Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Goi Cuon)
Fresh and healthy goi cuon or fresh Vietnamese spring rolls are made with tender pork belly, shrimp, vermicelli noodles, and fresh herbs rolled in rice paper. This easy goi cuon recipe comes together in under an hour and is delicious when paired with a peanut dipping sauce.
Servings 20 rolls
Calories 275kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork belly
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 lb shrimp deveined with shells on
- Lettuce washed and dried
- Mint washed and dried
- Perilla washed and dried
- Cucumber thinly sliced vertically
- 14 oz vermicelli noodles
- 1 pack rice paper
Instructions
- Cook the pork. In a large pot, add pork, sugar, salt, and enough water to cover 1 inch of the pork belly. Bring to a boil over high heat. When it reaches a boil, lower the heat to medium heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. The pork is done when it reads 160 degrees F when read with a meat thermometer at the thickest part. Remove from the pot, place in a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap to slightly cool, and then thinly slice the pork.
- Cook the shrimp. In the same pot, heat to a boil, add the deveined shrimp into the pot. Cook until the shrimps turn pink about 2-2 1/2 minutes. Then remove the shrimp and allow them to cool before peeling and slicing in half.
- Cook the noodles. In a separate large pot, fill the pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and boil according to the package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop it from cooking. Plate and set aside.
Assemble
- Soften the rice paper. In a large bowl, or rice paper water bowl pour in warm water around 120 degrees F. Dip the rice paper into the water submerging the entire paper, drip off the excess water, and then lay it on a plate that is slightly larger than the rice paper.
- Add your filling. Place the lettuce, cucumber, herbs, noodles and closest to you leaving about 1-2 inches for you to grab onto. Then add the pork on top of the vegetables.
- Add the shrimp. To have the shrimp appear on the outside of the roll, place the shrimp with the orange skin facing down above the vegetables and pork.
- Roll. Lift the rice paper on the edge closest to you and tightly roll. Fold the left and right sides towards the middle keeping some chives poking out for garnish. Continue rolling until you reach the end and lightly squeeze the roll as you roll.
- Serve. Serve with Vietnamese dipping sauce or peanut sauce and enjoy!
Notes
- Wash your vegetables! It is important that you thoroughly wash and dry your vegetables and herbs in a vegetable spinner to remove the impurities.
- Prepare the other ingredients while cooking the pork. There are many parts to this goi cuon recipe. While the pork is cooking, boil the noodles, make the Vietnamese peanut sauce, and wash and cut the vegetables and herbs.
- Organize your spring roll ingredients nearby. Keep your rolling station clean and organized for easy assembly.
- Be cautious of overfilling the spring rolls. Rice paper is very thin and can rip easily so be careful of overfilling your fresh spring rolls.
- Use a second wrapper if the spring roll rips. If you don’t mind a slightly chewy texture, use a second rice paper to wrap any roll that ripped.
- Customize your filling! You can use any variation of the Vietnamese spring roll ingredients. You can add more pork and less shrimp or more herbs and no noodles. Do what makes you happy.
Nutrition
Calories: 275kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 317mg | Potassium: 126mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1mg