Vietnamese Pork and Crab Spring Roll - Cha Gio

 

After a small Hiatus, I am back to my normal happy and cheery self, a wee bit older, but still in one piece (mostly). Retirement brings many joys, not the least a lot of time to do things that I want to do -AND that would be messing around in a Kitchen.

When living in Les Orres, France, I met and became friends with the local Doctor, Claude. He was 1/2 French and 1/2 Vietnamese. This made for a lot of interesting and delicious food which he was happy to share with me. One such dish was a Rice Paper Spring Roll (Cha Gio) which was deep fried with a crispy exterior and a many flavored juicy interior. I watched him assemble this amazing dish. It took a few tries to get it right, but once learned, never forgotten.

Mix  Ground Pork, Fresh Crab, Shiitake or Maritake mushrooms, Glass Noodles and a dash of the dipping sauce, Salt and White Pepper.

Set to one side to prepare Rice Paper for rolling.

Use a large bowl with hand hot water in it, large enough to add the rice paper briefly, then lift it out and place on the work surface. Repeat with a second rice paper and once you put that on the work surface, the first one will be ready to fill and roll. 

Tuck in the ends and continue to roll until the filling is all enclosed. Try not to let air bubbles form.

Repeat until all the filling is used up.

Place the filled rolls on wax paper making sure they do not touch, as they will not separate, and put in the fridge until the oil is hot enough for frying (330F /170C)

Fry them in small batches to keep them separate, until golden brown (about5 to 6 minutes)

Remove them with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Refry them to get them crispy, just before service.

Dipping Sauce - Nuoc Mam

Add the Juice of 1 large Lime and the same quantity of Fish Sauce to a small bowl with diced shallot and Red Chilies. I added a dash of Soy Sauce and a few shavings of Jagery (candied sugar cane juice) to complement the acidic Lime juice.

The plate was garnished with some shredded Scallion.

My son ate 5 of them before I could save any for later, 

I am still here

One would think that I have been too busy to post anything since January, judging by the total lack of anything appearing in these pages. I have been cooking, catering and partying, but not as often as I would like. Certain issues on the home front have at times, rendered me completely paralyzed with depression. I am not comfortable using the D word, as it might belittle many people who are clinically depressed, and mine was certainly not that. Unhappiness would be a better word, and totally of my own doing. With the help of many wonderful friends and my son, I feel as if I am back in control of my life.

Hopefully, i won't be absent for such a long period of time again.

I made some crispy fried Vietnamese spring rolls recently which I would like to share with you. They are relatively easy to make, except for getting the rice paper at the correct consistency to roll without tearing up. Many years ago, while working in Les Orres France, as a ski instructor, I was invited for dinner by the local Doctor and his wife. He was 1/2 Vietnamese ( probably still is) and was an amazing chef as well as a brilliant acupuncturist. The dinner was amazing, and I tried to replicate it when I got back to the UK.
What a cluster f**ck.
I had all the right ingredients, but I had not watched him soak the rice paper. On my return the following season, I asked him to show me what he did.

Here is how you do it.

The filling is a mixture of ground pork, fresh crab and rice vermicelli. The rice noodles only need boiling water poured over them to cook. Drain and add them to the other ingredients.
It should have had some black fungus in it too, but I couldn't find any at our local store, and I was buggered if I was going off island to get it. It is usually dried, so if you do add it, soak it first. Add some crushed garlic and a touch of ginger and a splash of fish sauce, and season with salt and pepper. Combine and set to one side.

For the wrappers, you need a large bowl or tray filled with hand hot water. Set it next to a large cutting board. The filling should be next to that and a tray with waxed paper should be set next to that, in a sort of production line.

Pick up one wrapper and soak it in the hot water for a couple of seconds until it starts to become pliable. Lay it on the board at the end next to the filling. Do the same with the second. Go back to the first one and add the filling and then fold and roll, tucking in the ends as you roll. Place the roll in the tray with the wax paper, then dip the 3rdwrapper and place on the board. Go back to filling the second wrapper and so on until all your wrappers are filled.

In a large shallow pan or Wok, heat some vegetable oil to about 320 degrees and start frying them off in small batches. There should be enough oil to cover them completely. Be careful to give them plenty of space as they will stick together. Turn them often until a nice golden brown in color, then place them in a tray in the oven to stay warm (about 200 degrees). I cut them in half to serve, as they can be a bit of a mouthful.

Once they have all been fried, make a dipping sauce with lemon juice and fish sauce, crushed garlic and add shredded scallions to garnish. You can vary the amount of ingredients to taste.

Try it, it is delicious and fairly impressive to serve.