Vietnamese Rice Paper Buying Tips

 

Let me just start off by being honest: Buying rice paper confounds me. Whenever I have to purchase rice paper (bánh tráng) I find myself standing in the Chinese or Vietnamese market staring at the various brands. There are things that I look for in the labeling and there are brands that I prefer. However, there are usually so many different brands and several kinds that it’s hard to choose. Plus, hyper-competitive entrepreneurial manufacturers constantly tweak their products to attract customers so there seems to be something new to consider and try every time I shop for rice paper. Because I’m curious by nature, I tend to buy several kinds and test drive them.

Last week Laura C. asked me about how to buy rice paper for rice paper rolls that she fills with seared ahi tuna. (Sounds delish, no?) When I inventoried my cupboard and refrigerator, I discovered that I had 12 (!!) kinds of rice paper in various shapes, sizes, and composition. I purchased most of them in the U.S. but also have some that I brought back from Vietnam. There are many partially opened packages and each one brings back a cooking memory – mostly good and some disasters. So I’m taking time out to write about one of the most important ingredients in the Vietnamese kitchen. 

Since my mom and I eat lots of goi cuon (unfried rice paper rolls that are often translated as salad or summer rolls) cha gio (fried rice paper rolls often referred to as Vietnamese spring rolls), and meals during which we make hand rolls with rice paper, we are always sharing tips on what brand of rice paper is good. Some of you may need guidance as well or have advice to share.

What is rice paper?

It is not the stuff used for arts and crafts. That kind of rice paper used for painting, etc. is made from plant fibers such as mulberry and hemp. Rice paper used for Vietnamese food is traditionally made from just rice, water, and salt. They are one of the unique aspects of Vietnamese cooking and dining, and food wrapped up in sheaths of translucent rice paper is utterly charming. Aside from looking pretty and holding a bunch of goodies together, they contribute chewy texture and a slight tang to whatever they encase.

Basically, rice paper is a thin steamed rice crepe (or sheet, as some people call them) that has been dried. Traditionally, rice paper gets dried on bamboo mats or stretchers of sorts, which explains why they have a woven, rattanlike pattern. Rice paper is a great way to store rice for a long time and it is convenient too. Right before using, it is rehydrated and softened in warm or hot water. Vietnamese rice paper is a cooked ingredient and once rehydrated, it can be eaten as is or fried. It is not for baking so don't think it can be used like phyllo pastry!

Can you make rice paper at home?
No. Vietnamese people buy rice paper just as French people buy baguettes. It’s a specialty ingredient made by artisanal producers by hand or manufactured in modern factories by machines. Most people now use factory-made rice paper.

How do you say rice paper in Vietnamese?
Download the Vietnamese pronunciation for bánh tráng

Where do you buy Vietnamese rice paper?
The best selection will be at a Vietnamese market or Chinese market. Many health food store and specialty markets now carry rice paper so do check there in the Asian food aisle. If you  have no access to Vietnamese rice paper, consider buying them online.

What to look for when buying Vietnamese rice paper?

Choose a comfortable size. The most widely available size at Asian markets is the 8 1/2-inch circle (about the size of a regular flour tortilla). It’s the easiest to manipulate, and all the recipes in this book use that size. Extra skilled cooks use the smaller circles and triangles for making tiny, thumb-size rolls. Large ones – the size of platters are meant to produce fat, long rolls that can be cut up into individual portions. Square rice papers can be used to create straight edge, neat open ended rolls that are unfried; they may also be used like an eggroll skin to produce closed end rolls for deep frying.

Select a type of rice paper -- all rice, tapioca and rice, or all tapioca rice paper? Rice paper nowadays is much easier to work with than the ones of the past, which were thick, made of just rice, water, and salt, and required super hot water to soften. That’s changed in the recent past as producers have blended in some tapioca starch to make the papers more pliable and thinner. I like these modern renditions as they soften easier. When shopping for rice paper, look for ones made with rice or a combination of rice and tapioca starch. The more rice that’s in the papers, the more opaque and thicker they are. Papers made with rice and tapioca starch are on the translucent side and seem loftier in their packaging; these thinner ones conveniently soften in warm or lukewarm water, whereas the thicker ones need hotter water.

Avoid the super thin, see-through, all-tapioca starch papers. They lack the tang of rice, go limp in a flash, and tear easily; they’re often labeled bánh tráng dẻo (soft and pliable rice paper) or bánh tráng mỏng (thin rice paper). In English, they're oten labeled tapioca sheets. These rice paper are for skilled cooks who know how to manipulate them well. Some people like all-tapiocal starch papers because rolls made from them stay soft for hours. I don't like their flavor and they're notoriously difficult to tame.

Be skeptical of ingredient listings. Despite what the ingredients listing may say, Vietnamese rice paper does not contain wheat flour; it’s a translation problem. Rice paper should have rice and/or tapioca starch, water, and salt.

Trust the Red Rose brand of rice paper. The reliable Red Rose brand is borrowed by many producers as a symbol of quality. The impostors are often quite good so don’t shy away from them.

Three Ladies brand is my preferred brand. I’ve been using the Three Ladies Brand for years, and it’s been good to me. When I teach cooking classes, that is the brand I use because it's easy for beginners to use and experienced cooks like it too. Plus, there are no impostors -- at this time, anyway. The small size (think corn tortilla) rice papers from Three Ladies are hard to find but really great for small rolls. See the photo at the top for the logo and regular and small sizes.

Buy what the store carries when shopping at a regular market. I like to assume that rice paper sold at mainstream and specialty markets, such as Whole Foods Market, have been screened for shoppers. You’re likely to get a quality product at such places.

