Cha Gio (Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls)

Cha Gio (Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls)

Vietnamese fried spring rolls (Cha Gio) may be less well known than their Chinese counterparts, but they are just as delicious. Crisp on the outside, with a tasty filling; they’re perfect dipped in the traditional nuoc cham as well.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (1/2oz) dried wood ear mushroom*
• 1 oz dried vermicelli noodles (traditionally mung bean, also called cellophane noodles)
• 2 shallots
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 12 spring roll wrappers
• 1/2 cup soybean oil/canola oil to cook (more as needed)

Instructions

• Place the wood ear mushrooms and vermicelli noodles in separate small bowls and cover both with hot water. Leave each to sit until the mushrooms expand and the noodles become white, around 5-10 minutes for each. Drain both and chop the mushrooms finely and the noodles into small lengths.
• As the mushrooms and noodles are soaking, finely chop the shallots and peel and grate the carrot.
• Mix together the ground pork, chopped mushrooms, chopped noodles, chopped shallots, grated carrot, salt, pepper and sugar. Use your hands if necessary to mix well (they may not all completely stick together but that's fine). Divide the mixture into 12 relatively equal portions.
• Lay one spring roll wrapper on a clean surface with a corner pointing towards you. Have a small bowl of water ready next to you. Fold over the nearest corner of the wrapper inwards to almost the middle of the wrapper and then put one portion of the filling on top in a small log cross-wise near the folded edge.
• Fold in both sides to just be covering the ends of the log and so the folds formed are parallel with each other. Fold the front, folded edge over the filling, making sure the sides stay folded in to avoid the filling from escaping, and keep rolling up until only a triangle is left. Try to avoid having much air inside as you roll.
• Dampen the tip of your finger and moisten the edges of the remaining triangle of the wrapper then keep rolling so that the end of the wrapper sticks flat onto the roll. Repeat with the rest of the wrappers and filling.
• Warm the oil in a skillet over a medium-high heat (you can either do a few at a time in a smaller skillet or cook more in a larger skillet - it will be quicker with more at a time but, easier to turn before they cook too much if cooking smaller batches).** 
• Add the rolls to the hot oil and cook for around 2-3 minutes on each side until they are golden all over. Remove from the skillet and drain on a kitchen paper towel. 
• Repeat to cook the rest of the rolls, topping up the oil as needed.