New Year afterblues!

After wining and dining my way around the holidays, I've now come to the realisation that this is definitely the time to diet...if only to be ready for the two weddings happening in May and July this year!

I wouldn't normally bother with dieting if I was wearing your regular "wedding guest" dress but since I will be wearing a sari, I have to keep those bulges in check! Hahahaha!

In case you haven't guessed yet, my hubby is Indian, so those weddings will definitely be big celebrations...and a lot of eating!  Going to post about that when the time comes!

But for now, my healthy eating starts off with some homemade vietnamese shrimp spring rolls!

Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

12-15 thawed medium-sized shrimps with shell intact and veins removed

7 ounces dried thin rice vermicelli noodles

About 10 rice papers (clear spring roll wrappers)

Bean sprouts

Tofu

Shredded carrots

Shredded Cucumber

Fresh Coriander leaves

Fresh mint leaves

Directions:

In a pot of boiling water, cook rice vermicelli noodles for 5 minutes, or until tender and cooked through. Drain noodles, rinsing with cold water to remove all starch from noodles. Rinse noodles with very hot, steaming tap water. Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.

In a small pot of lightly boiling water, add shrimp. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until shrimp are pink, opaque, and cooked through. Drain shrimp and cool with cold water. Remove shells from shrimp and discard shells. Using a small knife, cut the shrimp in half lengthwise, from the tail end to the other end.

Assemble the rolls one at a time: wet one rice paper wrapper thoroughly in water for a few seconds, shaking off any excess water. Lay the rice paper on a large plate, allowing the paper to sit for one minute to become pliable.

Neatly lay down 3 shrimp halves in a line, cut side up, on the end farthest from you, making sure that shrimp are at least 1 inch away from the round border of the rice paper. Lay down no more than 1/3 cup of cooked noodles on the wrapper. On top of the noodles, add torn mint leaves, coriander leave, cucumber, carrots, tofu and beansprouts, making sure not to overstuff spring rolls.

Fold the right and left sides of the rice paper about 1-2 inches inwards over the filling and press to seal. Pull the edge of the wrapper closest to you upwards so that the filling is tight. Proceed to press down on the ingredients, packing them tightly together, and begin to roll away from you. Continue rolling until you reach the end of the wrapper furthest from you. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

Get your dipping sauce ready!

Basic Dipping Sauce (makes ¾ cup)

3 tablespoons lime juice (fresh)

2 tablespoons sugar or more, according to taste

½ cup water

2 ½ tablespoons fish sauce

1 small garlic clove, finely minced

1 or 2 Thai chilies, thinly sliced

1. Combine the lime juice, sugar and water, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Taste and ask yourself this question: Does this taste good? Adjust the flavors to balance out the sweet and sour.

2. Finish with fish sauce. Add the fish sauce, minced garlic and Thai chilies. Taste again and adjust the flavors to your liking, balancing out the sour, sweet, salty and spicy. After all, it depends on what you like!

Hope you get to try this!