Pay more when in doubt. Select the higher priced rice paper and buy several kinds to try them out. They’re not expensive. Asian ingredient manufacturers are very competitive and a 25 cents difference matters in quality.

How to store rice paper?
Keep it in the cupboard and once the package is opened, store it in a zip-top plastic bag in the cupboard where they will last for several years.

Foods that can be wrapped in rice paper:

• Grilled Shrimp on Sugarcane (chao tom)
• Vietnamese Restaurant-style Grilled Lemongrass Pork (thit heo nuong xa)
• Korean-Vietnamese Grilled Pork Belly (add a few carbs for an extra layer of flavor!)
• Check the Recipe Index listing of all recipes on this site for more ideas

Next up: Step-by-step how to wrap rice paper rolls, some unusual types of rice paper, and artisanal rice paper making.

Feel free to add tips (do you have a brand you like? why?, insights and/or questions below!

Comments

[thuy]

As wierd as it sounds... I try to avoid rice paper made in Vietnam. Not only is it a political statement, it is an environmental statement for me. I can't get myself to drink the water there, how can I eat banh trang made from Vietnamese water? When I can see it is made with bottled water, I would consider buying banh trang made in VN.

Over the years, I have managed to stay with one brand and it is the OK one. I like the elephant one too but the shelves never stay stocked with them. What is important to me is that it doesn't rip when I am rolling items in it. I love the rose brand, but it isn't consistent with the rip factor.

We don't get the 3 ladies banh trang here in Florida (well I haven't seen them.) But their banh pho is pretty good.

[Amy]

Thank you so much for this information! I bought rice paper not too long ago. : )

[Diana]

Great post! I just bought myself some rice paper a week ago and was surprised to see so many of them were made from tapioca. Fortunately they had the kind I knew from Hawaii, so I just grabbed those. It's so fun to work with!

[Pat]

i've always been confused by the variety of brands of rice paper, not to mention, noodles and their different sizes and shapes! i'm no rice paper expert but i've tried the rose brand and it worked ok. thanks for the primer, andrea!

[Andrea Nguyen]

Choosing rice paper can be confusing. Three Ladies brand is the same as the Thai Jasmine rice producer. However, the rice paper is made in Vietnam. On the packaging, it says:

100% dung bang may che bien va say kho
Hop ve sinh

Translation:

100% machine made and dried
Clean and Sanitary

It's a good product and I trust them. As for Vietnamese drinking water, well... who drinks water from the tap in Asia? People either boil the water first or filter it. I've been in modest homes where there's a charcoal filter Sparkletts type thing to dispense water.

[von]

I really appreciate it when you test different brands of Asian cooking staples and recommend the ones that work best because it really saves me time and money to know which ones are superior especially when cooking your recipes.
What I find disturbing these days are that some brands make rice papers and noodles that are so blindingly white that they look like they've been drowned in bleach or been through some sort of artificial process to coerce them into that unnatural shade of white. I definitely stay away from those.

[Alice]

Thanks for this helpful post on rice paper! Since moving from Los Angeles to Melbourne, Australia I've felt a little lost on things like this without my mom just putting things in the cart.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Von, ugh, white colored foods and ingredients are perceived to be more 'civilized' in Asia. With rice, it may be that the rice is being milled to strip it of most of the bran layers -- thereby polishing it more. I'm not an expert but hope that bleaching rice isn't part of making rice paper.

Alice, glad to help you cook in Melbourne!

[Corey]

Thank you so much for pointing out the translation problem on some rice paper packages. I've been avoiding the brand that is most commonly sold in my area because I assumed it actually had wheat flour in it, so I'm glad you cleared this up!

[Andrea Nguyen]

You're welcome, Corey. I'm an obsessive label reader and with Vietnamese food ingredients, there's extra detective work involved. I often cross reference the English with the Vietnamese -- understandably it's not easy for everyone to do! So I pass on what I learn!

[OysterCulture]

Thank you for this post, I confess to being befuddled when I check out this section. There are so many options, I feel like I am getting in over my head.

[LN]

what brand or kind would be good for making cha gio? I have several brands in my pantry because Ive been searching for that ONE brand that will fry up crispy and brown. Some of them fry up really white and chewy. There is a local rest here that server the cha gio wrapped in rice paper and its always golden brown and delicious. Help.

[Andrea Nguyen]

LN, I use the 3 Ladies Brand for cha gio, and I dip them in sugar water (mix 1:4 ratio of sugar to water) to help browning. Double fry them to recrisp the cha gio. The all tapioca banh trang will fry up white -- very strange looking.

The local resto may be mixing in some caramel sauce into the dipping water but I've not had luck with that. There's a caramel sauce recipe on this site at:

http://vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2007/10/caramel-sauce.html

Hope I'm of help.

[Tammy]

I'm so glad to finally realize that I'm not the only person who stands in a sea of rice paper at the store and feel lost. It usually takes an impatient boyfriend and his heavy sighs for me to make a decision on one, and even then, I second guess myself.

I have tried to remember the brand my mother always got and used when I was younger and living at home and can't remember. I have been trying out different kinds.

I have found that the rice and tapioca mix works very well for me and the clumsy hands of my boyfriend.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Tammy, you are NOT alone! Your boyfriend just needs some practice. Hey, it's just food and you eat your boo boos.

[pvpserverlar]

I have tried to remember the brand my mother always got and used when I was younger and living at home and can't remember. I have been trying out different kinds.

[mandie932]

Thank you so much! I don't have much experience with asian cooking and am often overwhelmed by the choices! Your detailed info helped me feel much more confident about my choice of Three Ladies Brand!

[kulyia]

hello once again :) i always buy mine (three lady) too because its thick and they dont have missing spots on them.

[xat sohbet]

thank post . nice informations man.