Rice paper

Rice paper — bánh tráng in Vietnamese — is a thin, brittle, translucent sheet dried from a batter of rice flour (Oryza sativa) and water, the edible wrapper that holds Vietnamese fresh spring rolls (gỏi cuốn) and fried rolls (chả giò) together. Sold as stiff, dry rounds that must be dipped in warm water to turn soft, supple and stretchy, it is nearly flavourless on its own — a faintly sweet, clean starch whose job is to bundle herbs, noodles, shrimp and pork into a neat, chewy, see-through parcel. Beyond the roll it is toasted whole over coals as bánh tráng nướng, softened and eaten as a snack, or crumbled into salads, and its cross-hatched weave, printed by the bamboo mat it is dried on, is its signature mark.