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–+ servings

Spring rolls - better than your takeaway shop

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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese, Vietnamese
4

Ingredients

Spring spring rolls

  • 500 g pork mince
  • 300 g prawns peeled and deveined
  • 20 g dried wood ear/black fungus mushrooms
  • 50 g dried bean-thread glass noodles
  • 1 medium carrot peeled and grated
  • 1 small brown onion finely diced
  • 3 spring onion finely chopped
  • 2 clove garlic minced
  • 20 g ginger (fresh) grated
  • 2 tbps fish sauce
  • 1 medium egg
  • 1/2 tps salt
  • 1/2 tps pepper
  • 10 large egg spring roll wrappers or 20 small wrappers
  • neutral oil for frying

Instructions 

  • Prepare the noodles
    Place the 50 g dried bean-thread glass noodles in a bowl and cover them with warm water. Leave them for approximately 10 minutes, or until flexible but not completely soft. Drain them thoroughly, then use kitchen scissors to cut them into pieces around 1-2cm long.
  • Prepare the mushrooms
    In a separate bowl, soak the 20 g dried wood ear/black fungus mushrooms in warm water for 15–20 minutes, or until fully expanded. Drain it, trim away any hard centres and chop it finely. I make sure both the noodles and mushrooms are properly drained before adding them to the filling. Wet ingredients create wet filling, and wet filling creates soggy wrappers. Nobody has ever gathered excitedly around a plate of soggy spring rolls.
  • Chop the prawns
    Pat the 300 g prawns dry with paper towel, then chop them into small pieces. Chop them fine enough to mix evenly through the pork but still large enough that we can taste little pieces of prawn in the finished spring rolls.
  • Chop and mince remaining ingredients
    Peel and grate 1 medium carrot, finely chop 1 small brown onion, chop 3 spring onion, mince 2 clove garlic, grate 20 g ginger (fresh).
    • After grating the carrot, squeeze out all the water from the carrots before adding it to the mixture. All that excess moisture will make the spring rolls soggy and fall apart.
  • Mix the filling in a bowl and add seasoning
    Add all the ingredients along with 500 g pork mince into a bowl, crack 1 medium egg into the bowl and mix as thoroughly as possible. Add 2 tbps fish sauce, 1/2 tps salt, 1/2 tps pepper. Use your hands and scoop the mixture from the bottom of the bowl and bring it to the top, and ocassionally squeeze the mixture through your fingers to ensure the seasoning is evenly distributed.
  • Roll the spring rolls
    Remove the wrapper from the packaging. Place the wrapper diagonally from you and place a small line of mixture 1/3 way down across ways. Don't over fill it, you will get a feel for how much after you have made a couple. Tightly roll the wrapper around the filling until you get to the halfway up the wrapper. Fold in the side corners and continue rolling upwards. Dab the top corner of the wrapper with some water to help seal the wrapper together. Continue rolling until you get a nice uniform round spring roll
  • Heat the oil
    Using a wok, dutch oven or a heavy bottomed pot, power enough oil to cover the spring rolls. Heat the oil to 165-170c. Either use a thermometer or use the chop stick test. Stick the tip of a WOODEN chopstick into the oil and if it starts to bubble within 2 seconds then the oil is hot enough.
  • Deep fry spring rolls
    Fry the spring rolls in batch so the oil temperature does not drop too much. I usually fry 4 large spring rolls at a time (or 6 smaller ones). Larger spring rolls will take around 7-9 minutes and smaller ones will take around 5-6 minutes. Once done, the spring rolls will look golden and crispy. Drain on a rack and let them cool slightly before enjoying!