Christmas is coming, and you will have a long break with friends and family. What is a better occasion than that to treat your beloved friends and family members with homemade spring rolls? Here is the recipe that I learned from my friends to make spring rolls in America. All the ingredients can be bought from Ha Tien (a Vietnamese market down Main Street, just about a 5-minute walk from Clark).
Ingredients:
1lb ground pork
1 carrot
1 onion
1.5 tbs of fish sauce- to taste
1.5 tsp pf salt- to taste
1.5 tsp of sugar
1.5 tsp of seasoning (hạt nêm)
Black pepper- to increase flavor
2 eggs
Rice paper (normal Vietnamese ricepaper is good enough, but you can use special ones that are made for spring roll which can be found at most Asian markets)
Oil- to deep fry
9 shrimps (optional)
6 shiitake mushrooms (optional)
a handful of dried fungus (optional)
(Can make about 40-50 rolls depending on how much stuffing is put to one roll)
The spices can be adjusted according to individual’s taste and availability. Fish sauce and seasoning can be replaced by salt. The optional ingredients can help make the rolls taste better; however, the rolls are still good if you do not add them.
One tip is that you can choose the fillings according to your preference. I have seen people using chicken or vegetable as fillings. Therefore, you can create your own favorite rolls.
Directions:
Cut the dry ingredients like carrot, onion and mushrooms into small pieces. They need to be small in order to be stuffed easily inside a roll. For dried mushrooms and shiitake, they should be soaked with warm water to get soft for easy chopping. (Here, I use raw shrimp to add the flavor, but without shrimp, the rolls are still perfectly fine. Shrimps need to be chopped well.)
After the cutting, combine ground pork, shrimp, and all the dry ingredients into a big bowl for easy mixing.
Add salt, sugar, seasoning, fish sauce, and black pepper.
Add eggs, and mix the combination one more time to make sure that all the ingredients are equally spread.
Next, we go to the rolling part:
Use just enough water to get the rice paper wet, though not soaking wet. Wait for a few minutes to feel that the rice paper is soft enough to start rolling.
Place about 2 tablespoons of the fillings onto a rice paper and roll it. Using your fingers, mold the filling into a cylinder and fold the two pointed ends of the wrapper in and roll to enclose. Do the same for other rolls before frying, and do not stack them.
Fry your rolls on a big pan with oil. Be careful not to turn on the heat too high because the rice paper will be overcooked, while the meat inside is not fully cooked. Low to medium heat is the best. Wait about 8-10 minutes on each side of the roll, turning often until they are nicely brown and crispy.
These are the rolls that I have cooked, not very well decorated, but taste delicious ;)
(Photo source: Author)
They use the rice paper especially for spring roll so the outer layer looks better.
(Photo source)
It may take long time for first time cook, but the resulting dish is worth trying. You can inbox me on Facebook if you need any help or suggestion with your dish. With two people, the dish can be done in about an hour, therefore, the more the better: grab your friends and roll up our sleeves to make these delicious rolls! :)
