Vietnamese Spring Rolls - specific taste of Vietnamese cuisine

Known as one of the famous food cities in Asia, Vietnam is not only an attractive destination by beautiful landscape but also diversified cuisine. if you go to Vietnam, you will not forget specific taste by delicious food and hospitality of Vietnamese people. That was true feeling of my foreign friend after his coming to my home for the invitation of dinner. 

As a hospitable tradition, a welcome party was prepared by my mother with some Vietnamese food that I thought he will like. In menu, Spring Rolls is familiar dish with Vietnamese that we often make in celebration like wedding, new house celebration, special parties… as well as everyday meals, but with foreigners, this dish may be new taste, different from other place and only in Vietnam. When looking at my mother wrapping spring rolls, my friend was really interested and also tried to do as my mother’s guide. Standing by their side, I explained for my friend that we call "Nem Ran" in the North, "Cha Gio" in the South, it is special as its name “spring” by a combination of ingredients: natural flavors of vegetables (carrot, cabbage, green onions, sprouted beans), with dried ear mushroom, vermicelli, pork, egg … A dish is full of energy and nutrition. 

My mother said only in special celebration we would have chance to taste Spring Rolls because it also means to be comfortably off. From different kinds of food which are hard to plant or get, we combined in a delicious dish and hoped that everyone will be well-fed, get wealth in life. At that time, I understood that each dish is the art of Vietnamese cuisine and life idea of Vietnamese people.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls is easy to make and can be changeable depends on the taste of the cook. You can follow this recipe:

Ingredients: Makes 20 rolls

• 20 – 25: Rice paper wrappers (some may be broken)
• 310 g: Ground chicken (or half crabmeat, half ground pork)
• 20 g: Green bean thread vermicelli
• 1: Carrot, cut into thin strips
• ¼: Cabbage, cut into fine strips
• 2: Green onions (scallions), minced
• 5 g: Sugar
• 2.5 g: Salt
• 2.5: White pepper
• 15 ml: Oyster sauce
• 3 cloves: Garlic, minced
• 45 ml: Vegetable oil (extra oil may be required for deep frying)
• 1: Egg
• 100 g: sprouted beans
• 4-5: dried mushroom
• 3 ear fungus

Garnishing

• 1 sprig: Lettuce leaves
• 1 sprig: Mint leaves

Direction

“ Nuoc Cham” dipping sauce

• 5 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 fresh Thai chilies (2 to 3 inches; preferably red; including seeds), thinly sliced crosswise

Spring Rolls:

In hot water, soak vermicelli, dried mushrooms, ear fungus for 5 minutes until soft. Drain, cut into 2 in lengths and reserve.

• Add 3 tablespoons oil to wok or pan. Add garlic and chicken (or crabmeat and pork) and cook about 8 minutes, mashing with a fork so they do not clump together.
• Add cabbage, carrot, green onions (scallions), sprouted beans, vermicelli, dried mushroom, ear fungus to cook on high for about 3 minutes until vegetables soften.
• Turn off heat, add salt, sugar, pepper and oyster sauce. Stir to mix well. When mixture is cool, brush each side of the rice wrappers or dip them hot water to moisten them or they will dry and break.
• Place 1 tablespoon of the mixture into each wrapper, turn sides in first, roll and seal each with beaten egg. Refrigerate until needed.
• Heat extra oil in wok or pan. Deep fry rolls until golden.
• Serve on lettuce leaves garnished with lettuce and mint leaves.
• Serve with bottled sweet chili pepper sauce or nuoc cham sauce.

LanAnh

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BANH XEO (VIETNAMESE CREPE)

Banh xeo” is Vietnamese style crepe with whole shrimp, thinly sliced pork and bean sprouts.

Like the salad roll, the “banh xeo” is a do-it-yourself dish that involves the messy but delicious process of wrapping the crepe in lettuce with cilantro and basil. Though the filling might fall out on your table, you will be completely lost in the crispy, warm combination of lettuce and crepe, and the attentive staff will happily clean up after you.

“Banh xeo” is prepared differently throughout the country. Tourists traveling about in Vietnam are sure to encounter a different recipe, and sometimes even a different name, for “banh xeo” depending on which region and province they are visiting.

These are a pale yellow spice Vietnamese style crepe. One piece on the bottom, and another on top encase what is usually a salad consisting of been sprouts, prawns, boiled pork, taro and carrot. Drenched in fish sauce, and you have a deliciously messy slice of fine pleasure. The dish is round, and you cut it into slices, like a pizza, so it resembles a triangle on the main platter, but usually by the time it arrives on your plate, it could resemble anything really.

In the Southern region, the “banh xeo” is the size of a large dish and yellow in color due to the employment of turmeric powder. The Southern people always add coconut milk to the rice flour to make the crepe extra delicious. The crepe is stuffed with bean sprouts, mung beans, shrimp and pork. A sweet and sour fish sauce and fresh vegetables are used as accompaniments.

In the Central region, “banh xeo” cooks make a smaller crepe that is white in color. In Hue, the crepes are called “banh khoai”, which is similar to “banh xeo”, but smaller in size and stuffed with fennel, sour star fruit, green banana and a thick soy sauce.

In addition to selling the crepes to patrons, vendors also prepare them en masse for birthday parties and festivals. Northern preparations of “banh xeo” are similar to the ones down south, but include special fillings like slices of Indian taro and manioc. In some regions, “banh xeo” is prepared thick, but Southern crepes are characteristically thin, crispy and served fresh out of the frying pan. The secret to extra-thin crepes is a deep frying pan and a quick wrist to coat the frying pan with the batter before it starts to set.

www.culinaryvietnam.com - Vietnam culinary tour

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