Rice paper (bánh tráng)
Pantry
Fresh summer rolls, and a dumpling wrapper that needs no dough and no rolling pin.
What to know
Soak it for seconds, not minutes, and take it out while it still feels firm and slightly stiff at the centre. It keeps softening after it leaves the water, so a sheet that feels ready in the bowl is already too far gone — it tears, sticks to itself and cannot be unstuck.
- Choosing it
- 22 cm rounds are the usual size and the easiest to fold. Hold the packet up to the light before buying: sheets that are cracked or chipped at the edges will split along those lines however carefully you handle them.
- Storing it
- Flat, sealed and dry. The sheets are brittle and shatter if the packet is bent or stood on its edge.
- If you cannot get it
- Sold in the imported or East Asian section in Indian cities, rarely outside them. A thin hand-rolled maida wrapper does the same job, but it is a different thing to eat — chewy where rice paper is slippery.
Measures
- 1 piece ≈ 11 g
Cups here are the Indian 200 ml cup, not the 240 ml US cup — a common reason a recipe does not work. Weigh where you can; the grams are the figure we cook to.