Prawn and Avocado Rice Paper Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

• 400g raw king prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 16 rice paper wrappers (22cm)
• 100g vermicelli rice noodles
• 1 cucumber
• 2 large carrots
• 1 little gem lettuce, leaves separated
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 lime, juice only
• 2 ripe avocados
• 20g fresh mint leaves
• 20g fresh coriander
• 4 tbsp smooth peanut butter
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 60ml warm water
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1 lime, juice only
• 30g roasted peanuts, roughly chopped, to serve
• lime wedges, to serve
• Quick pickled cucumber salad (rice vinegar, sugar, sliced cucumber), to serve
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Method

1. Drop the vermicelli into a pan of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes until just tender — they should bend without snapping. Drain, rinse under cold running water until completely cool to stop the cook, then set aside in a loose tangle.
2. Toss the prawns with the minced garlic, sesame oil, the juice of one lime, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Don't let them sit in the lime more than a few minutes — acid starts to cure raw prawns and turns the texture chalky.
3. Heat a dry pan over a medium-high heat until you can feel the warmth coming off it. Lay the prawns out in a single layer — if they don't all fit, cook in two batches. Crowd the pan and the prawns steam in their own juices instead of taking colour. Cook for 3–4 minutes, turning once, until pink, curled tight, and lightly golden at the edges. Watch the garlic clinging to them — it should go fragrant and pale gold, not dark; burnt garlic turns the whole roll bitter. Tip onto a plate to cool.
4. Halve, stone and peel the avocados, then slice each half into thin strips. Squeeze a little lime juice over the slices — the acid keeps them green while you build the rolls.
5. Peel the carrots and cut into thin matchsticks. Halve the cucumber lengthways, scoop the watery seed core out with a teaspoon (it would weep into the wrapper), and cut the firm flesh into matchsticks the same size as the carrot.
6. Make the dipping sauce. Whisk the peanut butter, hoisin, the juice of the second lime, fish sauce, grated ginger and warm water in a bowl until smooth and pourable — the warm water is what loosens the peanut butter into a sauce rather than a paste. Now spoon a tablespoon into the bowl of any leftover prawn pan juices, swirl it through, and stir that back into the main sauce — that pan-sauce trick gives the dip a savoury backbone the raw mix doesn't have. Taste. The salt is doing its job through the fish sauce and hoisin, but it usually wants one more pinch and a touch more lime to lift it. Adjust now, not at the table.
7. Fill a wide shallow bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper for 15–20 seconds until just pliable but not floppy — it will keep softening as you build, so pull it out a touch firmer than you think. Lay flat on a clean damp tea towel.
8. Place a lettuce leaf just below the centre, then a small tangle of noodles, 3–4 prawns laid pink-side down (they'll show through the finished roll), a few avocado slices, a pinch of carrot and cucumber, and a few mint and coriander leaves.
9. Fold the sides in over the filling, then roll tightly from the bottom up, keeping firm pressure as you go — a slack roll falls apart on the first dip. Repeat to make 16 rolls, sitting them seam-side down so they seal.
10. Plate the rolls on a platter, scatter the chopped roasted peanuts over the top, float the sliced red chilli on the peanut sauce, and serve with lime wedges for squeezing, the pickled cucumber salad, and a bowl of steamed jasmine rice alongside.