Summer prawn rice paper rolls

With Hubert Beck Grande Réserve Pinot Gris, 2020

This is a perfect example of the matching method in my approach to wine pairing.

It is summer time and Europe has been experiencing heat wave. In Sweden we quite a few hot days with over 30 degrees too. This rice paper roll dish has sweet and sour flavours and is eaten cold. It can also be eaten by hand so it makes a perfect summer dish for kids. For the grown-up, we match it with a Alsace Pinot Gris.

Summer prawn rice paper rolls

Makes 8

Ingredients:

• 8 rice paper sheets

• 16 fresh prawns; peeled. Fry in olive oil until cooked; add a teaspoon of garlic powder and salt and pepper when frying. Let cool before use

• 120g cucumber (roughly 1/3 of a whole cucumber); thinly sliced. Marinade for around 15 mins

• 100g carrots (roughly 3 small carrots); thinly sliced. Marinade for around 15 mins

• 30g glass noodles, soaked in warm water for at least 15 minutes until soft, then rinse in cold water and drain. Add the seasoning for glass noodles. Cut into short strings

Marinade for glass noodles, cucumber and carrots:

• 2 tablespoon of sesame oil

• 2 teaspoon of fish sauce

• 4 tablespoons of lime juice

• 2 tablespoons of honey

• 2 teaspoon of soy sauce

• Salt and peppers

Ingredients for the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon of sake

• 1 tablespoon of water

• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon of lime juice

• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce

• 1 bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

• Chilly flakes, optional

Methods:

1. Prepare a round deep plate that is a bit bigger than the rice paper sheets; add lukewarm water to it

2. Dip one sheet of rice paper to the lukewarm water for around 30 seconds or until it is just soft. Make sure you dip one sheet at a time so that the papers don’t stick together

3. Lay the soft rice paper sheet on a clean wooden chopping board. Put two prawns, a small bunch of glass noodles, cucumbers and carrots to the edge closer to you. Leave approximately 1 inch of space from the edge. Make sure all ingredients are laid out in the same direction so that it doesn’t break the sheet when rolling. Don’t overfill the sheets

4. Start rolling the sheet from the edge closer to you, cover the ingredients using the 1-inch space of the edge. Roll one more roll to form a bump the contains all the ingredients. You should have around half of the sheet left unrolled

5. Fold the side edges to the middle, roll the “bump” together with the side edges until you have no space left in the sheet. The way to roll the rice paper sheet is a bit similar to rolling a sandwich wrap but with both ends closed

6. Lift the whole roll careful and transform it to a plate. Make sure you put the opening of the roll at the bottom. Continue with the rest of the ingredients to make 8 rolls

Methods for the sauce:

1. Heat up the sesame oil, add the chilly flake and stir it quickly for around 30 mins. Skip the chilly flakes if you don’t want it spicy

2. Add the soy sauce, brown sugar, sake, lime juice and fish sauce until all ingredients are melted together

3. Remove from heat and let cool. Add the coriander and mix well

4. You can also add some toasted sesame on the top for garnish

Wine pairing:

This is a wonderful summer dish with refreshing lime flavour to it. It also has a hint of honey and sweetness from the prawns to round up the dish. With the high acidity of this dish, we need a wine that also has high acidity. However, the wine should also be able to complement the honey flavour from the marinades and the sauce. Therefore, I have chosen a Pinot Gris from Alsace to match with this dish.

This is a perfect example of the matching method in my approach to wine pairing. This wine basically has the same profile of this dish – high acidity with citrus flavour and hint of honey so they match each other very well. The high acidity from the Pinot Gris goes parallelly with the acidity from the dish. The honey and melon flavour matches the sweetness of the dish.