Vietnamese rolls recipe

Total: 40 min Diners: 6

It is possible that in Spain when talking about spring rolls we think of the spring rolls from Chinese restaurants. Often with excess oil and accompanied by that sweet and sour phosphorite sauce that is quite unpleasant.

Luckily, there are now upscale Chinese restaurants like China Crown that make them as it should be. In addition, with globalization have been recovering another style of rolls as Vietnamese rolls that are hallmark of its cuisine. Vietnam smells of chaos, bustle, herbs, spices such as aniseed and fish sauce. The street abounds in all its corners with fried food stalls where these rolls are crammed. Then there are also the fresh rolls, which are seen more in restaurants.

Vietnamese rolls are wrapped in a rice (not wheat) wafer that is bought dry, moistened to shape and then fried to a tremendous crisp. They are usually stuffed with pork, and can also incorporate chopped shrimp or prawns, and are accompanied by a fresh lettuce leaf (head), mint, cilantro and sometimes basil.

At the side is served a bowl of nuoc cham sauce, as explained in detail by Alejandro Zurdo in his book “Eating on the streets of Asia”, from which we recover this recipe with some modifications. Positive things about these rolls: that they are left done and you only have to fry them at the time of consumption, it is an ideal appetizer for snacking with friends and, at the same time, take advantage of the leftovers that we have in the fridge because they support many Vegetable Recipes and also types of meat.

The Vietnamese rolls or Cha Gio are one of the star dishes of Vietnam. Consumed almost daily, they are in great demand to accompany any dish. They are made in a jiffy and the only difficulty lies in knowing how to fry them. I always recommend using a tall, narrow ladle so that they are completely covered with oil and you have to use less of it.

Bear in mind that they must be cooked inside so the oil cannot be too hot but not too cold either so that they do not get soaked with fat. Another important trick is to use a cloth underneath the hydrated rice wafers to make them more manageable

Vietnamese spring rolls recipe

Vietnamese spring rolls

Ingredients

. Large rice paper wafers, 6 pc Minced pork, 250 g Chinese onions, 3 pc Carrot, 1 pc Turnip, 1 pc Dried shiitake mushrooms, 50 g Fish sauce, 2 and 1/2 tsp Salt, c/s Ground black pepper, 1 pc Cooked/hydrated rice noodles, 30 gr Lettuce head, 1 pc Fresh cilantro and mint, 3 florets Mild olive or sunflower oil for frying, plenty Nuoc cham or spicy sauce, to accompany

Step 1

Chop very finely the Chinese onion, carrot, turnip and also the dried mushrooms that we will have rehydrated in warm water for 30 minutes. Mix it with the meat and dress it with the fish sauce, sugar, salt and black pepper.

Step 2

Add the rice noodles previously cooked and cooled quickly so that they do not overcook. The ideal is to use thin round noodles, which are even hydrated by soaking them in cold water directly, but if you have wider ones, take advantage of them as I did, because it also looks good. Mix everything very well.

Step 3

Wet the rice wafers with a little water completely, carefully because if we overdo it they will be unmanageable and if we fall short they will not fold well. Put them on a kitchen towel (without odors, watch out for softeners and soaps…) and put a little of the mixture on the edge closest to us. Wrap towards the center and when we have already given a turn fold the sides towards the center also and finish wrapping.

Step 4

Whip egg and carefully spread on the ends to serve as glue. Do them all like this and let them dry slightly before frying.

Step 5

Heat oil in a frying pan or deep saucepan and fry the rolls, the oil must be hot but not too hot so that the rolls have time to cook inside and get golden on the outside. Set aside on a paper towel to suck the excess fat.

Step 6

Serve with lettuce leaves, mint, cilantro and nuoc cham sauce or any spicy sauce of your choice.

Vietnamese spring rolls recipe video

Finally, we leave you this Vietnamese spring rolls recipe video, so you can see step by step how to make it to succeed at home.