fawn nguyen: Vietnamese Egg Rolls

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Vietnamese Egg Rolls

Not all egg rolls are created equal. Chinese egg rolls are very different from Vietnamese egg rolls, which are different still from Filipino egg rolls.

I don't remember my mom ever making egg rolls while we were growing up in Vietnam. I suppose that might be because this dish was a specialty of one of our uncles; he'd make it every time we came over. I loved these visits because I could play with my cousins and never got in trouble — Mom never yelled at us in front of other people.

I make egg rolls regularly because it's easy and the kids love them. I start by soaking the cellophane noodles and dried wood ear mushrooms in hot water (from the faucet is fine).

While that's soaking, I put the rest of the ingredients into a big bowl. I use one pound of ground pork (you can use ground shrimp or half-shrimp-half-pork), sliced jicama or cabbage, chopped onions and carrots, one egg, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, generous pinch of salt, and freshly ground black pepper. By the time this is all done, the two soaked items should be soft — I drain and chop them roughly and add them to the bowl. Mix everything well.

I used to make egg rolls using Lumpia wraps, but these are more for Filipino egg rolls. Authentic Vietnamese egg rolls are wrapped in rice paper. A trick I learned is to dip the rice paper into sugared water, this makes the egg rolls crispy and golden — two virtues of any deep frying. A quarter cup of sugar dissolved in a bowl of warm water should do the trick.

I preheat the deep fryer to 350 degrees. Of course you can also deep-fry in a pot. While that's preheating, I set everything out on a table to begin assembling the egg rolls.

Dip the rice paper into the sugared water (pictured below in the scalloped-edge pie crust) and lay it flat. The paper needs to sit for 30 seconds to a minute to become pliable, so I dip five rice papers, one at a time, and spread them out on the table to cut down wait time.

And this is how I roll.

By the time the fryer is ready, I should have rolled 10 of these already, and the first batch goes into the frying basket, always single layer only. While those are frying, I continue to roll the next batch. The egg rolls are golden brown after 10 to 12 minutes. I drain them on paper towels.

As a meal, I serve them over noodles. Or we roll them in lettuce as a snack. Yum!!

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My beautiful sister-in-law Thu turned me on to juicing vegetables. Every day during my visit, she would make me glass after glass of delicious juice made from apples, carrots, celery, papaya, and whatever else was on hand. When I came home, I looked on Amazon and found a juicer that I'm really happy with. It's one of those worthy kitchen investments because what it makes is so good for you.

This morning I found these vegetables and fruits in our fridge. I'm making a mess in the kitchen. Nothing new.