Haggis Summer Rolls (Recipe) - for Burns Night and every night

Tiny thief

The first time I tried haggis was 15 years ago when one of my brothers married a Scottish lass up in Edinburgh. If I recall correctly, it was used to stuff a chicken galantine, and I was hugely relieved that it wasn't as offensive as I'd been led to believe.

Several years later, I found myself at their house for a Burns Night supper where my sister-in-law began proceedings by reciting a Robert Burns poem, which to this day, my husband refers to as "when Gayle sang to a haggis".

Great Chieftain of the Pudding Race

Haggis was relatively difficult to come by down South however - at least, you wouldn't see it in your local butchers or supermarket.

I remember when I first saw a MacSween's a few years ago and was delighted that the "real deal" had made it to England.

Now of course, you can get a whole selection - I picked up this lot from my Morrisons, including a vegetarian haggis for my mother-in-law which is presumably made of sawdust and oats.

Haggiiii

I even picked up a packet of cocktail haggis which unfurls rather alarmingly (don't say what you see).

Cocktail haggis

I've grown incredibly fond of the stuff now. If you've never tried haggis, it's like a gently spiced, open-textured sausage and really quite versatile, although nothing beats the haggis, neeps and tatties combo.

If you'd like to experiment though, recipes exist for haggis wontons and haggis samosas. I've made haggis larb and haggis sausage rolls, but this is one of my favourite recipes - haggis summer rolls.

Yes, I know, it's Vietnamese-Scottish fusion. But I stick all sorts of things in summer rolls - from siu yuk to roast duck to Fridge Raiders to PEK (a bit like SPAM but tastier) and they've all worked brilliantly.

Try these for Burns Night Supper tomorrow, or indeed any night you feel like ...

Haggis Summer Rolls

Haggis Summer Rolls Recipe
(adapted from my recipe on Channel 4 here)

Serves 4 as a snack or a starter

INGREDIENTS

For the Vietnamese-ish summer rolls (goi cuon)

• 12 rice paper wrappers (large 22cm circles)
• 200g rice vermicelli noodles
• 2 little gem lettuces, leaves separated
• 500g cooked haggis
• Fresh mint and coriander leaves
• Small bunch of chives, chopped into 8cm lengths

For the Burns Night dipping sauce

• 2 tbsp whisky
• 2 tbsp marmalade
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 50ml boiling water
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 red finger chillies, thinly sliced

Tools

• Large clean work surface or chopping board (bigger surface area than a rice paper wrapper)
• Large tupperware or oven dish (big enough to hold a rice paper wrapper)

Rolling up the summer roll

METHOD

Soak the noodles in just-boiled water for 10-15 minutes, drain, and snip into chipolata-sized clumps.
Whisk the dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl and taste. Adjust according to your own palate – if it's not salty enough for you, add a little fish sauce and so on. Set to one side.
Fill the large dish with warm water (by warm, I mean eg water from a kettle that was boiled and left to rest for 10 minutes).

Time to assemble your summer rolls. Lightly dip a rice paper wrapper in the warm water, keeping it flat, but so every part of the wrapper is thoroughly moist. Immediately place the wrapper flat on your board or work surface. It will feel too stiff at first but will soften up.

The aim is to make a sausage-sized filling for the roll. Layer the ingredients as follows:  place a lettuce leaf horizontally across the wrapper. Then add a clump of noodles on top of this, and then a tablespoonful of haggis. Finish with a generous scattering of herbs and 4-5 chives.

Fold the bottom edge of the wrapper cleanly over the top of the filling and press down the edges, to make a rough semi-circle. Now fold over both sides of the wrapper and press down so it looks a bit like an envelope. Finally, tightly roll up the whole summer roll like a fat cigar.

Repeat for the other rolls. You will have to refresh the warm water in the oven dish. 

When you've made all the rolls, serve immediately with the dipping sauce. If you're saving them for later, store in an airtight Tupperware in the fridge interleaved with clingfilm so they don't dry out or stick together and eat them within a day.