Easy and delicious Vietnamese spring rolls

Duncan Lu is a home cook who specialises in Vietnamese cuisine.

He appeared on ‘Plate of Origin’ as part of team Vietnam, the team came second place.

For more information, head to his website here!

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PORK & PRAWN SPRING ROLLS

Where land meets the sea or where the pen meets the tide. A protein pairing synonymous to a large proportion of Asia. In this recipe they are treated separately but wrapped together in thin wheat based pastry with additional textural elements to create the perfect parcel.

At a young age they were always a treat but also a reward for effort. Making spring rolls was a task Mum and I shared. I would separate the many sheets of pastry while mum would mix the ingredients together and roll them.

The preparation of the prawns can add another layer of complexity to the texture of spring roll and wonton like mixtures. I find the tail end of prawns have a bit more bite to them, more of a pop. For that reason, more often than not I separate the tail third from the main body of the prawn and treat them independently during the preparation process. I cut the tail third in small bite size pieces and mince the remaining two-thirds to add a rich and creamy element that’s slightly chewy in texture to the mixture. For this recipe I like to use Skull Island Tiger Prawns for their rich and sweet flavour and firm texture.

Allowing patience, to mix the ingredients well is a critical step, it further breaks down the pork protein and also incorporates the pork fat homogenously; leaving you with a mixture that is bound, bouncy and slightly chewy in texture, rather than something soft and crumbly like the texture of ground pork meatballs. For this reason and also to save time, I prefer to use a stand mixer.

My preferred method of consumption was dipping them in a healthy serving of nước mắm chấm (Vietnamese fish sauce based dipping sauce), consumed by the dozen of course! The recipe below is a basic traditional recipe of pork mince, Australian prawns, sliced wood ear mushrooms and thin mung bean noodles.

Serves: 4-6

Difficulty: Moderate – You’ll be right.

Ingredients

Spring roll mixture

25g rice vermicelli glass noodles

10 g dried wood ear mushrooms

1kg Skull Island Tiger Prawns

400g pork mince

1 medium carrot grated

1 onion grated

½ teaspoon anchovy salt

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 ½ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 ½ teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon cooking oil

Spring roll making

1 packet of 30 large spring roll pastry

1 egg (egg wash)

300ml-400ml neutral cooking oil

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce 3 birds eye chillies de-seeded 3 cloves of garlic 4 tablespoons of fish sauce 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar 4 tablespoons of sugar 6 tablespoons cold water ½ lime juiced

Method:

How to make spring rolls

1. Rehydrate wood ear mushrooms and in warm water for 20 mins then strain, rinse well & slice finely.
2. Rehydrate rice vermicelli glass noodles in cold water for 20 mins then strain well and roughly chop into 3-5cm strands.
3. Remove prawn head, shell and devein then separate tail third of prawn from main body and cut tail third of prawn into small pieces and set aside.
4. In a food processor, add the main body of the prawns, ¼ teaspoon anchovy salt, ½ teaspoon sea salt, ½ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon black pepper and process into a paste-like texture then add to a mixing bowl.
5. Add remaining spring roll mixture ingredients into the mixing bowl, season with ¼ teaspoon anchovy salt, 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. Mix well with hands until well combined then gently fold through prawn tail pieces.
6. Cut square spring roll pastry diagonally in half to form two triangles. Place approximately 1 and a half teaspoons of the mixture at the base of each triangle (longest side). Fold the pastry over the mixture twice, then fold the sides in towards the center. Using your fingertips apply firm pressure and roll forward to form thin cigar-sized scrolls. Use a touch of egg wash to seal the spring rolls when you get to the end. Continue with remaining ingredients.
7. Store in air tight container and place in freezer for 3 hours before frying, for best results freeze overnight.

Duncan’s tip: Freeze any leftover mixture and add to your next Vietnamese vegetable soup.

How to cook spring rolls

1. Deep fry for 4-5 mins until golden in cooking oil at 180°C or air fry at the same temperature for 15 mins, then flip/agitate and cook for a further 10 mins. NB: If using an air fryer lightly coat spring rolls with oil spray.
2. Serve with Vietnamese fish sauce dipping sauce (nước mắm chấm) or enjoy as is with sweet chilli sauce.

How to make Vietnamese dipping sauce:

1. In mortar and pestle, crush and pound chillies, garlic and sugar into a paste then add remaining ingredients and mix well until sugar dissolves and sauce becomes slightly viscous.

Duncan’s tip: Don’t have a mortar and pestle? Mix all ingredients except garlic and chilli in a small mixing bowl until sugar dissolves then add finely chopped garlic and chilli.

Additional serving option: Serve with lettuce cups and Vietnamese herbs and Vietnamese fish sauce dipping sauce (nước mắm chấm) or with a bowl of beef noodle salad or Vietnamese noodle salad with marinated pork.