While rice paper spring and summer rolls are nice for light meals and horderves, what about something crunchy? Saigon Spring has some excellent crispy rolls (vegetarian ones too!) that make you feel like you’re in a modern Vietnamese home eating comfort food. We took some egg roll wrappers and got busy making some filling. This time we stuck with a recipe Jeremy found online.
Once we piled it in, we saw how useful it is to know a little bit of origami. It’s the same as a rolled-up envelope.
- Lay it flat like a kite.
- Pile a flat tablespoon-sized scoop in the middle
- Bottom flap comes up to cover the lump.
- Dab the corner, Left side over middle
- Dab the corner, Right side over middle
- Dab the corner Roll towards the last point.
Wait a minute Lauren, what’s this “Dab the corner” stuff?
I remembered a wrapper lesson from cooking club back in middle school. Mrs. Woods taught us that wrappers like these and the ones we used for baoze need water on the corners when you fold them down. Not too much or it will get soggy. Not too little or it won’t stay down. Just a swift swipe across the crease will do.
When we go to Saigon Spring, I like dipping my spring rolls in their peanut sauce. It enhances the vermicelli and compliments their shrimp. So, Lauren had the bright idea of making our own sauce. We mixed in some sesame oil with a few cloves of garlic. I really wanted to use ginger, but we added too much soy sauce to make it pop. It was just like black paint over the other colorful flavors.
We sautéed the rolls over the stove until the sides started to brown. I think they could’ve cooked longer or maybe if we had gotten more heat on some of the other sides. They seem a bit raw to me. That’s why restaurants typically fry crispy rolls in oil. It gives them a nice even cook time all the way around.
If these didn’t have mushrooms, my mom would have tried one. Dad couldn’t keep his hands off of them, and then asked for more while we watched “Cast Away”! He loves Chinese food.
Wait until I show him Real Chinese food vs. America’s take-out. Soon, Darling. Let’s give our review first. 
This may have been our first try at spring rolls, but it won’t be our last.
I would serve these crispy ones at any party or if there was mildly cold weather.
Yeah, the rice ones are more for warm days or when you need something other than a salad. Overall, we give these the green light for appetizer success that is sure to impress. Everybody buys the vegetables, but the chef can make them into a little something more.