Chả Giò

The Method for Chả Giò

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1. Combine all the filling ingredients and mix thoroughly with your hands for 2 minutes until sticky and well bound.

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2. Fry a teaspoon of the mixture in a pan and taste it for seasoning before you wrap two dozen rolls.

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3. Dip a rice paper sheet briefly into the sugar water — 2 seconds only, it will continue softening — and lay it on a damp cloth.

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4. Place a heaped tablespoon of filling near the bottom edge, shaping it into a log.

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5. Fold the bottom edge over, fold in both sides tightly, and roll up firmly. The roll should feel dense, with no air pockets.

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6. Rest the finished rolls on a lightly oiled tray, not touching each other, for 15 minutes to firm up.

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7. Heat the oil to 170°C / 340°F — lower than for other fried rolls, as rice paper browns quickly.

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8. Fry six at a time for 6 to 8 minutes, turning, until deep golden and blistered all over.

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9. Drain on a rack and serve hot, wrapped in lettuce with herbs and dipped in nước chấm.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Things to Watch For

1. The sugar in the dipping water helps the wrapper blister and brown. It is a traditional trick and it works.
2. Do not let the rolls touch while they rest or fry — rice paper glues itself to anything it meets.
3. Fry twice, once at 160°C / 320°F and again at 180°C / 355°F, if you want them to stay crisp for longer at a party.

Changing the Recipe

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

A Little Background

Rice paper fries into a bubbled, glassy shell quite unlike a wheat wrapper, but it burns fast, so the oil must sit around 170°C / 340°F rather than the higher heat used for Chinese rolls. Squeezing the water from the vegetables and using dry glass noodles keeps the filling from steaming the wrapper open from inside.

On the Table Alongside

Nước chấm, always · Lettuce and a plate of herbs for wrapping · A cold beer or iced tea

Leftovers

Wrapped uncooked rolls freeze 2 months on a tray, then bagged; fry from frozen at 165°C / 330°F for 10 minutes.

Common Questions

The Numbers per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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