Thai Spring Rolls
Crunchy spring rolls are as popular in Thailand as they are in China. Thais fill their version with a delicious garlic, pork and noodle mixture.
Ingredients
- 24 x 15cm / 6in square spring roll wrappers
- 30mI / 2 tbsp plain flour
- vegetable oil, for deep frying
- Thai sweet chilli dipping sauce, to serve (optional)
For the filling:
- 4-6 Chinese dried mushrooms, soaked for 30 minutes in warm water to cover
- 50g / 2oz cellophane noodles
- 30ml / 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 fresh red chillies, seeded and chopped
- 225g / 8oz minced pork
- 50g / 2oz peeled cooked prawns, thawed if frozen
- 30mI / 2 tbsp nam pla (fish sauce)
- 5ml / 1 tsp sugar
- 1 carrot, grated
- 50g / 2oz drained canned bamboo shoots, chopped
- 50g / 2oz / 1 cup beansprouts
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 15ml / 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
- ground black pepper
Preparation
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- Make the filling. Drain the soaked mushrooms. Cut off the mushroom stems and discard; chop the caps finely.
- Place the noodles in a large bpwl, cover with boiling water and soak for 10 minutes. Drain the noodles and snip them into 5cm / 2in lengths.
- Heat the oil in a wok, add the garlic and chillies and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate, add the pork and cook, stirring, until it has browned.
- Add the noodles, mushrooms and prawns. Stir in the nam pla (fish sauce) and sugar, then add pepper to taste.
- Tip the noodle mixture into a bowl and stir in the carrot, bamboo shoots, beansprouts, spring onions and chopped coriander together with the reserved chilli mixture.
- Unwrap the spring roll wrappers. Cover them with a dampened dish towel while you are making the rolls, so that they do not dry out. Put the flour in a small bowl and stir in a little water to make a paste. Place a spoonful of filling in the centre of a spring roll wrapper.
- Turn the bottom edge over to cover the filling, then fold in the left and right sides. Roll the wrapper up almost to the top then brush the top edge with the flour paste and seal. Fill the remaining wrappers in the same way.
- Heat the oil in a wok or deep-fryer. Fry the spring rolls, a few at a time, until crisp and golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and keep hot while cooking successive batches. Serve hot with Thai sweet chilli sauce, if you like.
COOK'S TIP
Fish sauce (nam pla) is made from anchovies, which are salted, then fermented in wooden barrels. The sauce accentuates the flavour of food, and does not necessarily impart a fishy flavour.
Makes about 24.