Bao's Simple Spring Rolls

My friend Bao, who is attending culinary school in New York, served this dish at his going away party in St. Paul. He made it look so easy, of course. It took me a few tries before I finally mastered this dish.

Spring Rolls

What you need for the spring rolls:
Shrimp ($1.80 for ½ lb on sale at Cub), peeled and cooked
½ pound of cooked BBQ Pork from an Asian store ($5.52), cut into small pieces
4 oz Cilantro (.69), washed and taken off stem
Spring Roll Wrappers ($1.99), one package (but you won’t use the whole thing)*
Vermicelli ($1.29), ¼ of the package
Lettuce ($1.29 at Cub), cut into small pieces
Cucumber (.69 cents), cut into small long pieces
5 oz Basil, washed and separated from stem
Spring roll sauce ($1.39, or you can use the peanut sauce I made for the chicken instead)

*Buy spring roll wrappers that come in a plastic container, not bag. They will not break that way. I really like the “Banh Trang” brand, which is sold at Cub.

Bring water to a boil in a pot. Place vermicelli in the water and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside. Make sure the shrimp is peeled and vain removed. Sauté with a little olive oil until done, set aside.
Spread the ingredients on a cutting board or big plate for easy access, but keep the vermicelli in the strainer, but also close by. Now you’ll need three dinner plates. Take a spring roll wrapper and carefully wet it. Once it is damp, but still stiff, place it on the dinner plate. Give it a minute to dry. Transfer it to the second plate. Give it another minute to settle. Make sure you wipe water off the first plate. This helps make sure the wrappers are not soggy. Now, place pork (or shrimp or combination), lettuce, vermicelli, cilantro, cucumber and basil in the middle. Fold like a burrito and place on a serving plate. Repeat until all the meat is gone. Serve with sauce on the side.
A note about making the spring rolls the first time: you'll probably break a few of the wrappers or rip them while folding. Don't worry, this happens! Just keep at it will get easy.