Wednesday 6 July 2011

Kimchi Summer Rolls

With summer comes an almost weekly procession of barbecues. I was never a bringer of sausages and burgers to a party; last week these fat, squat summer rolls, a hybrid of the Vietnamese and Korean cuisines, made an appearance instead.

Given my propensity for rolling cigarettes, you'd think I'd make a neater bundle. The first always turns out a shocker; the rest, vaguely passable.

For the filling, bouncy prawns and ponytail kimchi were used. This particular type of kimchi is made from the ponytail radish - so called, I suspect, because of its burst of green leaf. Called 'chonggak kimchi', it's peppery. Sliced into batons, it added a good amount of spicy, tangy crunch. Both ponytail radish kimchi and summer roll wrappers should be available at your local Asian supermarket.

Kimchi Summer Rolls

Enough for 6 people

1 packet of summer roll wrapper (I use these)
1 small head of Little Gem lettuce, shredded
A handful of glass noodles, cooked
1 carrot, julienned
10 prawns, cooked and sliced lengthways in half
2 kimchi ponytail radishes, julienned
A small handful of coriander, chopped finely
Greens of 3 stalks of spring onion, shredded
A few stalks of mint, leaves picked
Half a lime

Mix the carrots, glass noodles, radishes, spring onions and lettuce in a bowl. Sprinkle with the juice of half a lime. Meanwhile, add some hand-hot water to a shallow dish. Lay out a clean tea towel. Place the roll wrapper in the water for 10 - 20 seconds, until it becomes soft, then lay on the tea towel. To make things pretty, add a mint leaf to the centre of the circle, then a prawn, sliced in half, below. Add a small bundle of veg etc. under that - roll like this. Or however you see fit.

Sauce:

4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp water
1 tsp sugar
Juice of 1 lime
1 red chilli (hot)
1 clove of garlic

Mince the garlic and chop the chilli. Combine vigorously with the above to serve as a dipping sauce with the summer rolls.

15 comments:

CraigB said...

Where do you get the kimchi radishes from in London?

Corina said...

I've always been a little afraid of kimchi and thought I didn't like it after trying it about 10 years ago. Strangely I was looking at some recipes for it last night and thinking I should give it another try, so seeing this now with all flavours that I like, makes me even more confident to try it.

Su-Lin said...

Nice. I reckon a bit of pork wouldn't be amiss in that roll too...

I gotta look out for some ponytail radish kimchi!

Bistro Becs said...

These look fantastic - also be keen to learn where I might find ponytail radish kimchi in central London?

Coole Swan said...

Definitely would appreciate anyone coming to my barbeque armed with these

Jingan Young said...

Those look so yummy! great post.

mobile said...

Oh my God this looks so good and i`m sure that it is delicious too. I think it is not a very difficult recipe so i will give it a try, thanks a lot for sharing.

PDH said...

Love the new look blog me dear and these sounds bloody amazing. I'm with Su-lin, a bit of pork in these would be lush. I'm gonna be cheeky though and say you need to work on your julienne :P

Jessica said...

And serve with cheese and biscuits?!

Love making summer rolls. Love love love. So addictive. Still can't get into kimchi though - what's wrong with me?

masini second said...

Oh my God this looks so good and i`m sure that it is delicious too. I think it is not a very difficult recipe so i will give it a try, thanks a lot for sharing.

Unknown said...

I agree summer rolls are great party food - I made a batch (minus the kimchi radishes) the other week - lots of mint and coriander is I think essential. Love the new look by the way. Your technical capabilities on blogger are obviously far beyond mine!

Hollow Legs said...

Thanks all - you can get ponytail radish kimchi in New Loon Moon on Gerrard Street.

Edward B said...

They certainly look more tasty and interesting than the normal run-of-the-mill sausages people bring to bbqs. They look delicious!

GastroStu said...

These look delicious, healthy and just the kind of food I like to eat, especially in summer. Thanks for sharing.

Thao said...

You can also use baked fish or belly pork