Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Mai Pham's book The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking. Pham also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page.
Cha gio are considered culinary treasures, delighting everyone who's tried them. Light and crispy, spring rolls are traditionally wrapped with rice paper. At Lemon Grass, however, we use a more durable type of spring roll wrapper made from wheat flour. Also used for Filipino-style lumpias, they are marketed under the Menlo brand and stocked in the frozen food department of Asian grocery stores. These 8 X 8-inch wrappers seal the filling so well that no oil can seep through during frying; this is not the case with rice paper.
Ingredients
Makes about 25 pieces
FILLING
ASSEMBLING AND FRYING
ACCOMPANIMENTS
Preparation
Step 1
Combine the bean thread noodles, mushrooms, onion, carrots, and green onions in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
Step 2
Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Mix in the fish sauce, garlic, salt, sugar, and black pepper. Add the chicken and pork and using a fork, break up the meat, so it is thoroughly mixed with the seasonings. Add the noodle mixture and mix well. Set aside.
Step 3
Combine the cornstarch and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over low heat and stir often to prevent sticking. If mixture seems too thick, add more water. This will be the "glue" to seal the edges of the wrapper.
Step 4
Cut the wrappers in half diagonally. You will have two equal triangles. Starting with the longest side toward you, place about 2 tablespoons of filling on the bottom area of the triangle. Using your fingers, mold the filling into a cylinder 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. Fold the two pointed ends of the wrapper in and roll to enclose. Dab a little cornstarch mixture along the edges (do not use too much "glue") and seal the roll. Set aside while you finish making the remaining rolls. Do not stack them.
Step 5
To fry, preheat a large wok or fry pan. When hot, pour enough oil in to completely cover the spring rolls. Heat to about 325 degrees. Carefully place the rolls into the oil. Do not crowd the pan or place the rolls on top of each other. Fry the spring rolls until filling is cooked, about 5 to 6 minutes on each side, turning often until they are nicely brown and crisp. If they brown too quickly, reduce the heat as the oil is too hot. Remove the cooked spring rolls from the pan and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with dipping sauce and table salad .
Step 6
To enjoy a spring roll the Vietnamese way, put it on a lettuce leaf, top with cucumber and mint, and wrap it up. Then dip in Vietnamese dipping sauce.
Cha gio are traditionally made with rice paper wrappers. But the wrappers available in the United States are thicker than those used in Vietnam and, while fine for raw summer rolls, don't fry well — their thickness makes them too sticky. For fried spring rolls, Pham suggests using thin Chinese-style wheat wrappers. Do not be tempted to substitute wonton wrappers, which are also too thick. • Bean thread noodles, also called glass or cellophane noodles, are thin, transparent, wiry noodles made from mung bean starch. They're sold dried at Asian grocery stores and many supermarkets. • Tree ears, also called wood ears, cloud ears, or black fungus, are thin black mushrooms that add crunch to many Asian dishes. They're sold dried in Asian markets. "Avoid the larger two-toned mushrooms as they can be tough and gritty, especially around the stems," says Pham. • Fish sauce (nuoc mam), a pungent, salty liquid made from fermented anchovies, adds depth and flavor to numerous Vietnamese dishes. For best results, choose bottles priced at $3 to $4 rather than $1, and pass on jars that are dark, which indicates oxidation or the presence of additives. "Look for fish sauce in glass jars. Avoid plastic," says Pham. "The fish sauce should have a nice, even color, like iced tea." She suggests Three Crabs, Lobster Boy, and Phu Quoc brands. When cooking with fish sauce, always add it to other liquids: Never place it directly in a hot, dry pan, which would broadcast its pungent, fishy odor throughout your kitchen in a less-than-pleasant way. Soy sauce is an acceptable vegetarian substitute, though it does lack fish sauce's smoky complexity. • Like dough, spring roll filling should not be overmixed or it will become too dense. Use your hands or a fork to gently mix the ingredients together.
Leave a Review
Reviews (20)
Back to Topdig bick bruh u read that wrong also great rolls :)
xxcheyxx
4/26/2021
These are the spring rolls I remember from my childhood...maybe a bit better! Although the recipe suggest not using rice paper to wrap them, that is how I like them best and did use them. I know they stick and it makes the process more labour intensive, but they aren't the same for my any other way. The filling was seasoned perfectly and had just the right amount of garlic. I also didn't have wood ears so I used dried shiitake mushrooms instead. Delicious! My whole family agreed.
