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SubscribeSaturday, February 7, 2009
Red Lantern Crisp Parcels (Cha Gio or Spring Rolls)
Photo of Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Cha Gio) courtesy of Secrets of the Red Lantern Cookbook! It’s gorgeous!
One of the books that is always near my nighstand is the absolutely stunning Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen. I was in Los Angeles at the famous Cook’s Libarary bookstore and was drawn in by the gorgeous cover artwork. I picked up the volumous 345 page book and simply could not put it down. No, seriously, I did not let this baby out of my sight the rest of the trip and even chose to pack my laptop in my suitcase and instead brought Secrets of the Red Lantern in my carry-on baggage.
Baby, that’s true love.
I got a chance to chat with the lovely Pauline Nguyen last night and just couldn’t wait to share her recipe for Vietnamese Spring Rolls or Cha Gio with you. At her restaurant, Red Lantern, this dish is called “Red Lantern Crisp Parcels.”
Secrets of the Red Lantern book is part cookbook, part bittersweet memoir of the Nguyen family’s escape from war-ravaged Vietnam and their struggles as they adapt to the harsh refugee life and finally making their lives in Australia. Pauline bares her soul in this debut book – it will make you smile, laugh, cry and even fume with anger. There are links at end of post to others who have written fabulous reviews of her book, so I won’t go in much detail here, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of Pauline, mom of Mia and soon to be mom of baby #2. Oh yes, and to give you her recipe for Vietnamese Spring Rolls too!
Pauline Nguyen, author of Secrets of the Red Lantern
Pauline lives in Australia and I live in Florida, so you can imagine the very thin snippet of the day where our two schedules can meet for an uninterrupted phone call! Luckily, I’m a total night owl and call her 12:30AM my time, which was 4:30PM her time. And guess where she took my call?
Summer.
35C/95F degrees
Beach.
Sydney, Australia.
Ooooh….I wanted to be right there on the beach with her! Oh yeah.
Pauline Nguyen took two years off from the busy restaurant business (oh yes, Red Lantern is the name of her restaurant she owns with her brother Luke and partner Mark) to write this book, and she penned this memoir as a heirloom for her now 4-year old daughter, Mia.
More on my phone chat with Pauline Nguyen in another post (and yes, another recipe from her book in the next post too). In the meantime, enjoy her recipe for Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Cha Gio).
If you’d like to learn step by step photo instructions on how to roll the Vietnamese Spring Rolls correctly – come see the recipe of My Mother’s Famous Chinese Egg Rolls.
The Chinese version uses similar wrapper and same wrapping technique, just different filling inside. If you’d like a gluten-free version, use rice paper instead of these Spring Roll or Egg Roll wrappers. These are wonderful fried as well. Just follow instructions on package of rice paper to use.
Vietnamese Spring Rolls Recipe (Cha Gio) (Red Lantern Crisp Parcels)
From Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen with recipes by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen
These can be cooked and eaten on their own, dipped in dipping fish sauce, or placed on top of a dressed vermicelli salad. At Red Lantern, we like to wrap the parcels in lettuce with herbs and serve with dipping fish sauce.
Note: Be sure you use the spring roll wrappers as soon as they thaw.Ingredients:
For the Vietnamese Spring Rolls
2 ¾ ounces dried bean thread noodles (or mung bean noodles)
1 ¾ ounces dried mushroom strips, such as wood ear mushrooms or Chinese black fungus
½ pound ground pork
½ pound ground chicken
1 pound carrots, grated
½ onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons fine white pepper
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
20 spring (egg) roll wrappers, 8½ inches square
Dipping fish sauce, for serving
**
For the Dipping Sauce Recipe (Nuoc Mam Cham)
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cloves garlic
1 bird's-eye chili
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juiceDirections:
Soak the noodles and mushroom strips separately in cold water for 20 minutes, then drain and drip dry in a colander. Cut the noodles into 1½-inch-long pieces, then combine with all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Cut the spring roll wrappers diagonally to form two triangles, then separate them into single sheets. Place a piece of wrapper on a plate with the base of the triangle facing you. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the mixture onto the middle of the bottom edge of the wrapper and fold the two adjacent sides, one on top of the other into the center. Roll toward the apex to form a nice firm roll, and secure with a dab of flour mixed with some water. Repeat until you have filled all of the wrappers.
