Vietnamese Spring Rolls

[joesfolk]

I had a lovely neighbor from Vietnam who used to send us Deep Fried Spring rolls that were made with carrots and black fungus among other things. She has since moved away so I can't check with her aboput the recipe. I tried to make the spring rolls today since she had given me the ingredients list. But mine don't look like hers did. The spring rolls that I used look transparent after they are rolled. But hers were more opaque. Hers were very light and papery after they were fried. But when they were raw and frozen they were opague where mine still look kind of transparent. Do you suppose I used the wrong kind of spring roll wrappers?

 

[Alix]

Yep you did. I'd bet you used the rice paper salad roll type wrapper. You need to use plain old wonton wrapper.

 

[joesfolk]

The rolls that she made had a very light papery kind of wrapper not at all like the heavier variety that I normally use for eggrolls and that I find in the produce department of the grocery store. She showed me the package once and I thought I got the right thing from the Asian store. Could there be a third type of wrapper, say perhaps something made from ricepaper that is opague? Just asking.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

The rolls that she made had a very light papery kind of wrapper not at all like the heavier variety that I normally use for eggrolls and that I find in the produce department of the grocery store. She showed me the package once and I thought I got the right thing from the Asian store. Could there be a third type of wrapper, say perhaps something made from ricepaper that is opague? Just asking.

I'm wondering if she used two wrappers.

 

[joesfolk]

I never thought of that! Maybe you are right.

 

[snickerdoodle]

I think she either used 2 wrappers, as suggested above, or she used spring roll/lumpia wrappers.

 

[4meandthem]

I had a friend from Cambodia that made the same rolls for us and he used two wrappers.

 

[joesfolk]

Thank you, I will see what I can find out about them.

 

[joesfolk]

Okay, I froze the raw rolls and today thawed and cooked them per instructions that I found one the "interweb". The video I watched said to deep fry them at 300 degrees so that the inside would cook and the outside would not burn. It also said to cook them for 15-20 minutes. It made sense to me intuitively. But unfortunately they were horrid. After 15 minutes cooking the inside was way over done and the outside was still pasty white though crisp in a chewy sort of way. I can't really explain that part. I'm glad that I only cooked about a 1/2 dozen of them. Next time I thaw some out I'll try cooking them at 350 degrees. I have a feeling I will get a better result.
these were such a disappointment because the vietnamese woman that used to cook them for us made such perfect batches. They were all perfectly uniform in size and were tightly packed bundles of golden yellow flakiness. I miss those neighbors not only because of these lovely delicacies but also because they were great neighbors. Someone in Texas got some great new friends.