Servings: 6 or moreDifficulty:
Author: Katie Le | Katie’s Test Kitchen
Ingredients
About 3 lbs of Pork Butt or Pork Belly (Pork Butt is leaner)
1-2 lbs of shrimps, more or less up to you (to save time you can buy frozen headless, deveined shrimps with shell still on)
1 can of Coco Rico Soda
2-4 cups of water
1 tsp of salt
1 white onion
1 pack of rice paper (my favorite brand is Mekong)
About 1/3 to 1/2 of a lb of rice vermicelli (Oldman Que Huong brand is good. Cook according to instructions on the package, flush with cold water, and squeeze out excess liquid, set aside to dry)
Vegetables – 1 head of green or red leaf lettuce (green is crunchier), 2 cucumbers, a handful of garlic chives, your favorite herbs such as Mint, Cilantro, Basil, Vietnamese coriander (Rau Ram), Perilla (Tia To)… etc. Pick your favorite, more or less up to you!
Hoisin Peanut Sauce
1 tbsp of minced garlic
1 tbsp of cooking oil
1.5 cup of broth from boiling the pork OR water
1 cup of Hoisin Sauce
4 tbsp of sugar
5 tbsp of peanut butter
1/3 cups of crushed peanuts – Click here for recipe to roast peanuts using your Air Fryer.
ground fresh chili paste (please see photo below) – OPTIONAL
Directions
Pork – Wash pork well with warm tap water. Place in inner pot with 1 tsp of salt, a white onion, a can of Coco Rico soda, and enough water to cover the pork (2-4 cups or more). Closed lid, select Pressure Cook/Manual, 15 minutes, High Pressure, 10 mins NPR or full NPR. Once pressure is released, open lid and Remove pork from IP. Submerge pork into a bowl of cold water for at least 10-15 minutes. This step is to prevent the pork from turning brown. Remove pork, cover loosely and wait until it’s completely cooled down before thinly slicing it. Remember to slice against the meat grain! Set aside. If you plan to use the broth to make the sauce, run about 1.5 cup through a sieve to remove all bits from the pork.
Shrimps – Steam shrimps on the stove top with shell on for about 2-3 minutes or until shrimps turn pink. Remove immediately and flush with cold tap water. Remove shells, tails and devein shrimps as needed then slice in half. Set aside.
Hoisin Peanut Sauce – Heat up 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a sauce pan, once it’s hot add minced garlic. Once garlic releases fragrance pour in 1.5 cup of broth/water and bring to a gentle boil. Stir in 1 cup of Hoisin sauce, 4 tbsp of sugar and about 5 tbsp of peanut butter. Mix well and taste the sauce. Make adjustment as necessary to your taste.
Vegetables – Triple wash lettuces, garlic chives and your favorite herbs, drain to dry and set aside. You can use the salad spinner to help dry the vegetables. If using cucumbers thinly slice them vertically.
The Rolling Process – There is not really a right or wrong way of doing it, honestly! Typically I start with dipping the rice paper into water then place it on a flat surface such as a cutting board or a large plate. Quickly add lettuce on bottom end and leave about 1 inch of space on each side. Layer with my favorite herbs, a slice of cucumber on top, then follow with some rice noodles and about 2 slices of pork. Fold the bottom of the rice paper to cover those items above, make it tight. Fold the 2 sides in, then place 2 shrimps with red side face down. Make one more fold and place the garlic chive with an inch stinking out to make a tail. Continue rolling until you reach the end of the rice paper. Tips: Don’t soak the rice paper in water for too long. Don’t wait too long to start rolling after you have soaked the rice paper. If not consumed immediately cover each roll individually with plastic food wrap to prevent rice paper from drying up.
When ready to serve, add Hoisin Peanut Sauce to a small bowl, sprinkle some crushed peanuts and some ground fresh chili paste if you like it spicy. Dip your roll into the sauce and enjoy!
