Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Rice Paper Roll - AFF IndoChina Jun 2014

Ever since I made the Vietnamese Summer Rolls with Hoisin Peanut Sauce earlier this month, I've been craving to eat it again. Since I still have some rice paper rolls left, decided to make a variation, this time based on Just As Delish Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Rice Paper Rolls.

The flavour of this rice paper roll is more intense than the summer roll, due to the addition of aromatic herbs like sweet basil, mint leaf and lemongrass (beef). Each bite into the roll was a burst of flavours and textures, and the salty spicy dipping sauce added a further dimension to the roll. But if I were to compare this lemongrass beef rice paper roll to the summer roll with peanut hoisin sauce, the latter wins hands down. Just my personal opinion.

The lemongrass beef was good to eat on its own actually. I love the whiff of lemongrass as I chewed on the tender and juicy pieces of beef. And it's so easy to prepare. I got some tenderloin as they were on sale at the supermarket. Basically blend all the marinate ingredients together, marinate the sliced beef for at least 2 hrs, pan fry for a min each side and done!

Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef

• 150g tenderloin, cut into thin slices
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Blend all the ingredients (except beef) into a coarse paste.
2. Add beef slices and toss to coat the marinate thoroughly. Chill for at least 2 hours.
3. In a frying pan, add a tsp of olive oil and pan fry the beef slices for about 1 min on each side (done).
4. Serve with salad leaves and Vietnamese dipping sauce, or use as ingredient for rice paper roll.

 Preparing for the roll. I used baby romaine lettuce, carrot strips, sweet basil and mint leaves.

This time, I decided to try the "open" method of wrapping the rice paper rolls. Basically just place the wet rice paper roll on a non-stick surface, next place 2 leaves of baby romaine, 1 strip of lemongrass beef, few strips of carrots, 2 leaves of sweet basil and 2 sprint of mint leaves. Fold the bottom of the rice paper upwards to cover 2/3 of the ingredients, then fold the left and right sides towards the centre as tight as possible, and that's it. This type of "open" roll feels more flimsy than the closed roll though.

The roll is good to eat on its own due to the strong flavours, but I do like it with the dipping sauce which is very easy to put together. Instead of lime, I used calamansi since that's what I had.

Vietnamese dipping sauce

• 1/2 pc bird's eye chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 calamansi, juiced

1. Combine all the ingredients together and ready to use as dipping sauce.

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest – IndoChina hosted by Kelly Siew Cooks