Vietnamese spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce

Vietnamese spring rolls (or chả giò) is a popular Vietnamese dish consisting of crispy fried rolls filled with seasoned minced pork, flavoured with fish sauce, garlic and eschallots. The filling is wrapped in rice paper rounds and deep-fried until shatteringly crisp. Typically eaten with nước chấm as a dipping sauce, these chả giò are paired with a homemade Thai-style sweet chilli sauce for a creative spin on the original dish.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  6

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 20 g caster sugar
• 20 g maple syrup
• 40 g fish sauce
• 60 g eschallots, finely chopped
• 60 g finely chopped garlic
• 3 g salt
• 500 g fatty pork mince (30% fat content)
• 1 packet Vietnamese rice paper rounds
• 1 litre neutral oil, for deep-frying
• 1 butter lettuce head, leaves separated
• ¼ cup each mint, Thai basil, Vietnamese mint, coriander leaves
• Pickled daikon and carrot, to serve

For the Thai-style sweet chilli sauce

• ½ cup (125 ml) water
• ½ cup (125 ml) rice wine vinegar
• 45 g light palm sugar
• 45 g caster sugar
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pounded in mortar & pestle
• 3 birds eye chillies, finely chopped or pounded in mortar & pestle
• Fish sauce, to taste
• 1 Lebanese cucumber, deseeded, finely chopped
• 3 medium eschallots, finely chopped

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, maple syrup, fish sauce, eschallots, garlic and salt and mix well to combine. Place the pork mince in a second, large mixing bowl and pour over the fish sauce mixture. Use your hands in a slapping motion to combine the pork mince with the seasoning, for two minutes.
   
2. Fill a large bowl with room temperature water (ensuring correct temperature is key!), then dip rice paper rounds individually into the water, turning to moisten, then lay down on a clean working surface.
   
3. Use damp hands to portion 40 - 50 g seasoned pork mince into a thin sausage shape and place in the centre of the dampened rice paper round, allowing adequate room to wrap. Fold two sides of the wrapper into the centre, then roll to tightly wrap and enclose. Transfer to a tray and repeat with the remaining mixture and rice paper rounds. Refrigerate until needed.
   
4. To make the sweet chilli dipping sauce, combine the water, vinegar and sugars in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a light simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar for 3 - 4 minutes. Stir through the chilli and garlic and reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer until thickened, then remove and allow to cool to room temperature. Season with fish sauce to taste.
   
5. In a large saucepan or deep-fryer, heat the oil for deep-frying to 170˚C. Deep-fry the spring rolls in batches for 2 - 3 minutes. Increase the heat to 175 - 180˚C and cook the spring rolls for a further 1 - 2 minutes, or until crisp and cooked through. Transfer to a cooling rack over a paper towel-lined tray.
   
6. To serve, stir the cucumber and eschallots through the sweet chilli dipping and transfer to a small serving bowl. Serve the spring rolls on a large platter with the lettuce, herbs, pickles and dipping sauce. Wrap the spring rolls with lettuce with herbs and pickles, then dip into the sauce and enjoy!

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

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25m

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episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

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