There is a certain local Asian noodle bar that has built an entire business model on its take-out boxes of delicious noodle dishes, but what keeps me coming back are their spring rolls. Piping hot and crisp, full of savoury pork, carrots, bean thread noodles, and general umami-ness, they are served with crunchy green lettuce leaves and sprigs of fresh cilantro to wrap around them and salty-spicy-sweet nước chấm for dipping. They are insanely delicious and I could easily eat half a dozen in one sitting, but sadly each order only contains two rolls.

When this month’s Around the World in 12 Plates destination turned out to be Vietnam, my thoughts turned immediately to spring rolls. Although the rolls at the noodle bar in question are supposed to be Cambodian, they are almost identical (at least to my Western taste buds) to the Vietnamese spring rolls I’ve had with Vietnamese bún (rice noodle) dishes, and a quick peruse of recipes showed very similar ingredients – which makes sense, given that Cambodia and Vietnam are neighbours and would have overlapping cuisines. So Vietnamese spring rolls to indulge my Cambodian spring roll craving? Sure!

One of the more challenging aspects of this monthly challenge is not the recipes themselves, but rather sourcing the international ingredients (guava paste, anyone?). I couldn’t find bean thread noodles, wood ear mushrooms, or spring roll wrappers at any local grocery store, so I had to improvise with some less-authentic ingredients: rice vermicelli noodles, shiitake mushrooms, and egg roll wrappers (apologies to any Vietnamese people reading this and shaking their heads!). The spring rolls (or should I call them egg rolls?) still came out delicious, although I definitely prefer the thin-and-crisp spring roll wrappers to the bubbly-textured egg roll wrappers. So now I’m keeping my eyes peeled for spring roll wrappers for next time – because yes, deep frying and all, there will be a next time!

Check out what the other #ATW12P bloggers made this month:

Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen

The Food Girl in Town

Sugar Loves Spices

 

Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls {Chả giò}

Adapted from Epicurious; makes about 20 spring rolls, depending on the size of your wrappers.

Nước chấm Dipping Sauce

In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, combine:

6 tbsp warm water

3 scant tbsp granulated sugar

Mix until the sugar dissolves, then add:

2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar (not seasoned)

1 tsp lime juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1 fresh red Thai chili, thinly sliced

Stir together, then set aside in the fridge for at least 2 hours for the flavours to meld.

Spring Roll Filling

Place 3 1/4 oz very thin bean thread noodles, aka mung bean or cellophane noodles (rice vermicelli works, too) in a medium bowl, and cover with boiling water. Let the noodles soak for 5-10 minutes (depending on the brand of noodle) until they are “al dente”. Drain them in a fine mesh strainer and rinse in cold water.

Using kitchen shears, cut the noodles into 2-3 inch lengths and place them in a large bowl.

Place 1 oz dried wood ear mushrooms (or dried shiitake mushrooms) in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak for about 15 minutes, until fully rehydrated. Drain and rinse the mushrooms well and squeeze out any excess liquid. Trim off the hard stems, then finely chop the mushroom caps.

Add the mushrooms to the bowl with the noodles, along with:

1/2 lb ground pork

1 cup shredded carrots

1 small shallot, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

Put 1/2 lb raw, shelled, deveined prawns in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times until minced but not pasty (you can also mince the shallot and garlic separately in the food processor if you don’t feel like doing it by hand).

Add to the bowl along with the other filling ingredients.

Season with:

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp granulated sugar

1 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

Mix everything together with your hands until the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Assembly

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Lay out a stack of about 20-25 spring roll wrappers. I used egg roll wrappers (blasphemy, probably) that were about 5″ square – if you’re using larger spring roll wrappers, you’ll cut them into triangles and can follow the instructions here for how to fold them up. Mix together an egg wash of 1 egg + 1 tbsp water + pinch of salt.

Lay one wrapper on your work surface and spoon about 2 tbsp of the filling into the middle as shown, forming it into a little log with about 1/2″ clearance to the edge of the wrapper. Brush egg wash all the way around the edge of the wrapper. Fold the bottom corner of the square wrapper up over the filling, then fold in each side to fully enclose it, like an envelope. You want to make sure that the filling is completely enclosed so the rolls don’t explode when you fry them, so err on the side of under-filling rather than over-filling. Roll up from the bottom to form a little cylinder, and place on the wax paper-lined tray.

Repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers, and keep the assembled rolls loosely covered in the fridge until ready to fry.

To fry, heat 1 1/2 inches of canola or vegetable oil (about 6 cups) in a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat until it reaches 365˚F on a deep fry/candy thermometer.

With tongs, add 4-5 spring rolls to the hot oil, keeping them from touching for the first minute or two so they don’t stick together. Adjust the heat to keep the oil at the correct temperature and cook for 4-5 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.

Remove the rolls to a colander lined with paper towels and allow them to drain upright for a few minutes.

Return the oil to 365˚F between batches. The fried spring rolls can be kept warm in a 200˚F oven while the rest of them are being cooked.

Serve the spring rolls with crisp lettuce leaves and sprigs of cilantro and mint for rolling, along with the nước chấm for dipping.

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