There’s something magical cooking in the kitchen! These color-changing summer rolls are a perfect foodie project and a deliciously fresh snack or a light meal. Summer rolls are a favorite in many Vietnamese and Thai restaurants, served cold with some kind of flavorful dipping sauce. These gluten-free and vegetarian-optional rolls capture a classic flavor profile with a colorful twist!
Vietnamese summer rolls, also known as Gỏi cuốn, spring roll, crystal rolls, or rice paper roll, is a cold dish traditionally containing protein (like chicken or shrimp), vegetables (like carrot or cucumber), and bún (rice vermicelli). All these fresh ingredients are wrapped in bánh tráng, or a rice paper roll. It’s usually served with a dipping sauce, either peanut or fish-sauce based.
This dish starts by pre-cooking the protein, in this case, a light chicken breast in fragrant lemongrass water. Poaching the chicken is a great way to lightly cook it while keeping it juicy, and easily shredded for stuffing the rice paper rolls. Other proteins like boiled shrimp, pork, tofu, or tempeh make great substitutions, however, they can easily be replaced with more vegetables! If it’s just a snack it’s fine to skip the protein.
After the protein is poached and cooling, next is to pre-cook the rice noodles. Rice noodles are very common in the cuisines of East, Southeast, and South Asia. They are simple noodles made from rice flour and water, with a lovely, springy, and chewy texture. Sometimes ingredients like tapioca or corn starch are added to change the texture, depending on what they are being used on.
You can find them at most large grocery stores, and definitely at Asian markets. There is a huge variety of availability, including fresh, frozen, or dried, and in various shapes, thickness, and textures, just like traditional wheat pasta! In this recipe, we opted to use the widely available dried rice vermicelli.
This is where the magic comes in! Instead of cooking the dry rice noodles in plain water, instead, we chop purple cabbage and slowly bring it to a boil in a large pot of water. The water turns a sinister purple color, and after removing the cabbage, boil the rice noodles in the colored water. The rice noodles will absorb the natural color pigments from the cabbage, giving them a crystal purple shade.
The purple noodles should be allowed to cool before starting the wrapping process. In the meantime, you can take a small bunch of the cooked noodles, and squeeze a little lime juice on them to turn them an electric pink color! This natural color change comes from the purple cabbage pigments, known as anthocyanins, which react to changes in pH, such as being covered in acidic lime juice. Science!
Once the protein and noodles are cooked, the next step is to prepare all your vegetables with your favorite Forge To Table Knife, like our 7” Nakiri (Vegetable) Knife! Again, this is customizable and additions can be made based on preference, but we loved the freshness of mint and the light pungency of sliced scallions. Then cucumbers, carrots, and red leaf lettuce bring bright colors and great crunch to the other soft ingredients. And then avocado because we are obsessed with the creamy texture!
Once everything is prepared, it’s time to set up the rolling station and start rolling! The rice papers are soaked in warm water for about 10-15 seconds, or until pliable. On a clean cutting board, lay the paper out flat, making sure it’s not creased over anywhere. On the bottom third of the wrapper, place a small bunch of the purple rice noodles, topped with a sprinkle of sliced scallions & torn mint leaves, followed by shredded red leaf lettuce, sliced avocado, julienne cucumbers, julienne carrot, and finally shredded chicken. Squeeze a few drops of lime juice on the noodles to change the color!
To roll the summer rolls, pull the bottom of the wrapper over the filling, tucking it to pull ingredients closer together. Gently pull the left side of the wrapper over the middle, and repeat with the right side to close the ends of the roll. Roll it away from you, gently tucking the filling tighter to maintain the roll’s shape. It’s ok if you mess up the first few, practice makes perfect! Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients.
Once you have all your fresh summer rolls wrapped up, the only thing left is to assemble the flavorful dipping sauce! This is a mixture of fish sauce, sugar, water, fresh-squeezed lime juice, rice vinegar, grated garlic, and a thinly sliced Thai chili pepper for some heat! This dipping sauce will also change the color of the noodles because of the amount of lime juice and rice vinegar. The fish sauce can be replaced with: ⅛ cup water, ⅛ cup soy sauce, and a pinch of salt. It’s not the same but comparable!
Now the only thing left to do is dip and eat them! They are bright and flavorful and don’t be surprised when they’re all gone. Happy cooking!
Magic Summer Rolls with Dipping Sauce
These fresh and vegetable-centric summer rolls are excellent any time of year! The magical color comes from the rice noodles cooked in water with a certain purple vegetable, and when exposed to lime juice, they turn bright pink. Don’t skip on the dipping sauce!
Recipe by Sam Burgess
Forge To Table Knives
Prep Time: 60 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 10-12 rolls
Ingredients
1 each chicken breast (about 8 ounces) (optional)
1 stick lemongrass, crushed (optional)
1 package rice summer roll wrappers
4 ounces white rice noodles, like vermicelli or glass noodles
½ each head of purple cabbage, rough chopped
½ cup cucumbers, julienne
½ cup carrot, julienne
1 cup red leaf lettuce, shredded
1 each avocado, sliced
4 each scallions, sliced thin
¼ cup fresh mint leaves, torn
¼ cup fish sauce (see Chef’s Notes for substitute)
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed (about 1 lime)
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, grated
1 Thai chili pepper, thinly sliced
Lime slices, for garnish
Directions:
(POACH CHICKEN) Bring 2 quarts of salted water and crushed lemongrass to just below boiling (about 180-200F degrees). Add chicken breast and poach chicken until it has reached until an internal temperature of at least 165F degrees, about 12-20 minutes. Remove from water, let cool, and shred. Discard cooking water and lemongrass.
(COOK NOODLES) Rinse out the same pot and bring another 3 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add chopped purple cabbage and boil for 5 minutes. Remove and discard cabbage, saving the purple water, and cook rice noodles in purple water as instructed on the packaging. Drain noodles but do not rinse. Set aside to let cool.
(ASSEMBLE SUMMER ROLLS) Prepare summer roll wrapper by soaking in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 seconds. Lay wrapper out flat on a clean cutting board. On the bottom third of the wrapper, place some purple rice noodles, sliced scallions, torn mint leaves, shredded red leaf lettuce, sliced avocado, julienne cucumbers, julienne carrot, and finally shredded chicken (optional). Squeeze a few drops of lime juice on the noodles to change the color.
(SHAPE SUMMER ROLLS) Pull the bottom of the wrapper over the filling, tucking it to pull ingredients closer together. Gently pull left side of wrapper over the middle, and repeat with the right side to close ends of the roll. Roll it away, gently tucking filling tighter to maintain the roll’s shape. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients.
(DIPPING SAUCE & SERVE) In a small bowl, mix together fish sauce (vegetarians see Chef’s Notes for substitute), sugar, water, lime juice, rice wine vinegar, grated garlic, sliced Thai chili pepper. Serve alongside rolls, dipping to change the color of the noodles. Enjoy!
Chef’s Notes:
For vegetarians/vegans, omit the poached chicken and substitute fish sauce with: ⅛ cup water, ⅛ cup soy sauce, and a pinch of salt.
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