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I’m eating shrimp and noodle lettuce wraps as an attempt to hold onto summer. I know it is officially fall, but I am not quite ready to let go of the summer season. The mornings and evenings are pleasantly cool, but days are still filled with plenty of sunshine and warmth. Fall is my favorite season, but before I bust out my dutch oven and start making hearty soups, I am going to get my last fill of light, fresh bites.

These lettuce wraps are inspired by Vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowls (bún). The dish typically has a base of noodles that are topped with marinated proteins, a variety of vegetables and plenty of fresh herbs. It is served with nước chấm (a fish sauce based sauce) which is poured over the ingredients before eating. For this recipe, I wanted to take those flavors and transform them into handheld bites.

Ingredients

Don’t let the fact that this is a Vietnamese inspired dish intimidate you. Most, if not all, of the ingredients can be found at your regular grocery store. Let’s start with the green stuff. I prefer to use butter lettuce as the “cups”, but Boston lettuce is a perfectly acceptable substitute. For the herbs, I use a combination of cilantro, mint, and Thai basil. Thai basil may be the one thing you will need to purchase from a specialty market or Asian grocery. I wouldn’t suggest using Italian or sweet basil as they have a different flavor profile. The Thai basil will add a bit of an anise and slightly spicy flavor to the dish that sweet basil lacks.

The aromatics for the recipe consist of garlic and lemongrass. If you can get fresh lemongrass to make your own paste, I’d highly recommend it. However, I used a prepackaged lemongrass dish, and it worked just fine. The shrimp should be medium sized, peeled and deveined. I usually do that myself as I like to save the shells and heads for stock. I have seen that fish sauce and vermicelli noodles can now be easily found in international aisles of the grocery store. The remaining ingredients I bet will either already be in your pantry or fridge or will be easy to find:

• sugar
• brown sugar
• lime juice (preferable fresh squeezed)
• bean sprouts
• carrots
• cucumber
• peanuts

Cooking & Assembly

I was not exaggerating when I mentioned there would be minimal cooking. Most of the recipe requires shredding, chopping, and slicing. The dipping sauce can be made in advance. The only ingredients you will need to cook are the shrimp and vermicelli noodles. The noodles are as easy as boiling a pot of water. I use an enamel cast iron grill pan for my shrimp, but you can use any large sauté pan you have on hand. I’d be careful not to overcook the shrimp. They don’t take long to cook and will be done when they are pink and opaque.

Assembly is quick and if you have little ones this is a step that even they can help with. If you are eating this as a meal (as opposed to an appetizer), you can make it interactive at the table by having everyone build their own lettuce cups. Start with one lettuce cup and place about 1-1.5 tbsp of cooked noodles int he middle. I follow that with a bit of carrots, cucumbers, and bean sprouts. Add a Thai basil leaf, 2 shrimp, and garnish with cilantro, mint and crushed peanuts. The nước chấm is served on the side. You can pour a little on top or dip directly into the sauce before eating. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how such little lettuce cups can pack such big flavor!

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Lemongrass Shrimp & Rice Vermicelli Lettuce Wraps

Vietnamese inspired shrimp lettuce wraps

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Assembly Time10 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Keywords: lettuce wraps, shrimp

Servings: 12 wraps

Equipment

• cast iron grill pan

Ingredients

Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce)

• 6 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1.5 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 garlic clove finely minced

Lemongrass Shrimp

• 1 lb medium shrimp about 24 peeled and deveined
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp lemongrass paste
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 garlic cloves minced

Lettuce Cups

• 2 oz rice vermicelli noodles
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 medium cucumber peeled and julienned
• 12 large Thai basil leaves
• mint chopped
• cilantro chopped
• 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
• 1 head butter lettuce

Instructions

Nouc Cham

• Combine 3 tbsp of warm water and sugar in small bowl. Stir until sugar dissolves.
• Add an additional 3 tbsp of room temperature water, lime juice, fish sauce and garlic. Stir and set aside.

Lemongrass Shrimp & Vermicelli Noodles

• In medium bowl, add shrimp, fish sauce, lemongrass paste, brown sugar and garlic cloves. Mix to coat the shrimp and set aside to marinate 10 minutes.
• While the shrimp marinates, cook rice vermicelli noodles according to package directions. Strain and rinse with cold water. Set aside to cool.
• In a lightly oiled cast iron grill pan over medium high heat, cook shrimp 2 to 3 minutes per side or until pink and opaque.

Lettuce Cup Assembly

• Arrange lettuce leaves on a platter. Layer each with 1-1.5 Tbsp. rice vermicelli noodles.
• Divide bean sprouts, shredded carrots and cucumber among lettuce cups. Top with one Thai basil leaf.
• Add 2 shrimp per lettuce cup and garnish with mint, cilantro and peanuts.
• Serve with nuoc cham dipping sauce.

Notes

Shrimp can be cooked in a skillet if you don’t have access to a grill pan.