Malisa's Vietnamese Egg Rolls (Cha Gio)

Let me preface this by saying that this is my take on Vietnamese egg rolls. I’m not Vietnamese and I didn’t use a recipe from a Vietnamese cookbook. This recipe is from years and years of experimenting. I try different ingredients and in the end this is what works for me.

Some people might find the use of sweet potatoes and potatoes strange ingredients but I find them integral in the texture of my egg rolls. The sweet potatoes are a substitute for carrots. I am not too fond of cooked carrots and whenever I can find a sub, I will opt for the sub. You can use carrots instead of the sweet potatoes.

I also like to use potatoes to help lighten the filling. The potatoes help prevent having hard fried meat rods. I also use potatoes in my empanadas. Many people will use shredded cabbage as an egg roll filler but as much as I like cabbage, I prefer not to use it in my egg rolls. They contribute too much moisture and then start to ooze out of the wrappers. My friend told me that in order to prevent this, you can shred the cabbage the night before, put it in a strainer and weigh it down to remove much of the liquid. She said that restaurants put their shredded cabbage in one of those mop buckets to squeeze out the liquid. I’m not sure if this is true.

Egg Rolls

Filling:
1 pound Ground Chicken, Pork or Turkey (I used ground chicken because I just got a great deal on organic ground chicken breast.)
½ pound Shrimp, chopped
2 Eggs
Fish sauce
Salt
Pepper
MSG
sugar
1 bundle Cellophane Noodles, soaked in hot water until soft
¼ cup Sliced Dried Wood-Ear Mushroom, soaked in hot water until soft
2 Potatoes, shredded (Russets are fine but I used Yukons because that is what I usually buy)
½ pound Sweet Potatoes or Carrots, shredded
1 Yellow Onion, shredded
3 cloves Garlic, minced

50 Banh Trang Spring Roll Wrappers (Rice paper wrappers)
Oil, canola or peanut

1. Start by soaking your cellophane noodles and wood-ear mushrooms. I use the pre-sliced mushrooms.
2. Mix all filling ingredients together. Take a spoonful of the filing and microwave it about a minute. Taste the filling for proper seasoning. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Refrigerate if not planning on using immediately.
3. To wrap: Heat a large skillet of water. Don’t let it boil. The water should be hot enough to rehydrate the dried wrappers but you should be able to dip your fingers in the water. Soak the wrappers in the water until slightly soft. Don’t soak them too long or they will start to fall apart. The wrappers should be malleable.
4. Place filling on each wrapper and wrap as shown below.

Place filling in the center but about a third of the way from the bottom edge.

Fold in the sides towards the center.
Starting from the bottom edge, roll up toward the top edge.

Your Vietnamese Egg Roll: Slightly stout and pudgy.

Vietnamese Egg Rolls are on the left and Chinese Egg Rolls are on the right.

5. Heat oil in a wok, chicken fryer or electric deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry egg rolls in batches until slightly golden; about 10 minutes. Vietnamese egg rolls will not completely brown and are a little more difficult than regular egg rolls to work with. The egg rolls will stick together. Let them stick. Once they are almost done they can easily be separated. Tip: Let the egg rolls dry out a bit and they will be easier to work with.

Vietnamese egg rolls are delicious wrapped in green leaf lettuce and dipped in Nuoc Cham sauce or cut up and served on top of vermicelli rice noodles, chiffonade lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and other assorted crunchy veggies and drizzled with Nuoc Cham sauce.