The varieties of wraps and rolls in Vietnam

Some of the varieties of rolls are randomly selected and mentioned below:

Banh cuon: This is rice flour roll usually stuffed with prawns, ground pork, and wood ear mushroom. These are eaten as side dishes that includes one out of many kinds of cha i.e. sausage.

Banh trang can be taken as either of the followings:

Banh trang nuong is popular in the South and or banh da is popular in the North. These are large flat rice crackers that enlarge into round and easily shattered pieces on heating. These can be eaten separately. You can also add these into the vermicelli noodle dishes like cao lau and mi quang. Many types of ‘banh trang’ includes prawn-like cracker with dried spring onions, the clear sesame seed ones, sweet milk, and so on.

Banh trang cuon: This is thin rice flour sheet dried into rice paper. These are usually used in making spring roll and summer rolls. Some water is applied to soften the texture.

Bo bia is a roll where we can have stir fried jicama and carrots, shredded scrambled eggs, Chinese sausage, etc. all these are wrapped with vermicelli noodle in a rice paper roll. You can have it dipped into a spicy peanut sauce. Freshly roasted and ground peanuts are also added with it. The roll can be said of Chinese origin. Must be the immigrants bought this here in this country. In Saigon particularly in Cholon, the scene is very common that an old Teochew man or woman selling bo bia at their roadside stand. It is also important that the name bo bia phonetically resembles its original name popiah in the Teochew language.

Salad rolls is also known as Vietnamese fresh rolls, or summer rolls. They are rice paper rolls that include herbs, shrimp, rice, pork, vermicelli and other ingredients. All these are wrapped up and dipped in peanut sauce. I tell you once you have it, you won’t forget the taste.