Let's make...

... Vietnamese salad rolls!

Now, these are kind of a PITA but are well worth the effort. I make these in steps, first, I bake chicken breasts, then I prepare all the veggies, and then I assemble. Ready? If I can make these while handing Loic his toy that he dropped every 8 seconds off of his high chair, so can you!

You will need:

-rice paper

-rice noodles (vermicelli)

-carrots (2), cucumber, green onions (2), red pepper (1) - or any other thinly sliced veggies, steamed asparagus would be nice too

-2 chicken breasts, cooked and thinly sliced

-dipping sauce

To start with, bake your chicken breasts. I did this this am when I was feeding Loic breakfast. I put a little bit of oriental salad dressing on them, but you don't have to.

Then, during nap time, I chopped and thinly sliced my veggies:

Thinly chopped veggies, minus the green onion which was on the cutting board during this photo...

Then you need to cook your rice noodles, which is really easy. All you do is put them in a bowl then pour boiling water onto them - they will be cooked in a few minutes. Just taste them and drain the water off when done!

Rice noodles, ready to be cooked

Cute baby alert!!

To assemble:

1. Put one sheet of rice paper in a large dish of hot water (I used a lasagna sized dish). This is the tricky part, the paper will want to stick to itself when it softens - don't let it!! Once soft, take the paper out of the water (only takes a few seconds) and lay it flat on a clean, damp dish towel.

2. On your wet rice paper, place a few sticks of each of your veggies, then a thin slice or two of chicken and finally a bunch of rice noodles (sorry, didn't get a photo at that stage). Roll them up like a burrito as tightly as you can.

Assembly (minus the noodles, sorry)

Finished rolls - so very tasty

To serve, you just need a dipping sauce. I use a mixture of half soy sauce and half hoisin sauce, but peanut sauce works too.

We are eating these for dinner with steamed broccoli - tasty and healthy.

Enjoy!

E