FRESH SUMMER ROLLS

Makes 18

These rolls look beautiful. Dealing with the rice paper is tricky, but you soon get the hang of it. The dipping sauce is hot and strong, depending on the number of chillies you use. Small cucumbers are drier with an intense flavour.

For the summer rolls

1/2 small cucumber

18 rice paper wrappers

150g cooked king prawns

100g romaine lettuce, shredded 75g carrots, cut into matchsticks 1 cheek of green mango,

peeled and cut into batons 40g beansprouts

10g each mint, thai basil and

dhania, leaves picked

For the dipping sauce 4 garlic cloves chopped

1-2 bird’s-eye chillies, halved,

deseeded and chopped 2t caster sugar

2 limes, juiced

6t fish sauce

1. Peel the cucumber, cut it in half and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Discard the seeds and cut the flesh into batons. 2. Dip the rice papers, one at a time, briefly into a bowl of water and let them soften. (Do not leave them to soak or they become too soft and sticky.) As you lift each one out, fill it with all the other ingredients, including the herbs. Make sure you include a little of each component in each roll. Lay the filling down the middle of each piece of rice paper.

3. Roll each rice paper tightly, tucking in the ends as you go, then put the rolls on a plate and cover them with damp kitchen roll. You can make these up to 12 hours in advance and keep them in the fridge.

4. To make the dipping sauce, put the garlic and chilli in a mortar and grind with a pestle. Gradually add sugar, lime juice and fish sauce, pounding as you go. Serve the rolls with smalls bowl of dipping sauce.