Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Catfish Nuggets -- One for You and Three for Me

It has been a very cold couple of weeks here in New England. My lips are cracked, hands are dry and everybody is coming down with some sort of cold. Last Wednesday I was not even motivated to cook dinner! The horror! Coming to the weekend I still felt not 100% back to normal, but somewhat regained some momentum. As a result, we were able to try some daring dishes again! Here's what we had for lunch yesterday: Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Catfish Nuggets. Yep, you heard me right. Not filled with the regular prawns, or the rarer shredded chicken. But catfish nuggets. And it was delicious! It was so good that instead of the intended two rolls/ person, I ate three without even thinking!

The choice for the filling was obvious and yet not entirely so.
The decision to have vietnamese spring rolls for lunch was made on a whim, and we happened to have some fresh catfish nuggets in the fridge. Don't be fooled by their name. These nuggets are not the breaded version of catfish meat. Rather, they are the cuts from belly flaps, which are fattier and cheaper than the fillet at the grocery store. I like them because they are small (hello, stir-fries!) and fatty (it's a lean fish, so the fatty part is not gross but rather tastier in my opinion). I thought the nuggets would taste great wrapped with crunchy vegetables and dipped in a lime-fish sauce.

The unique ingredient in this dish is -- dun dun dun, catfish nuggets! Season with a little bit of salt and pepper, plus a dash of Shaoxin cooking wine. You are good to go!

Pan fry the fish in coconut oil for about 3 minutes per side over medium/high heat. I like them peppery!

Meanwhile, get your vegetables ready. I used some sliced scallions, carrots and celery.

Soak the rice wrapper in hot water for about 2 minutes -- it'll become soft. Put it on a flat surface and start layering with some spinach (my twist) and basil leaves.

Piling up with all other goodies and roll it up kinda like a burrito. Et voila!

Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Catfish Nuggets

serves 2 as appetizer

• 4 sheets rice paper 
• 1/2 lb catfish nuggets
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp Shaoxin (or white) wine
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• spinach and basil leaves
• shredded carrots
• shredded scallions
• shredded celery
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• juice from 1/2 lime

1. Season the catfish nuggets with salt, pepper and marinate in Shaoxin wine for about 15 minutes.
2. In a skillet, heat up a tablespoon of coconut oil. Pan fry the catfish for about 3 minutes on each side. Season with more pepper (paprika, chili, or black) if you want.
3. Soak the rice paper in hot water for about 2 minutes or until soft. 
4. On a flat surface, spread out the soaked rice paper, layer on top spinach (optional), basil leaves, shredded veggies, and 1 Tbsp of catfish nuggets.
5. Fold in both sides of the rice paper. Roll from top to bottom to form a roll.
6. In a small bowl, combine the fish sauce and lime juice (can add chili pepper if you like it hot).

To enjoy, cut your rolls in half and dip in the sauce. At least that's how I was served in Cambodia! (Although it was the more traditional shrimp rolls at that time...)

Cost
The wrappers were about $0.10 each, and the catfish $4/lb. Each roll ended up costing less than a dollar to make. Can I just tell you -- they are addictive! Recently I've swapped out the catfish and put in the smoked salmon (1oz per roll), which I consume every single day at lunch! It is crazy that my lunch no longer feels complete without at least one of these rolls! Tomorrow I am going to bring a whole plate of those for a movie/wine get-together. I'll try shrimp though. I'm sure they'll be just as good!