Elmer74
Trenton, ON
9/10/2014
We absolutely loved it!!!! Even my dad who usually doesn't get excited about food raved about it. I have found my spring roll recipe. Thank you!
massakour
NYC, NY
7/14/2014
They're perfect as written. Better than our favorite Vietnamese joint. Served with the listed condiments and some chili oil, they will disappear fast. Hide a couple in the fridge to be eaten cold for breakfast. I have also oven fried these. Brush or spray with a little oil, and bake at 450 until brown and crispy, turning once or twice.
serena72
11/9/2013
This is the best egg roll recipe I've ever used! Delicious. The perfect blend of flavors. I left out mushrooms and pork because I can't eat them. I still used only 1/2 lb of chicken (diced leg meat instead of ground). Wonderful flavor. Would be delicious as vegetarian rolls too. The recipe could do with more detail in rolling the egg rolls because it can be tricky. Just make sure you roll them as tightly as possible and there are no gaps or cracks where oil can seep in. The Vietnamese dipping sauce is Perfect. Makes me want to buy the book!
Anonymous
san ignacio, belize
3/1/2013
Excellent recipe. I modified it by cooking the ingredients since I was going to make the rolls a bit larger.
zenaidahb
carmel, california
5/21/2011
I think this recipe is pretty authentic. The person who rated this recipe with 1 fork is crazy. Doesn't she know that to cook Asian food require a lot of time. And the ingredients are easy to find anywhere. Where does she live anyway? In Timbuktu America? She must not know how to cook.
Anonymous
carmel, california
5/19/2011
Delicious! They are a bit time consuming as the other reviewers noted, but they make a ton of spring rolls. Which leads me to my question - does anyone have any tips for storing them so they don't become soft and mushy? I tried wrapping them in paper towels last night, but that doesn't seem to have worked. We tried both frying them in a pan and in a deep fat fryer; the pan worked a lot better than the fryer, in which they never really got brown.
Anonymous
Alexandria VA
5/11/2010
Where can I get authentic spring roll wrappers? The ones I bought won't brown, they just get hard as a rock!!!I would make them again, IF I can find the right wrappers. O.K.?
sageypoo30
Ohio
3/23/2010
This is one of the worst recipes I have ever made. I wouldn't be as frustrated if I only sunk half an hour into making the spring rolls, but searching for ingredients, preparing the filling, and wrapping and frying each spring roll was a five hour task. Not to mention how tedious it was to stand in the heat of the oil for an hour, trying in vain to get the spring rolls to cook evenly. You see, because there are several layers of wrapper on one side of each roll due to folding, and only one layer on the other, the rolls are off balance and flip so that the heavier side faces downwards no matter what you do. This results in one side that is burned and another that is hardly cooked. On top of all this, the ingredients are expensive and hard to find. But you don't taste a single one: all there is is the overpowering flavor of frying oil. In summary, the spring rolls are expensive, time consuming, and just plain awful. Avoid this recipe at all costs if you wish to save fifty bucks and an entire afternoon of your life.
Anonymous
8/13/2009
Tasty, but save for when you have tons of spare time.
ehoward1
Maryland
8/8/2008
These are so good! I have made the Filipino lumpias, but this is by far the best recipe for spring rolls.
kaleb2007
Savannah, GA
6/12/2008
Great spring rolls!! I made this for a party and they were gone in minutes. I used dried shitake mushrooms and spring roll wrappers. I served with a Asian Chicken Marinade. I will make this again!
Anonymous
Ohio
12/3/2007
This a fantastic recipe, I've used it for years. Don't get discouraged if you can't find the wrappers she mentions, ask your local asian grocer for a recommndation. And, buy her book, it has many great recipes.
Jeff25758
Huntsville, AL
11/23/2007
I thought these were very, very good and really quite easy to make. I did not find the Menlo brand wrappers, but another wheat wrapper that worked perfectly. I followed the recipe to the tee, even measuring everything - something that I usually just eyeball. The only thing that I did not use was 3 chilis (used 1 only) for the dipping sauce as my DH doesn't care for the heat. In fact, when he tasted it without the rolls, he was a little skeptical, but soon realized that the rolls would offset the heat in the dipping sauce. He ate about 12 rolls with sauce. I guess he liked them, too!
stravis2
Tampa, FL
4/22/2007
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