Culinary Adventures: Cha Gio

Ok folks, we're on a roll today. This post is about making cha gio aka Vietnamese fried spring rolls.

Here's a tip: I've tried using the traditional rice paper skin for fresh spring rolls to wrap these but they just don't turn out as good because the skin ends up really soggy after frying. You should really be using the "net spring roll skin" which looks quite different from the rice paper skin. Since I don't have a picture of it on hand, I guess the best way to describe it is that it looks kinda like a thickly condensed spiderweb. It's not commonly available here in the supermarkets though, but you can find it at Meidi-ya Supermarket Liang Court(yes I know, strange that a Japanese supermarket actually has it!).

So here's the recipe for cha gio adapted from a Vietnamese cookbook. I'm not sure where the book went recently but this should be it. The quantity may vary a little, but if you ask any experienced cook, cooking's all about estimation!

Cha Gio (Makes about 8-10 medium sized springrolls)
Ingredients:
200g prawns, deshelled and deveined
200g minced pork
1 small carrot, sliced thinly
A handful of thin rice vermicelli (tanghoon), soaked in hot water for 2 minutes
1 egg white

Seasoning:
1.5 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp sesame oil
1.5-2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
A dash of salt
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp of shaoxing wine or mirin

Sweet and Sour Sauce(to accompany the cha gio as a dip):
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 limes
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
Sliced chilli
1 tbsp water

For the first step, mash the prawns and pork together into a paste. Mix in the egg white. It should look like this.


Add in all the seasoning ingredients, including the garlic. Mix well, then add in the thinly sliced carrots and vermicelli.

Marinade it all up properly, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour to let the flavours seep into the meat.

Handling the net spring roll skin can be a bit tricky. You need to prepare a fairly large bowl with some shallow water, place the skin briefly in the water, and then quickly lay it on a towel on top of a board. Take about 2 tablespoons of the meat mix and place it in a longish shape in the middle of the roll, then roll it and wrap it up accordingly. Sometimes, the skin breaks if you take too long to do it or when you dip it in too much water. You can wrap it in an additional another layer of skin in this case.

Heat up a pan of oil to deep fry the rolls. When the oil is ready(you can test this by placing a chopstick into the oil, there should be bubbles forming around it), place them one by one into the oil over medium-low heat and fry till golden brown and crispy. This should take about 8-10 minutes or so. If your rolls are too big, you can cut them into smaller portions but make sure they are cooked through thoroughly! They should look like this when they're done.


To make the accompanying sweet and sour sauce, simply mix it all up together and squeeze the lime juice into the seasoning. The tangy sauce is really what brings out the taste in the spring rolls. Alternatively, the spring rolls also go well with commercial Thai sweet and sour chilli sauce. You can find these sauces at the supermarket located in Golden Mile complex.

And that's all for today. Till next time!