauce. Here we go. We'll Dunkaroo. We'll get another one, so I'm
not double-dipping. (laughs) [Natasha] Okay, look at
that, so creamy, so smooth. (crunching) Mm. This dressing has all the great
Asian flavors mixed into it. So, you just need to get two
ingredients instead of 10 to make a sauce, I love it. (laughs) That's like signature in my kitchen. I will take the shortcuts when I can. I can not wait to finish these, but I've gotta make a whole bunch more. So that's what I'm gonna
do because my husband is hungrily looking my way, (laughs) as I'm enjoying these delicacies. I hope you guys love this
Vietnamese spring roll recipe. It's gonna become a new
favorite, I'm telling you. I guess we'll see you next time! - This is you, mom, this is you. - Those are my cucumbers! (Natasha screams) - [Diana] Mom, look.
- This is you. - Okay.
- This is me. - Okay, can you train me on that move? - Mom, look. - Is it appropriate, at least?
- Mom, look. - Yeah, it's called the dab. - Ready? - No, mom, watch. You
put your hands like this. - Come a little closer to me. - Like, just above this eyebrow. - Diana, I need those cucumbers, here. - What's up, gap. - Come closer to me. Ready? Wait, what about that? Diana, get out of the way, so David doesn't eat you in the head. (all laughing) - [Vadim] Go. (Natasha laughs) (Diana blabbering) - You too? Okay, everybody. Ready? Everybody yeet. Ready? I don't even know what this
means. Diana, stop please. Ready? One, two, one.
- [Vadim] Three, two, one, go. (Diana continues blabbering) Here, bud. (Diana continues blabbering)
