Semi Crunchy, Always Extra

Is it even a recipe if it’s not on a blog, pinned on Pinterest, without a story?? Don’t worry, I won’t go on forever!

We made these egg rolls on April 9, 2020 amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Everyone has been sharing their recipes online and my friend Sue N. shared several Vietnamese dishes that made me so nostalgic and HUNGRY! So I copied her egg roll filling recipe and made it with what I had on hand.

INGREDIENTS

2 packs of egg roll wrappers – yields 48 schmedium rolls – you can freeze half the batch to use later!

I used 1 pack – yields 24 large rolls

FILLING

2 lbs ground meat (I used pork, turkey is fine too)

1/2 lbs shrimp minced

4 chopped green onions

1 med. diced yellow onion

2 med. carrots – finely shredded

3 eggs

2 Tbsp sugar

1/3 c oyster sauce

1 Tbs black pepper

2 bundles of bean thread noodles soaked and cut into 1” pieces

1/4 c of shredded dried wood ear mushrooms soaked (not pictured/omitted)

Vegetable oil – enough to submerge when frying.

PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE

This is completely optional, but I like my filling to be very, very finely minced. I prefer a very uniform texture, so even though I’m starting with ground pork, I run all filling ingredients except the carrots and bean thread noodles through my Kitchen Aid meat grinder attachment on fine cut a couple times until everything is well incorporated. It’s also the easiest way to hide ingredients that my kids might object to. My daughter dislikes meat, my son doesn’t eat mushrooms, and both don’t touch green onion, so we pulverize the heck out of these ingredients.

Story time – when I was a little kid, my grandmother lived with us, and she made her egg roll filling extra fine too. She had a little orange and beige (colors straight out of 1975) meat grinder that she would use to grind up the shrimp and cubes of pork. Then, she took the ground meat and sat on the kitchen floor with a cutting board and meat cleaver (she claimed this was easier on her back) and sat chopping up the ground meat mixture by hand. She did this over and over until it was a finer texture than the meat grinder could ever produce. Now that is old school!

I will stick to modern conveniences!

No floor chopping with this guy hanging around the kitchen!

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Let’s roll.

Place 1/4cup of your filling on the wrapper 2” from a corner and fold the corner over the filling, pulling back to get it tight. Fold two side corners in and roll to the last corner like an envelope. ✉️ Use a dab of water on the pst corner to seal your roll.

FRY in vegetable oil on medium-low heat (325-350F) until golden brown and slightly buoyant.

Remove from pan to a wire rack placed on aluminum foil or paper towel lined plates. Avoid stacking them if you want to keep them crispy! But don’t worry, they spring right back to life in the air fryer. 😉

I’m notorious for preparing wonderful dishes and then burning the ish out of them, so I enlisted my husband to do the frying while I prepared the dipping sauce.

You can simply dip these in your favorite sweet and sour sauce, just like a Chinese egg roll (typically cabbage based) or prepare some Vietnamese nuoc cham (dipping sauce) the cornerstone of Vietnamese cuisine.

To be honest, the main reason I don’t make egg rolls more often is, because I have never been good at making the dipping sauce. I tend to cook like your Italian Nona and just throw in a little this and that, eyeballing ingredients, and always doubling the amount of garlic the recipe calls for. This is a recipe for disaster when it comes to fish sauce because that ish is strong!

So, I mostly followed this nuoc cham recipe from The Best of Nicole Routhier, by the author of The Foods of Vietnam. It turned out delicious with my slight modifications. Now that I’ve got nuoc cham figured out, I’ll be making banh xeo, another Vietnamese favorite from this book next!

The Best of Nicole Routhier Hardcover Amazon

DIPPING SAUCE // nuoc cham (optional)

Yields 1 cup.

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 Serrano chile pepper seeded and minced (not pictured/substituted)

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice

1/4 c rice vinegar

1/4 c fish sauce nuoc mam* (divided)

1/4 c water

Combine garlic, chile, and sugar. Pound into a paste, using a mortar and pestle if you have one, or a muddler if you’re one of my bartender friends. My thoughts are with you during this time. The back of a spoon works too.

Add lime juice, vinegar, fish sauce*

Stir to blend.

*Not all fish sauces are created equal. Start with 3 Tbsp, combine with other ingredients and taste. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp to taste if you prefer a bolder flavor.

With limited supplies on hand during this stay at home order, I substituted the Serrano chile for 1 tsp garlic chile paste in the dipping sauce.

TIP To make additional sauce to have on hand:

Bring sugar, vinegar and water to a boil in a saucepan.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Add lime juice and fish sauce.

Store in a tightly closed glass jar.

This mixture may be refrigerated 2-3 months simply add crushed fresh garlic.

GARNISH

Green leaf lettuce, ribs removed

Pickled carrots and daikon // do chua

Set aside on a serving dish for everyone to share.

ENJOY

Serve family style.

Wrap each egg roll with a piece of lettuce adding a little carrot and daikon.

Dip in prepared nuoc cham, adding additional spice if desired – garlic chile paste or rooster sauce.

The nuoc cham dipping sauce and fresh garnishes is what really lets you dive into the flavors of Vietnam. If you don’t have the ingredients or energy to prep them, go ahead and dip in your favorite sweet and sour sauce for a Vietnamese-ish experience that’s still very yummy.

NOTES

Wheat spring roll/egg roll wrappers are preferred because they are easy to work with and brown well. Preferred brands can be found at most Asian markets- Menlo or Spring House or what the typical grocery stores carry, Dynasty. Dynasty wrappers will get bubbly texture when fried, like mine. The others will have a smoother appearance. No matter which one you find at your local store, they’ll come out crispy and delish.

Rice paper may also be used, but isn’t recommended because it requires soaking, is harder to work with and doesn’t stay crisp as long.

If you prefer an alternative wrapper for dietary restrictions, try coconut wraps. I haven’t used this myself, but it is recommended that you only pan fry with little to no oil. Caution – These will burn if deep fried!

Image source: amazon.com

Freezing egg rolls – you can par-fry them and freeze. This prevents the wrappers from getting soggy and the rolls sticking together/ripping while defrosting. Then re-fry in oil or air fryer. You may also choose to freeze them raw in a single layer, not touching, on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Once frozen, store the loose rolls in a freezer food storage bag.