Gá»Âi cuá»Ân, () nem cuá»Ân, salad roll, summer roll, fresh spring roll, or rice paper roll is a Vietnamese dish traditionally consisting of pork, prawn, vegetables, bún (rice vermicelli), and other ingredients wrapped in bánh tráng (commonly known as rice paper or cold roll).
Gá»Âi cuá»Ân are served fresh, unlike similar rolls that are fried, like the Vietnamese chả giò. They are served at room temperature (or cooled) and are not cooked on the outside.
The bánh tráng is dipped in water, then laid flat on a plate with the desired amount of ingredients placed on top. The fresh gá»Âi cuá»Ân is then rolled up and ready to be eaten. Gá»Âi cuá»Ân can be served with tðáng xào (also known as hoisin sauce), which consists of ground tðáng (tðáng ÃÂen or tðáng xay) and mixed coconut water (or broth), before being stir-fried with garlic and some sugar and then sprinkled with chili powder and ground peanuts. Alternatively, gá»Âi cuá»Ân can be served with peanut sauce or other Vietnamese dipping sauces, such as nðá»Âc chấm, a condiment based on fish sauce.
In Vietnam and in various parts of Southeast Asia, Vietnamese can be seen hand-making bánh tráng and placing them on the rectangular bamboo trays around their houses. Traditionally, gá»Âi cuá»Ân are eaten with a large group of people at a home setting.
In southern Vietnam, these rolls are called gá»Âi cuá»Ân, meaning salad rolls, while in northern Vietnam, these rolls are called nem cuá»Ân, meaning nem rolls. In central Vietnam, they are simply called "rice paper" rolls. In the West, these rolls are called by several different English names, including "salad roll", "spring roll" and "summer roll." Sometimes the word "Vietnamese" is added at the beginning of these words; for example, in Hong Kong, they are called "Vietnamese rolls", and in Australia and the United States they may be called "Vietnamese spring rolls" (although specifically in Australia they may sometimes be referred to as "cold rolls"). Some Asian restaurants in the United States also refer to them as "crystal rolls", "soft rolls" or "salad rolls". The name "summer roll" was popularized by some Vietnamese American restaurants for easier marketing and as a seasonal play on the term "spring roll". But many Vietnamese American restaurants still use "spring roll" as the English translation.
Fresh rolls are easily distinguished from similar rolls by the fact that they are not fried, and the ingredients used are different from (deep-fried) Vietnamese egg rolls. In Cambodia, Vietnamese gá»Âi cuá»Ân are called nime chao, meaning "raw rice paper"; they are produced by a different technique in the Siem Reap and Battambang areas from that in Vietnam. Another dish called kuy tieu kat ("cut rice noodles") is created by steaming the water mixture and adding meat, vegetables and other assorted condiments. In Japan, they are called ("raw spring rolls"), and are typically filled with shrimp.
The fillings can vary from the standard pork slices, Vietnamese sausage slices (chả), and shrimp; fish, pan-fried seafood (such as squid), beef poached in a lemongrass broth, grilled nem nðá»Âng sausages, braised pork, and egg are among some of the other popular spring roll variations. Vegan variations include tofu, mushrooms or avocado.