These are small spring rolls, and most people could probably get through six to eight of them over a couple of Asian-style lagers. Anything rolled in pastry or rice paper is fussy, so I don’t see the point in making a just a few of these rolls. Any uncooked rolls that are left over can be frozen.
Ingredients
- 30 x 20 cm (8 inch) round rice paper rolls
- vegetable oil for frying
- butter lettuce leaves and fresh mint to serve
Dipping Sauce
- 2 fl oz/¼ cup (60 ml) fish sauce
- 2 fl oz/¼ cup (60 ml) rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 small red chilli finely chopped
Filling
- 4 small dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1¾ oz (50 g) mung bean vermicelli noodles
- 1 lb 2 oz (500 g) minced (ground) pork
- 3½ oz (100 g) prawn (shrimp) meat finely chopped
- 4½ oz/½ cup (125 g) crabmeat
- ½ oz/¼ cup (15 g) thinly sliced spring onions (scallions)
- 1½ oz/¼ cup(40 g ) grated carrot
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
- 2 eggs beaten
How to Make It
- To make the dipping sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl.
- To make the filling, put the mushrooms and noodles in a bowl and pour in enough boiling water to cover. Set aside for 10 minutes, or until the noodles are soft. Drain well.
- Finely chop the mushrooms and place in a large bowl. Snip the noodles into shorter lengths using kitchen scissors, to make them more manageable, then add to the mushrooms, along with the remaining filling ingredients. Use your hands to squeeze all the ingredients together so they are well combined.
- Lay a rice paper roll on a clean work surface. Brush the rice paper with cold water until it is no longer brittle, and has softened enough to fold. Put a tablespoon of the filling in the centre of the roll, roughly forming it into a small log shape.
- Fold the rice paper end nearest you over the filling, then fold in the sides of the roll. Roll up to enclose the filling to make a spring roll — but don’t roll the paper up too firmly, or the spring rolls will burst when cooked.
- Half-fill a small saucepan with oil and heat over medium–high heat. When the surface of the oil is shimmering, cook the spring rolls in batches for 4–5 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Serve with the lettuce leaves, mint and the dipping sauce.
