A couple of years ago, one of my friends who liked to pop in for dinner or lunch a few times a month would like to sometimes surprise me by showing me a new recipe she had picked up. A Korean friend showed her how to make these, and I was so excited to learn it as well. I had never attempted it before because it always looked like so much work, but once you have everything chopped and ready to go (which you can do in advance), it really is quite easy. It’s also a great meal for hot weather…and very simple too!
The first thing to do is pick your fillings. We laid everything out on a platter so everyone could pick and choose what they wanted. We had crab, shrimp, fresh cilantro, yellow bell pepper, lettuce, green onion, cucumber, and mung bean noodles. (You can use any veggies you like, and even use chicken if you are not a seafood fan…or just do all vegetables!)
View of the platter from the front.
View from the other side…you can get a better view of the mung bean noodles from this pic.
All of this can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge covered with plastic wrap until you’re ready to eat. If you want to wait on cooking the noodles that is fine too…they only take a minute to cook. The last thing you will need to do is cook the rice wrappers, and this can be done at the table.
I usually fill a pie plate with hot water, and dunk the rice paper in it for a few seconds (that’s all it takes!) until it is soft and pliable but still firm. (Sorry I don’t have pics of this!) Some people also prefer to dip it in the dish and rotate around like a spinning wheel until all sides have softened while rotating through the water. Carefully lift it out and place on your plate, put in your fillings, and roll up like a burrito. We just stick the pie plates of water on the table and take turns dipping our wrappers. If your water cools off (because you find yourself eating a gazillion of these), you can zap it in the microwave to reheat or use an electric hot water boiler like I do, which heats water really quickly.
If you don’t understand wrapping something like a burrito, just google it. There are a tons of great picture tutorials for wrapping spring rolls so I didn’t take the time to do it.
The method for making Vietnamese spring rolls is so simple that you don’t even need a recipe. You can put whatever you like in it, and dip it in whatever kind of sauce you’d like. The most common sauce, and my favorite, is a good peanut sauce…which can be found on the Asian aisle of most grocery stores.
I hope you give this quick meal a try! 
Down by the Ash Tree 