Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls Recipe (Cha Gio Recipe)
As a Vietnamese, I was surprised at first when seeing Vietnamese fried spring rolls are so popular abroad. It is such a delicious yet rustic dish that Vietnamese people can enjoy on every occasion. Interestingly, there are various variations of Vietnamese fried spring rolls across Vietnam, so let me share some information about this dish as well as the most popular recipe of it, Cha Gio.
Table of Contents
What are Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls?
Vietnamese fried spring rolls are a popular appetizer or snack in Vietnamese cuisine, known for their crunchy texture and flavorful filling. Each fried spring roll includes a filling, and a rice paper as the wrapper. The filling is mixed well then wrapped in rice paper and deep-fried until crispy and golden brown.
This dish is enjoyed in every region of the country before being popular abroad. The wrapper of fried spring rolls is rice paper, a must-have ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine. Made of rice flour and tapioca flour, rice papers after being fried become super crispy, making a rumbling sound in every bite. Combined with the flavorful fillings, the flavor of Vietnamese fried spring rolls can easily satisfy your taste buds.
These spring rolls differ from the fresh Vietnamese spring rolls, “Goi Cuon”, which are not fried and typically contain shrimp, lettuce, herbs, pork, and vermicelli noodles, wrapped in a translucent rice paper.
Variations of Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls
In fact, there are different variations of Vietnamese fried spring rolls, mainly in the fillings. It can be shrimp, ground shrimp, a mixture of ground shrimp & pork, with or without glass noodles and vegetables (usually wood-ear mushroom, carrots, taro, and daikon).
The size and the wrapper matter as well. The different ratio between rice flour and tapioca flour in rice paper leads to different textures and crunchiness of fried spring rolls. In some versions, especially the ones in Asian restaurants abroad, people also use Chinese spring rolls pastry made of wheat flour instead of rice paper.
Classification of Cha Gio and Cha Ram
Not all Vietnamese fried spring rolls are “Cha Gio” (chả giò in Vietnamese). Cha Gio is the name of fried spring rolls when the filling is a mixture of ground shrimp, pork, glass noodles, wood-ear mushroom, carrots, daikon, and some other optional ingredients. The size of Chả Giò is usually from medium to big size (10-15 cm in length).
Cha Ram (chả ram in Vietnamese) is another variation of Vietnamese fried spring rolls. Cha Ram refers to smaller fried spring rolls (5-8 cm in length), with diverse fillings. It can be simply the whole shrimp (shrimp cha ram – Chả ram tôm đất in Vietnamese), or a mixture of ground shrimp, glass noodles, and wood-ear mushroom. Cha Ram is common in the Middle of Vietnam.
In general, Cha Gio is still more popular than Cha Ram in Vietnam as well as abroad. It’s also a part of some popular dishes in Vietnamese cuisine, like Bun thit nuong or bun cha. Let me share with you the ingredients list and instructions to make Cha Gio below.
Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls (Cha Gio) Recipe
The Fillings
- 20g wood ear mushroom
- 100g carrot
- 100g daikon
- 30g dried glass noodles
- 150g ground pork
- 150g shrimp
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp chopped shallot
The Wrapper
For the wrapper, I use rice papers for fried spring rolls. It’s different from rice papers for spring rolls (Gỏi Cuốn). Rice papers for fried spring rolls have a higher amount of rice flour to achieve a crunchier texture after frying, so please carefully read the information on the package before buying. I used Bamboo Tree rice papers for deep-frying.
Instruction
Step 1. Preparation
- Firstly, soak dried wood-ear mushroom and dried glass noodle in water first. It takes around 15 minutes for them to absorb enough water, so remember to do it in advance.
- After soaking, remove water. With shrimp, peel the skin. With carrots and daikon, also peel the skins and cut into smaller pieces to grind later. After preparation, you’ll get the ingredients like the picture below.
Step 2. Mixing the fillings
- Chop or cut wood-ear mushrooms and glass noodles into small pieces. Grind shrimp finely, then carrots and daikon by a grinder machine, or by hands with a knife and a cutting board. Mix ground shrimp with ground pork and squeeze all the water from ground carrots & daikon. All the ingredients are ready for mixing.
