The dish which varies by region is a typical Vietnamese specialty.

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RecipeTin Eats	2017-04-28 07:39:32	525,857 Views	View on YouTube View Channel

Vietnamese rice paper rolls

For many people the first things that come to mind when they think of Vietnamese food are piping hot bowls of phở and crispy banh mi. But for me the meal that best represents Vietnamese cuisine is the rice roll dish. Often served as a beautiful spread the rice roll dish manages to encompass all of our nuanced regional differences from the more elegant dishes of the north and the spicy herbs of the center of the country to the sweet tooth of the south and our national similarities like our love of rice and our generous use of raw herbs and vegetables.

While a rice roll dish often calls for a long list of ingredients it’s meant to be simple to prepare and instantly customizable; think of it as a deconstructed gỏi cuốn or fresh spring roll where you get to pick and choose what to put in each roll as you eat. Some combinations are so popular that they’ve become iconic dishes for a particular place like the cá lóc cuốn bánh tráng (rice paper rolls with grilled snakehead fish) of the Mekong Delta in the south and the bánh tráng thịt luộc (rice paper rolls with poached pork) of Da Nang central Vietnam’s largest metropolitan area. In northern Hanoi nem thính cuốn (rice paper rolls with pig’s ears in roasted rice powder) is also a must-try.

Helen Le the Da Nang-born creator of the YouTube channel Helen’s Recipes and the author of two cookbooks believes that rice paper rolls embody the ideal balance of flavor and nutrition in Vietnamese cuisine. “You have the carbohydrates from the rice paper and the noodles” she says “and the protein can be fish meat or tofu. Then there are the herbs and vegetables. Finally a bold dipping sauce brings it all together.”