Pork Summer Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb thick cut pork chops
2 tablespoons canola oil
6 rice paper wrappers*
1/2 pound rice stick noodles
1 cucumber, in thin strips
2 carrots, in long strips
1 head red or green leaf lettuce
fresh mint

pork marinade:

2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon black sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced


dipping sauce:

1 quarter cup roasted peanuts, ground
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated garlic



Directions:
First, mix marinade ingredients in a small bowl and marinate pork in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oil in a skillet Add pork and cook until pork is cooked and sauce has thickened, covering if needed. Cut into thin strips. Then, boil rice stick noodles for 5 minutes and blanch in cold water. Cut noodles into bite-sized pieces.

Whisk together all ingredients for the dipping sauce, set aside.

Fill a wide bowl or pot with warm water. Each rice paper wrapper must be soaked individually. For each roll, soak a wrapper until pliable and soft. Remove the wrapper and spread out on a clean surface. Add a small portion of the noodles towards the middle of the wrapper. Add a portion of the lettuce, a portion of the meat, and mint. Fold the rice paper from both sides in towards the middle, then lift the end closest to you and roll away from you, grabbing all of the filling, and roll until the spring roll is closed. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Serve at room temperature.

*Sometimes labeled spring roll wrappers. Not to be confused with refrigerated egg roll wrappers, they are round, brittle, translucent and sold directly off the shelf.



Yield: 6 rolls

My thoughts:

Summer rolls (g?i cu?n) are salads convinently served in roll form. They are a bit of work but it is worth it, they are quite filling and we often have them as a meal unto themselves. They can also keep for a few hours in the refrigerator if you cover them with a damp towel so they can be made ahead. For this version I kept the filling simple and made a yummy dipping sauce which takes them to the next level of deliciousness and cut down on the prep time.