Vietnamese Rice Paper

            Last weekend, I went to a Vietnamese restaurant with my friends, and we all like summer rolls there. It is made of a thin rice paper and the balanced ingredients, such as, meat, seafood, egg and vegetables. The owner of the restaurant told us that philosophical influences on Vietnamese summer roll which keeps Yin Yang balance. The principle of yin and yang implied that the summer roll is made in a special method which is good for the body.

            The healthy Vietnamese summer roll is packed with a thin rice paper which has a good elasticity and taste. At the beginning, I thought the material outside the ingredients was made by edible gums because the ingredients is packed with the very thin paper do not have any opportunities to go outside. The Vietnamese summer roll likes a whole, and also, the stuff in it is compact together. The reason why the summer roll can keep its appearance and does not change is the material outside is made of rice. The fat and fibre in the rice are the main ingredients for the stretch property. Otherwise, the rice paper is made by manual work in Vietnamese. People make the rice paper step by step, it is safe and healthy.

Following, the production of Vietnamese rice paper would be illustrated. Generally speaking, the edible rice paper is made by three basic ingredients: rice, water and salt. Most of the Vietnamese rice paper products are processed in factories. However, some rice paper products are still keeping the “hand-making” tradition. “She (a hand-making rice paper worker) had been practicing her craft for decades and sitting in the same position for hours, day in and day out hurt, she told me. Such level of culinary craftsmanship comes only from having done something tens of thousands of times.” (Viet World Kitchen). According to my research, hand-making rice papers are much more expensive than rice papers made in factories.

There are five steps to make a piece of hand-making rice paper. First of all, putting raw rice in a container with water and soaking rice for a while. Then, grinding soaked rice in a grinding machine until the mixture becomes rice slurry. Secondly, adding some old butter for a better and strong flavor and mix them. The third step is steaming rice batter into a beautiful semitransparent rice sheet. More importantly, this step is the key step of making rice paper. The thickness, color, elasticity and flavor would be strongly influenced by this step. Specifically, spreading the batter into a thin semitransparent sheet and stretch it a nice round rice sheet. When this step is finished, the rice sheet would be steamed for about half minute. The fourth step is removing the rice sheet and putting it on a cooling rack. Finally, dry the finished rice sheet under sunshine for a whole day (Viet World Kitchen).

Picking a good rice paper is a skillful thing. The one that has chewy texture and slight weight is the best one for making the summer roll or cook other dishes. Size, type, thinness and band are the main elements when people picking rice papers. 8.5 inches’ rice paper is the most suitable size for adding ingredients and rolling up ingredients. The one that is bigger than this size would be too fat to make a perfect shape’s summer roll. Secondly, Vietnamese rice paper could be divided in to 3 categories: all rice, tapioca and rice, as well as all tapioca. The main differences between the three types of rice paper are the thinness and rate of soft. The all rice one is much more thick and hard to become soft when soak it in water. On the contrary, all tapioca type is the thinnest one and it’s easy to be soft by little heat or less time soaking in water. The rice and tapioca one is someone between them. Each of them has their disadvantages and dis advantages in various cuisine makings. The third point is looking for some good brands of Vietnamese rice paper. The Red Rose Brand and Three Ladies Brand are relative good brands of rice paper products (Viet World Kitchen).

           Vietnamese rice paper should be stored in zipped plastic bags in order to avoid water vapor into the bag and make the rice papers humid and tasteless.

           Personally, the reason why I like the Vietnamese summer roll, especially the rice paper is that the main and unique wheaten food in my city is “Jianbing” which is very similar with rice paper. It is made of millet flour, and also, the tool to make “Jianbing” is the same to make rice paper. In my city, people usually put the delicious dishes on it and roll up the pancake to eat.

            About twenty years ago, there must be a set of tool to make “Jianbing” in each family because the main wheaten food can give people more energy than other wheaten food like steamed bun and rice. Nowadays, “Jianbing” still is people’s important wheaten food, but the new “Jianbing” which is made by machine cannot give people the nature feeling. It is taste not as good as it made by manual work. For me, I miss “Jianbing” which is made by my grandma very much because she keeps the tool for about forty years and she understands how to make “Jianbing” taste good and perfect. Otherwise, “Jianbing” as an important wheaten food in my city becomes a culture which stands for the sprite of “Yimeng” which symbolize Shandong province.

            The Vietnamese rice paper in Denver gives me the feeling about my grandma and my hometown. Also, I like it depends on the health and delicious.

Work Cited

Viet World Kitchen. " How Vietnamese Rice Paper is Made." Viet World Kitchen. 2009. Web. 11 May 2012.

Viet World Kitchen. " Vietnamese Rice Paper Buying Tips." Viet World Kitchen. 2009. Web. 11 May 2012.