When freshly rolled, the cha gio can be deep-fried in oil preheated to 350 degrees F or until a cube of bread dropped in the oil browns in 15 seconds. Alternatively, you can store them in the freezer and cook when needed. Just carefully slide frozen spring rolls (do not defrots) in the oil and cook an additional minute or so.
To make the Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham)
Combine the fish sauce, rice vinegar, 1/2 cup of water, and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir well and cook until just before boiling point is reached, then allow to cool. To serve, finely chop the garlic and chile and stir in the lime juice. To liven it up, add pickled vegetables.Combine the fish sauce, rice vinegar, 1/2 cup of water, and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir well and cook until just before boiling point is reached, then allow to cool. To serve, finely chop the garlic and chile and stir in the lime juice. To liven it up, add pickled vegetables.
***
Reviews on Pauline Nguyen’s Secrets of the Red Lantern Cookbook
White On Rice Couple – plus recipe for Tamarind Crab and Tamarind Shrimp
Global Gourmet – plus recipe for Steamed Cockles or Periwinkle, Bittermelon Stuffed with Pork and Black Fungus, Wok-tossed Water Spinach
with Fermented Bean Curd Sauce
and of course good ‘ol Amazon.com where you can purchase the Secrets of the Red Lantern book.
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274 Responses to “Red Lantern Crisp Parcels (Cha Gio or Spring Rolls)”
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I would like some crab meat or tuna fish with fried chopped garlic and dried prawns to go along it to give it a punch.
Shrimp, Mushrooms and noodles and I will be in springroll heaven
Finely chopped onion, shredded carrot, spring onion and mung bean noodle, stir fried quickly with a dash of salt and pepper. Add in coriander/cilantro after removed from heat. I also like to add crab meat for a treat occasionally.
my favorite: chicken, lots of scallions, carrot, cabbage and cilantro.
Shrimp, scallions, and a little water chestnut. Yumm!
my favourite is chicken,shrimps,carrots cabbage and sprouts
I like a vegetarian spring roll: julienned carrots, red pepper, precooked sweet potato, and water chestnuts (for crunch), with shredded cabbage, finely chopped spring onions, and some sesame oil seasoning,and sweet-tangy peanut sauce on the side for dipping.
Shredded cabbage, scallions and shrimp. Those are the best in combination to send my taste buds into their happy dance.
I’m pretty easy, just chicken, cabbage, carrots, onions, seasoning, and bean noodles.. I love to eat them with duck sauce, I know I shouldn’t put duck sauce on anything fried and Asian.. I just can’t help myself.
Why mess with success? They are perfect the way Pauline makes them!
Cabbage, shrimps, shiitake mushrooms and spring onions! Yummmm
My mom makes the BEST fresh spring rolls:
Tofu, shredded cabbage, carrots & green beans topped with a ground peanut/sugar mixture & cilantro (and a dash of hot sauce, depending on your taste!)….mmm!
My grandma makes the best spring rolls but im not sure what’s in them. I think I’ll need to find out!
I would like lots and lots of vegies. Chicken, beef, or pork… not picky.
How about some crab, sweet corn and some spring onions!
Umm, I just like spring rolls, I have not met one yet that I did not love, so hard to say if I have a fav filling…I just like to be filled up with them!
I love mung bean sprouts and cabbage with a little 5 spice powder in mine…yum!
I would love crab in my rolls. Especially fresh sweet dungeness crab. It’s such a luxury to crunch into a delicate roll and find the sweet meat in there. Otherwise as a typical filling it would need to be pork or shrimp.
Pork and cabbage…. shrimp…. bean sprouts… anything but beef!
Shrimp, pork, fish sauce, green onion, ginger. Yum
I like them simple — cabbage, carrottes, water chestnuts.
Shrimp and pork,garlic, veggies, yumm.
spring rolls with pork and vegies.
I read the recipe with interest, to see how close to my mom’s recipe. Our recipe does not use chicken, just pork, and we don’t add sugar,salt or pepper, either (we probably use more fish sauce though, to account for the missing salt).
One thing we do is sautee all the vegetables together, and we use bean sprouts as well. I run the onion through my food processor so that it mixes better with the meat mixture.
Another difference is that we use rice paper to roll our mixture in. I thought this was typical of Vietnamese rolls?
The whole process – for our family – takes about two hours from start to eat, since we have to wait for the cooked veggies to cool.
