Gluten Free Summer Rolls

Summer Rolls Filling

Last Summer I discovered Vietnamese food after a glorious day out in Brighton and lunch at the very laid back Pho (Pho in London's Wardour Street was another matter however). In the days that followed I did some research on Vietnamese cuisine and happily discovered that lots of it was naturally gluten free.

Summer Rolls are made up of rice paper and filling. They're really easy to make and the beauty of these is that you can use whatever filling you fancy whether it be meat, fish, shellfish or vegetarian. If you wanted to make really simple Summer Rolls with no cooking required, you could even use raw ingredients such as salad or veg. If you have Sushi quality fish you could also use that. Lots of possibilities with this dish!

I went for a Squid, Chestnut Mushrooms and Bean Sprouts combo which took just a bit of flash frying in the wok. Perfect for a hot day and really light and healthy tasting too.

This made at least 10 Summer Rolls but I can't be exact as we make these up individually and eat them at leisure. This is another laid back coffee table meal just like my much loved Fondue!

Summer Rolls Ingredients:

Rice Paper Wrappers
Handful of Chestnut Mushrooms
1 Small Onion
Large Handful of Bean Sprouts
1 Large Squid Tube
2 Tablespoons Gluten Free Oyster Sauce
1 Tablespoon Oil for frying
30ml Water
5" Cucumber
3 Round Lettuce Leaves

Directions For The Filling:

• Remove the end from the cucumber and peel
• Cut the cucumber into batons
• Add a good pinch of sea salt and put to one side
• Cut the lettuce leaves into 1cm thick strips
• Leave to one side
• Chop the onion, mushrooms and squid into small pieces
• Heat the wok on high, add the oil
• Put the onions in the wok and fry until soft, stir often
• Add the mushrooms and bean sprouts and fry until soft, stir often
• Add the water and oyster sauce and stir to cover
• Add the squid and fry, stirring continuously for 30 seconds
• Remove from the heat

Dipping Sauce Ingredients:

300ml Water

3 Tablespoon Gluten Free Fish Sauce (I use Squid brand)

2 Garlic Cloves

1 Tablespoon Gluten Free Oyster Sauce

1 Tablespoon Tamari Soy Sauce

Teaspoon of Ginger Powder (Would ideally use fresh but didn't have any)

Directions For The Dipping Sauce:

• Crush the garlic
• Put everything into a bowl and stir!

Taken Before The Oyster & Soy Sauce Were Added

Directions For Putting The Summer Rolls Together:

• Fill a container large enough to lay the rice paper wrappers flat with water (we use a frying pan, works a treat!)
• Lay a rice paper wrapper in the water for 10 seconds, remove and let it drip for a moment
• Place on a flat surface such as a chopping board
• Take some of your cucumber, lettuce and squid mix and place in the middle of the rice paper wrapper

Light and Healthy

• Roll the rice paper to cover the filling

The Rice Paper Wrapper Sticks To Itself

• You now have a summer roll to cut into slices and dip into the sauce

Gluten Free Goodness!

Armed with Rice Paper Wrappers you can make loads of variations of this. I've not personally seen them in supermarkets but I haven't looked, if you have a good world food aisle you may be lucky. We get ours from a local oriental shop, they're really cheap, you get lots for about £1.50. These are a great ingredient for any gluten free kitchen.

Tonight we shall be feasting on salad (that's an odd statement, I know), I got the idea when I was writing the Fondue post. It's not going to be just any salad, it's going to be an all singing all dancing salad, or at least that's the plan. If it turns out looking as I intend it to that shall be the post for tomorrow.

Obviously, I haven't melted yet but I'm close.