Spring Rolls For The Spring Time 春卷

I made some of these crunchy fellows as entrees before our chicken pho the other night , unfortunately I couldn't get those red lanterns to work :( . It would have been a complete Victoria Street experience without having the risk of being spat at or knocked down by all sort of trolleys. Let alone trying to separate the spoons and chopsticks in the little bondage, if you know what I'm saying :)

for the filling;

250g pork or chicken mince

100g prawn meat, minced

50g mung bean noodle, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and drained

50g dried wood ear (I used the ready sliced ones), soaked in hot water for 10 minutes and drained

1/2 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 spring onions, chopped

2 eggs, beaten

Season the beaten egg with 11/2 to 2 tbs of fish sauce, 1/2 tsp of salt, dash of white pepper and 2tbs of sugar.

Add the rest of the ingredients, mix until well blended.

for the dipping sauce;

6 bird chilies

3 clove garlic

6 tbs sugar

4 tbs lime juice

10 tbs fish sauce

1 cup warm water

handful of thinly shredded carrot

In a mortal and pastel, pound chilies, garlic and sugar to a paste. Add warm water, followed by the rest of the ingredients. Set aside

you'll also need;

25 to 30 spring roll wrappers

1 egg, beaten

lettuce, vietnamese mint, mint,coriander, thai basil etc

Fry in hot oil in batches till golden brown

Drained well before serving.

you still need to do the following;

Wrap spring rolls following the instructions on spring roll wrappers' packaging.

Deep fry spring rolls in batches till golden brown.

Then comes the hard part; wrap a spring roll with a piece of lettuce, add some fresh herbs and dip the whole parcel into the dipping sauce. Do try a few times until you get it right, I've attached a photo to help those with difficulties doing this task :p

P.S do make a large batch, uncooked spring rolls keep well in the freezer.