Gỏi Cuốn — Fresh Summer Rolls

Ingredients

• ½ lb Shrimp, cooked and halved lengthwise
• 12 rice paper rounds
• 3 oz vermicelli noodles, cooked and cooled
• 1 Cucumber, in matchsticks
• Big handfuls: mint, cilantro, lettuce leaves
• Peanut sauce: 3 tbsp peanut butter + 1 tbsp hoisin + lime + warm water
• Or classic nước chấm, dealer's choice

Method

1. Set up a rolling station: warm water in a wide dish, damp board, all fillings in rows. Assembly-line thinking wins here.
2. Dip a rice paper 5 seconds — it should still feel slightly stiff; it keeps softening as you work. Oversoaked paper is the classic first-timer heartbreak.
3. Layer on the lower third: lettuce, noodles, Cucumber, herbs, with the Shrimp pink-side down (it shows through the finished roll — Vietnamese presentation instincts).
4. Roll: one firm fold over the filling, tuck the sides, then roll snug to the end.
5. Serve with the sauce. First roll: acceptable. Third roll: tight. Sixth roll: you're hosting parties. The herbs are not garnish — they're half the filling.