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Fresh Spring Rolls with Peanut Lime Sauce

Rice paper, herbs and seared beef, rolled cold. Nothing is cooked except the meat and the noodles.

Prep
40 min
Cook
10 min
Makes
Makes 12 rolls
Jump to the recipe
Fresh rice-paper spring rolls with a bowl of dipping sauce
Photo: Quang Nguyen Vinh / Pexels

The technique that decides everything here is how long the rice paper spends in the water, and almost every set of instructions gets it wrong by telling you to soak until soft.

Two seconds. Dip and lift while the sheet is still stiff and feels underdone. It keeps absorbing water from the filling and from your hands for the next minute and arrives at exactly the right texture as you roll. Soak it until it is soft in the bowl and it will be a sticky, tearing mess by the time the filling is on — this is the single most common failure and it has nothing to do with skill.

Work on a damp dish towel, not a dry board. Rice paper welds itself to dry wood.

Roll tighter than feels safe. A loose roll falls apart when cut and the filling slides out at the first bite. Fold the sides in first, then roll away from you with steady pressure, keeping everything gathered.

For the deep-fried opposite of these, see corned beef egg rolls.

The sauce needs the lime. Peanut butter and hoisin are both heavy and sweet, and without a sharp acid the dip coats your mouth and stays there.

Limes cut in half
Photo: congerdesign / Pixabay

Fresh spring rolls: the recipe card

Rice paper, herbs and seared beef, rolled cold. Nothing is cooked except the meat and the noodles.

For the rolls, and for the peanut lime sauce

For the rolls

  • 14 oz (400 g) sirloin or rump steak
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 3½ oz (100 g) rice vermicelli
  • 12 round rice paper wrappers, 22 cm
  • 1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks
  • 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
  • 1 head of butter lettuce, leaves separated
  • Large bunches of mint, cilantro and Thai basil

For the peanut lime sauce

  • ⅓ cup (90 g) smooth peanut butter
  • 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 2–4 tbsp warm water, to loosen

Rolling rice paper without tearing it

  1. 1 Season the steak and sear it in a very hot pan, 3 minutes a side for medium-rare. Rest 10 minutes, then slice as thinly as you can across the grain.
  2. 2 Soak the vermicelli in boiling water for 3 minutes, drain, and rinse under cold water so it stops cooking and stops sticking.
  3. 3 Whisk the sauce ingredients together, adding warm water a spoonful at a time until it is just pourable.
  4. 4 Set out all the fillings within reach. Once you start rolling there is no time to fetch anything.
  5. 5 Dip one wrapper in warm water for 2 seconds only — it should still feel firm — and lay it on a damp dish towel.
  6. 6 Place a lettuce leaf on the lower third, then noodles, vegetables, herbs and beef. Fold the bottom up, fold both sides in, and roll tightly away from you.
  7. 7 Keep the finished rolls under a damp cloth, not touching each other, and serve within two hours with the sauce.

Storing and substituting

  • Rolls stuck together are rolls that touched while wet. Space them out and cover with a damp cloth.
  • Shrimp, tofu or shredded chicken all work in place of the beef.

Why fresh spring rolls fall apart

Soaked too long. Two seconds in the water, no more — the sheet finishes softening while you fill it. If it is pliable in the bowl, it is already past the point of use.