About this recipe
Deep-fried rolls with a pork and wood-ear filling bound with glass noodles — miến, the translucent mung-bean threads, which are the correct noodle here and are not the same as the white rice vermicelli used in fresh rolls. Known as nem rán in the north. Served wrapped in lettuce and herbs and dipped in nước chấm.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- About 20 rolls, serving 4–6
- Prep
- 45 minutes
- Cook
- 25 minutes
- Total
- 70 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Spice
- Mild
Allergens Contains pork, egg and fish (fish sauce); shellfish if crab or shrimp is used. Gluten-free only if rice-paper wrappers are used.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The filling
- 12 oz (340 g) ground pork
- 2 oz (60 g) dried glass noodles (miến), soaked in warm water 10 minutes and cut into short lengths
- 1/2 oz (15 g) dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked, drained and finely chopped
- 1 cup (about 110 g) jicama or taro, cut into fine matchsticks
- 1 medium carrot, finely grated
- 3 shallots, finely minced
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 large egg
- 1.5 tbsp (22 ml) fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp (1 g) freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp (2 g) granulated sugar
To wrap and fry
- 20 round rice paper wrappers, 6 in (16 cm), or 20 wheat spring-roll wrappers
- 1 tbsp (15 g) sugar dissolved in 1 cup (240 ml) warm water, for softening rice paper
- Neutral oil, for deep-frying, about 4 cups (950 ml)
To serve
- 1 large platter of soft lettuce leaves and herbs — mint, perilla, cilantro
- 1 quantity nước chấm (recipe #26)
Equipment
- Deep pot or wok for frying
- Thermometer
- Wire rack
- Mixing bowl
- Shallow dish of water for the wrappers
Method
- Combine the pork, drained glass noodles, wood ear, jicama, carrot, shallots, garlic, egg, fish sauce, pepper and sugar in a bowl. Mix thoroughly with your hands until evenly combined.
- Dip a rice paper wrapper briefly in the sugar water — 2 seconds, no more — and lay it on a work surface. The sugar helps it brown.
- Place about 1.5 tbsp of filling in a line across the lower third. Fold the bottom edge up, fold in both sides, then roll up firmly but not tightly; the filling expands as it cooks.
- Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling, keeping the finished rolls apart so they do not stick.
- Heat the oil in a deep pot to 325°F/165°C.
- Fry the rolls in batches of five or six, without crowding, for 8–10 minutes, turning occasionally, until pale golden and cooked through. Lift onto a wire rack.
- Raise the oil to 375°F/190°C. Return the rolls in batches and fry 1–2 minutes more, until deep golden and blistered.
- Drain on the rack, not on paper towel, so the undersides stay crisp.
- Serve hot. Diners wrap each roll in a lettuce leaf with herbs and dip it in nước chấm.
Uses from this chapter
- Nước Chấm (Dipping Sauce) (Recipe #26) — The standard dip
- Đồ Chua (Pickled Carrot & Daikon) (Foundations — Condiments) — Often stirred into the dip
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Chả Giò (Fried Spring Rolls) sits in the Vietnam chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Vietnam chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.