gỏi cuốn — Vietnam

Gỏi cuốn, often called fresh spring rolls or summer rolls in English, are a Vietnamese dish of translucent rice paper wrapped around a filling of cooked shrimp, pork, rice vermicelli, lettuce and fresh herbs, rolled tightly and served cold and uncooked at the table. They belong to the wider spring roll family that also includes the fried nem rán, but unlike those, the wrapper itself is never cooked. The dish is reported throughout Vietnam as a common starter or light meal, eaten at home and sold by street vendors, and it has spread widely beyond the country as one of the better-known Vietnamese dishes abroad. It is closely related to the Chinese spring roll, chūnjuǎn, though prepared and served differently. To prepare it, shrimp are boiled and halved lengthwise, pork belly or pork shoulder is boiled and sliced thin, and rice vermicelli is cooked and cooled. A sheet of rice paper is briefly dipped in warm water to soften, then laid flat and filled with lettuce, herbs such as mint and perilla, the vermicelli, and the shrimp and pork arranged near the edge for visibility once rolled. The rice paper is folded over the filling and rolled tightly into a cylinder, and the rolls are served whole or halved, alongside a dipping sauce. What distinguishes this version from other stuffed rice-paper rolls is that everything inside is already cooked or ready to eat, so the roll itself needs no further preparation before serving, and it is generally eaten cold rather than warm. Fillings vary by region and household — some add fried tofu, others swap in different herbs — and the dipping sauce ranges from a peanut-hoisin blend to a simple fish sauce and lime mixture.