Still searching for the knack

There's a cute video on YouTube called 'the knack', on how to tell if your kid will be an engineer. I'm not an engineer and don't exactly have 'the knack'! But practice makes perfect, right? For the past few weeks I've been trying to make Vietnamese rice paper rolls. All the previous attempts were far too un-photogenic to appear here. Delicious but weird looking.

100 g bean thread (or rice) vermicelli
1 cucumber, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
fresh coriander [cilantro], chopped
about 10 mint leaves
Vietnamese rice paper sheets
sweet chilli sauce

Soak the vermicelli in boiling water for a few minutes then drain and put aside to cool. Chop the vermicelli (kitchen scissors work well) and combine with the cucumber, carrot, coriander and mint.

Dampen a tea towel with water and spread it out on a flat bench. Fill a large plate with water. One by one soak the rice paper sheets in the water (15 seconds seems about right) then place on the tea towel, put a handful of the vermicelli filling in the middle, roll up as neatly as possible and place on a wire rack for a few minutes. Serve with sweet chilli dipping sauce.

This quantity makes about ten rolls, depending how much filling you manage to get into each one. Enjoy ...