I think other egg rolls just don’t compare to Vietnamese rolls and like them just like this. Since I’d love to win this book for my mom, who was born in Saigon and left Vietnam when she was 3, I’ll share what I like to wrap my rolls in instead.
Inside of a huge piece of lettuce I like to have cilantro and a mint leaf or two. That’s it… no pickled carrots or cucumber or even bean sprouts.
Anything except shell fish. I love them too, but in my old age have developed allergies. Truly, I’ve never met a spring roll I didn’t like. I always thought they were to complicated to make, so never tried. How nice to find out they aren’t difficult at all.
I enjoy your site & check in daily for the great photos & recipes. Thank you for sharing. ;o}
I love veggies in my spring rolls: cabbage, mushroom, w/ cilantro and noodles!
For my springroll, I like mixing ground pork, shrimps, tofu, bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cilantro and some spices.
I just have to have plenty of meat in my springrolls, preferably pork or chicken though I had some duck ones this week which were divine. Cabbage and carrots, bean sprouts and lots of seasonings and herbs.
Love the website, looking for any excuse to try out the recipes.
I’d like soba noodles, mango, pork, shrimp and butter lettuce.
I hope I win the book!!!!
Renee
I’d love to read this! My spring roll? cabbage, carrots, mushroom, green onion, peanuts or cashews and ginger, please.
Thanks for the contest!
Swap in a little shrimp in place of ground chicken and Pauline’s recipe IS my favorite filling. Now where did I put my fish sauce, sriracha, and limes?
Pork or beef, green onions, garlic, a little ginger… yum.
Crab sounds like it would be amazing in a spring roll as well.
As long as the springroll doesn’t contain sprouts or cabbage I’m a happy camper!
Shrimp with scallions.
Yum! I’d likeo have these tonight, but will add a little sriracha to kick it up a notch or two!
Seriously, I AM going to have these tonight–thx!!
Thx for the chance to win–looks like an awesome book!
Shrimp, scallions and mushrooms sounds delicious right now, though sometimes I’m in more of a pork, carrots and sprouts sort of mood. Either way, they’re delicious.
Anything with pork has to be good! But shrimp is a close second. This is a book I’d love to have in my collection. I just looked back at two volumes of Pei’s chinese (Taiwan)cookbook’s that I have had for 30 years. Fond memories.
I just started eating seafood after more than 10 years as a vegetarian, so I’m wondering what shrimp springrolls would be like!
Oh springrolls, be still my heart. I’ll eat them filled with just about anything, but seafood is my favorite! Shrimp! Yum! Crab! Yum! I’d go for pork too! I’m not fussy! Thanks for the chance Jaden!
I would really be interested to find out what a bit of seitan was like in them and I do like a bit of spice, so maybe a little chilli and some veggies. Mmmmm
Finally an eggroll recipe like my friend taught me! We add eggs, but no chicken.Whatever you do don’t skip the noodle
Mushroom. Hands Down. Oh and crab. I grew up in Vietnam and got used to having the very authentic spring rolls. And that kills the rest of the American spring rolls for me. It’s sad…
I’m not super picky about my spring rolls but I do think the best ones have a mung bean noodles and some mushroom- wood ear are my favorite. Otherwise, a little shredded carrot and cabbage plus chicken and green onion does please my mouth quite nicely.
I like the recipe but I think it would be grand to drop the chicken and add a slice of crispy bacon and chive flower to the mix. I would then add a little peanut butter to the dipping sauce!
Mmmmmm, Vietnamese egg rolls are one of my most favorite things! I’m going to make these today and see how they stack up against my fav Vietnamese restaurant in town. The ingredients look pretty close. When it comes to Chinese egg rolls, I like roast pork, celery, scallions, carrots, mushrooms, ginger, garlic, soy, sesame oil, a touch of vinegar, and a bit of magic all rolled into a perfectly fried bundle of joy!
Yum. Shrimp and lots of veggies in my springroll, please!
Yummy! I like shrimp and crabmeat in my spring rolls.
My recipe for spring rolls has all of the above plus garlic and some jicama. My current experiment has taro strips, mushrooms, ground pork and coriander. Yummy…
I am not a vegetarian, but am a big fan of vegetarian spring rolls with tofu, vermicelli noodles, shredded cabbage, Thai basil and cilantro, dipped in peanut sauce w/a nice dollop of sambal oelek. Tres yum!
I would like it to have shrimp, little potato diced, mushroom, ground meat & Vermicelli noodles.mmmm, delicious.