- Combine all ingredients together with condiments (ground pepper, salt, sugar, chopped shallot). The number of condiments can be a bit dependent on your taste preference.
Step 3. Rolling
- Spray water on both sides of a rice paper, or quickly dip it in water and shake off excess water (pic 1). Fold the edges on both sides, then fold the bottom edge (pic 2-3). Then, roll from the bottom to the top of the rice paper (pic 4-5-6).
- Continue until you finish all the fillings.
Step 4. Frying Spring Rolls
- You can use a non-stick pan, stainless steel pan, cast iron pan, or Dutch oven to fry spring rolls. I used a Dutch oven because it saves a lot of cooking oil for deep-frying as well as retains the heat evenly. When the oil boils, add the rolls in. Fry on medium heat for 15 minutes, then flip the rolls and continue to fry for 15 minutes more until golden brown and crispy. Always keep an eye on it to avoid over frying.
- Place Cha Gio on paper tissues to remove excess oil as much as possible. Let them cool down a little bit.
Step 5. Serving
- To serve, you can cut each fried spring roll into pieces, or serve the whole rolls. Serve with fresh vegetables (lettuce, mint, Thai basils, etc.) and a dipping sauce such as fish sauce, ketchup, chili sauce, or sweet chili sauce.
How to Prolong The Crispiness for Cha Gio
With Cha Gio, we should always serve them warm for the best crispiness and flavor. However, if you can’t finish all of them at a time, here are some tips to prolong crispiness of them:
- Place Cha Gio in an air-tight container after they are all cool down. This is to prevent the fried rolls from becoming soft.
- Frying or air-frying the 2nd time. To reheat, don’t microwave your rolls but fry in cooking oil or air-fry them again to bring the crispiness back.
- For longer preservation, you can freeze them. In this case, to reheat, easily fry or air-fry frozen rolls.
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Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls (Cha Gio)
Ingredients
Filling
- 20g (0.7 oz) wood ear mushroom
- 100g (3.5 oz) carrot
- 100g (3.5 oz) daikon
- 30g (1 oz) dried glass noodles
- 150g (5.3 oz) ground pork
- 150g (5.3 oz) shrimp
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp chopped shallot
Instructions
Step 1. Preparation
- Firstly, soak dried wood-ear mushroom and dried glass noodle in water first. It takes around 15 minutes for them to absorb enough water, so remember to do it in advance.
- After soaking, remove water. With shrimp, peel the skin. With carrots and daikon, also peel the skins and cut into smaller pieces to grind later. After preparation, you’ll get the ingredients like the picture below.
Step 2. Mixing the fillings
- Chop or cut wood-ear mushrooms and glass noodles into small pieces. Grind shrimp finely, then carrots and daikon by a grinder machine, or by hands with a knife and a cutting board. Mix ground shrimp with ground pork and squeeze all the water from ground carrots & daikon. All the ingredients are ready for mixing.
- Combine all ingredients together with condiments (ground pepper, salt, sugar, chopped shallot). The number of condiments can be a bit dependent on your taste preference.
Step 3. Rolling
- Spray water on both sides of a rice paper, or quickly dip it in water and shake off excess water (pic 1). Fold the edges on both sides, then fold the bottom edge (pic 2-3). Then, roll from the bottom to the top of the rice paper (pic 4-5-6).
- Continue until you finish all the fillings.
Step 4. Frying Spring Rolls
- You can use a non-stick pan, stainless steel pan, cast iron pan, or Dutch oven to fry spring rolls. I used a Dutch oven because it saves a lot of cooking oil for deep-frying as well as retains the heat evenly. When the oil boils, add the rolls in. Fry on medium heat for 15 minutes, then flip the rolls and continue to fry for 15 minutes more until golden brown and crispy. Always keep an eye on it to avoid over frying.
- Place Cha Gio on paper tissues to remove excess oil as much as possible. Let them cool down a little bit.
Step 5. Serving
- To serve, you can cut each fried spring roll into pieces, or serve the whole rolls. Serve with fresh vegetables (lettuce, mint, Thai basils, etc.) and a dipping sauce such as fish sauce, ketchup, chili sauce, or sweet chili sauce.