Vietnamese Pork and Crabmeat Spring Rolls (Cha Gio)

Vietnam has always given us a superb range of healthy delicious food. One of our favourite restaurants is in Portland, Oregon where they offer pork and crabmeat spring rolls. In Vietnam, these are known as cha gio which is pronounced as ‘cha yoh’.

Look, these will take a little time to prepare but they are worth the effort. You need rice paper wrappers for this dish. Ideally, choose ones that are 8 inches/20 cm each in diameter. These are deep fried to a golden crisp colour and texture. Use nuoc cham sauce for dipping these in.

Prepares 12 rolls; Preparation time: 45 minutes; Cooking time: 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• dried rice paper wrappers (20cm diameter)
• frying oil – sunflower oil
• a portion of fish dipping sauce

Filling:

• 500ml (2 cups) water
• 60g/2 oz. dried glass noodles, soaked in water to soften, drain an cut into suitable lengths
• 2 spring onions – sliced thinly and some shredded
• 1 shallot or scallion – finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic – finely minced
• 250g (8 oz) lean pork shredded and minced – shoulder pork is ideal for this
• 200g (6 oz) cooked crab meat
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• handful of fresh coriander (cilantro)
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated – (optional)
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 120g bean sprouts, remove seed coats and tails, blanched and drained
• 1 carrot, grated to produce a cups worth
• 6 cups of vegetable oil
• ground black pepper to taste – about less than a teaspoon.

For The Wrapping:

• 12 cos lettuce leaves
• mint leaves
• coriander leaves
• 1 small cucumber cut into matchsticks

Preparation:

1. Make the fish sauce dip.
2. Mix the crabmeat, pork, beaten egg, coriander, ginger, onion (shallot or scallions), spring onion in a large bowl.
3.  
4. Flatten the lettuce leaves out
5. Fill each leaf with some of the mixture
6. Keep preparing similar rolls.
7. heat about 1 inch of oil in skillet. Fry rolls in batches of 5 or 6. Prevent sticking by stirring occasionally until all are golden brown and have a crispy texture.
8. Transfer the fried spring rolls with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain off the oil. serve with the fish dipping sauce or a peanut dipping sauce.