Summer Rolls with Sweet Chilli Sauce

SERVES 4 AS A STARTER

100g / 3½oz vermicelli rice noodles

1 carrot, peeled and cut into long matchsticks

⅓ cucumber, cut into long matchsticks

1 red (bell) pepper, deseeded and cut into long matchsticks

10g / ⅓oz fresh mint, leaves picked

10g / ⅓oz coriander (cilantro) sprigs

100g / 3½oz cooked peeled prawns (shrimp)

drizzle of rice vinegar

pinch of sea salt

4–6 rice paper wraps, 20cm / 8in diameter

SWEET CHILLI GARLIC SAUCE

1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped (seeds in)

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

pinch of dried chilli flakes

4 tbsp water

4 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp fish sauce

2 tsp palm sugar

2 tbsp agave

pinch of sea salt

Add all the ingredients for the sweet chilli garlic sauce to a small pan, bring to a boil and bubble vigorously for 3 minutes. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

Cook the rice noodles according to the packet instructions, drain and run cold water through them to cool; drain fully.

Lay out the noodles, veg sticks, herbs and prawns (shrimp) in separate piles and drizzle a very small amount of rice vinegar over the veg. Add a pinch of sea salt, to gently season it all.

Soak the rice paper wraps according to the packet instructions (about 5 seconds in warm–hot water), then lay one out on a chopping board. Place some filling ingredients down the middle, leaving a generous clear space either end. Start with the prawns and mint, then the veg, then the noodles and finally the coriander (cilantro).

Fold over half of the clear wrap on top of the filling, as you would for a burrito, then bring over each short end on top, and roll the folded section over itself to complete and seal the roll. Transfer to a plate, repeat with the remaining ingredients and serve with the sweet chilli garlic sauce.