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I am a huge fan of Vietnamese spring rolls, or cha gio, roughly means “minced pork rolls” in Vietnamese language. I don’t like most Chinese spring rolls or egg rolls served in the United States. They are mostly bad, filled with vegetables flavored with MSG. Some of them even taste like they are infused with a dose of antibiotics. I am not kidding. I am sure you have had one of those!
But cha gio, the Vietnamese interpretation of spring roll, is what spring roll should be. The filling is made of group pork, shrimp, crab meat, with shredded carrots, mung bean noodles (cellophane noodles/glass noodles), etc., and the end result is utterly delicious and tantalizing. The deep-fried, crunchy, and golden brown exterior is just another plus..(get Vietnamese spring rolls or cha gio recipe after the jump)
The most refreshing part about Vietnamese spring rolls (cha gio) is that they can be served with fresh herbs and lettuce leaves. Eat them as is, of course, with nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce), or wrap your cha gio with fresh lettuce leaves and other aromatic herbs such as mint leaves (my favorite). Either way, they are deeply satisfying!
If you like Vietnamese food, you should check out the Vietnamese recipes on Rasa Malaysia.
(Click Page 2 for the Vietnamese Spring Rolls Recipe)
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Hi! I made these tonight, and used chicken (which I minced) instead of the other meats, as it’s what I had on hand. Delicious! I did find that running the wrapper under the faucet for about 3-5 seconds, then letting it sit for 30 seconds made them easier to roll. I will definitely be making these again!
Correction. These are NOT Vietnamese spring rolls, spring rolls are never ever fried. You’re thinking of Vietnamese egg rolls, which uses rice paper instead of the regular eggroll sheets and shredded/minced ingriedients.
Rasa is right, Merina! That dish is spring roll or “chả giò” called by South Vietnamese (it’s called “nem” in North Vietnam). The dish that you mention is called Vietnamese fresh spring roll or Vietnamese salad roll or Vietnamese rice paper roll or Vietnamese summer roll. Don’t ask me why there are so many English translation. Vietnamese name for this dish is “gỏi cuốn”. I’m Vietnamese.
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Hi do I suppose to fry the pork first for the filling? or leave it uncooked and roll it?
Uncooked and roll it.
Also, do you think the unfried spring rolls will last in the freezer if I have leftovers? Or will it turn hard and crack?
Best not to freeze or you need to defrost before frying also the texture of the filling might change.
There are variations of this recipes. It all depends on your palate. We do not use crabmeat, and we also use jicama and wooden ear mushrooms. The rest of the ingredients mentioned in this recipe are pretty much the same. With jicama, we lightly cook it first first with a little pinch of salt. After it cools down, we use our hands to squeeze the excess liquids out of the jicama. Once you mix it with other ingredients to make the filling, this will prevent the filling from turning soggy. We also use wheat paper instead of rice paper. When we make them, we make them in a batch of 200-300 at a time and freeze them uncooked in a heavy duty freezer zip loc bags. When you set them out to thaw them (no defrost), just make sure you line them in a single layer on a several pieces of paper towels. This will keep the spring roll wrappers dry so when you fry them the wrappers won’t break apart.
Hey in regards to the freezing, are these done with the rice paper rolls? I’m worried once you thaw them out, the rice paper is too thin to hold onto all the moisture?
i also heard it’s good to pre fry them and then freeze them?
thanks!
We just had these and what a success! I asked my family if maybe next time I should add a bit of grated ginger, and something that stays crunchy like water chestnut, and they said “Don’t change anything!”
We use jicama. It gives you this crunch taste when you eat the fillings.
Thank You , Thank You, Thank You!!!!!!! I can’t believe how close these are to restaurant quality. With some tweaking they will be perfect.
we call them Nem in the french-speaking world… and yours are perfect !
These look yummy…I think I will try this on the weekend. :-)
Hi, this recipe is such a Godsend. I’m just wondering, could another type of sauce be replaced for the fish sauce? Anyone could answer (^_^). Thanks so much!
I live in Atenas, Costa Rica (in the middle of the rain forest)and REALLY miss Vietnamese food! But some of the ingredients are impossible to find here…but…I substituted rice for the noodles, added some finely shredded cabbage, had to leave out the crab and fish sauce [sigh] Also, i live alone so had to 1/2 the recipe! Still wonderful!
I love your site, it is such a time-saver! I got a book with quite a few traditional Chinese recipes, but your site is awesome with all the recipes from the East I could want in one place! My rice paper rolls kept turning out terrible cause I tried cooking them like the deep fried egg roll recipe and they would expand and rip open! I am excited to try them again now!
This is a challenging recipe mostly because of the rice paper wrapper. You can use regular spring roll wrapper for ease of use.
Yeah, it is. I am trying to learn how to diminish wheat in my diet to extensive studies of health and having to much wheat in the diet is not good and it is overused in supermarket ingredients. I will play around with different heat levels on the oven range. The rolls did not bubble up and tear open like last time, but I think this time I turned the heat down to much. Next time I will turn the heat up a little bit higher but still lower than deep frying temperature.
Whatever you choose to call these rolls, they are delicious! I like to replace a little of the ground pork with a bit of finely sliced scallion, a few chopped up bean sprouts, a few woodear mushrooms, and a little bit of diced water chestnut for crunch. What really knocks it out of the park though is the nuoc cham sauce. I like fish but, even if you do not, don’t let the fact that the main ingredient is fish sauce scare you from trying it. It’s insanely good! Some rolls, a big bowl of nuoc cham sauce and some fresh herbs (my favorite is cilantro but mint and Tai basil are also excellent) and I’m in clover. Thanks for posting this recipe!
Hi, thanks for posting this delish recipe. I just tried making these and the filling is perfection, however my rice paper turned out crispy, white and translucent. Did I fry them over too low a heat?
Yes.