Summer Rolls

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons fish sauce (nuoc nam or nam pla)
• 2  carrots shredded peeled (8 oz. total)
• 2 tablespoons chili sauce sweet
• 10 oz cucumber english rinsed halved lengthwise thinly sliced into half-moons
• 1 tablespoon juice of lime 
• 1 cup mint leaves fresh loosely packed
• 6 ounces the salad mixed rinsed
• 6 oz bell pepper red rinsed
• 3.5 ounces vermicelli thin (half of a 7-oz. pkg.)
• 12  you will also need: parchment paper (bánh tráng; 8 in. wide)
• 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts chopped
• 8 ounces chicken shredded cooked
• 12 ounces shrimp shelled cooked per lb.), tails removed

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• kitchen scissors

Directions

1. In a 4- to 5-quart pan over high heat, bring 3 quarts water to a boil.
2. Add rice noodles, stir to separate, and cook until tender to bite, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Drain, rinse with cold water until cool, and drain again. Using scissors, cut noodles into about 3-inch lengths.
4. Meanwhile, stem and seed bell pepper; cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices, then crosswise into 2-inch lengths. In a small bowl, stir together fish sauce, sweet chili sauce, and lime juice.
5. Mound rice noodles in the center of a large platter.
6. Drizzle 1 tablespoon fish sauce mixture over noodles, then sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Mound bell pepper, shrimp, chicken, greens, cucumber slices, shredded carrots, mint, and cilantro around noodles.
7. Pour 1 inch hot tap water into a large, shallow bowl. Submerge rice-paper wrappers, one or two at a time, until flexible and tender, about 30 seconds. Carefully remove and let drain briefly; stack on a plate.
8. Offer platter of fillings for diners to assemble their own summer rolls, with remaining fish sauce mixture alongside for dipping. To roll, add desired fillings in a strip across center of a wrapper; fold in sides over filling, then roll up tightly from the edge closest to you, like a burrito.