What is chả giò?
Chả giò in Vietnamese means egg roll. The Vietnamese egg rolls are different from any egg rolls you’ve ever had because the main ingredient is ground meat. The ground meat is mixed with shredded carrots, shredded jicama, dried mushrooms, garlic and vermicelli…all wrapped up in a pastry wrapper and deep fried.
Are there different types of chả giò (egg rolls)?
Yes. Now a days, you can find egg rolls with a variety of fillings. I have eaten egg rolls filled with only shredded cabbage and carrots. I’ve also eaten ones filled with meat, veggies, and shredded fried eggs. Basically, the filling can be anything ranging from veggies filled to pork, beef, chicken, or shrimp. This is the beauty of egg rolls, you can adjust the filling to fit any dietary needs or tastes. However, today I will focus on my family’s simple Vietnamese egg rolls filled with ground pork.
The making of a flavorful chả giò (Vietnamese egg roll)
Good marbled meat
You need to have good marbled ground meat. You don’t want to use lean ground meat because it will produce a drier tasting chả giò. Instead, you want to get a cut off meat that has good marbling. When looking at raw meat, the marbling is the white fat streaks distributed throughout the meat. This marbling will produce a more juicy and flavorful chả giò.
Dry jicama
After the jicama gets shredded, make sure to squeeze as much juice from it as possible. This will prevent you from getting a mushy chả giò. You can find fresh jicama at the Asian store. However, if you don’t have access to an Asian store nearby, you can purchase jicama here.
The right oil temperature
Make sure the oil is hot enough for frying, between 350 and 375oF. Otherwise, you will get an oil soaked, mushy egg roll. There are two schools of thoughts on how to check oil temperature. My mom would test the temperature by placing one of her cooking, wooden chopsticks into the bottom of the oil. If the oil is hot enough for frying, bubbles will form around the chopsticks, and that’s how she knows it’s ready 🙂 Or you could gauge the oil temperature by placing a candy or deep frying thermometer into the pot. When frying the egg rolls, I always use a grease guard. This helps me keep my stove top clean by reducing the oil splattering.
Egg roll wrappers
When it comes to egg roll wrappers, there are many choices. You can use the frozen egg roll wrapper, or you can use the dry egg roll wrapper (known as bánh tráng in Vietnamese). The frozen egg roll wrapper is easier to work with. Whereas, the dry egg roll wrapper is harder to work with because it requires you to briefly dip it in water to make it pliable. Once dipped in water, it becomes thin and sticky making it easy to tare. As you probably guessed, I prefer the frozen egg roll wrapper because it saves time during the rolling process. However, I have used both kinds of wrapper. Each wrapper produces a different tasting egg roll. To me, the frozen egg roll wrapper produces a more crisp and crunchy texture, whereas the dry wrapper produces a more chewy yet crunchy texture.
Why make chả giò?
Because it’s healthier, costs less, and tastier than take-out or store bought egg rolls. And also, the holiday season is upon us, and with it comes holiday parties and the dilemma of what to bring. How about some chả giò (Vietnamese egg rolls)? It’s the perfect dish to bring to any get together because it’s…
- A finger food
- Easily transported
- Can be added as a topping to any dish
- Freezer friendly
There are two ways to freeze egg rolls. You can either freeze them before they are fried by placing the rolled egg rolls in an air tight Ziploc bag. When you’re ready to enjoy them, you can take them out of the freezer to fry them. No need to thaw them before frying.
Or you can place them in an air tight Ziploc bag after they have fried and cooled. Regardless, both freezing methods will have them staying fresh for a few months. To reheat egg rolls that are already fried, place the desired amount in the oven at 350oF.
How to serve chả giò?
They are definitely filling so you can eat it as a meal, snack or appetizer…either alone or with a side of hot sauce, if you’re like my husband. Some people will serve Vietnamese egg rolls on top of noodles. These dishes are called bún chả giò. Some will pair the egg rolls with grilled meat and serve them together on noodles as well. These dishes are known as bún thịt nướng chả giò. I sometimes eat egg rolls with rice. If you want to know how to make perfect rice, check out my rice post.
What to do with left over egg roll filling?
First, don’t panic if you’re tired of rolling egg rolls by now. You can definitely transform the left over filling into another classic Vietnamese dish called trứng hấp (Vietnamese egg meatloaf). The only thing that you’d need to add to the filling are eggs. You can see the full trứng hấp (Vietnamese egg meatloaf recipe here).
So don’t let the process of home made egg rolls scare you. I will walk you through very step, so you can enjoy and impress your guests with home made egg rolls at your next party. They are so delicious, you don’t even need any dipping sauce 🙂
Chả Giò (Vietnamese Egg Rolls).
Equipment
- Deep fry thermometer
- Long cooking chopsticks
- Cooling rack
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 4 pounds ground pork
- 3 bulbs garlic finely diced.
- 3 medium carrots finely shredded.
- 1 medium jicama finely shredded squeezed to remove water.
- 60 grams vermicelli noodles soaked in water to soften then cut to medium length.
- 20 grams dried mushrooms soaked in water to soften then coarsely cut.
- 2 packages egg roll wrapper defrost on a plate and cover with a damp towel to prevent the wrapper from drying making it hard to roll.
- 1 tbsp butter melted or beaten egg to seal the wrapper.
- 1.5 tbsp salt
- 1.5 tbsp pepper
- 96 fl oz vegetable oil for frying.
Instructions
Instructions for preparing the ingredients:
- Finely chop the garlic; shred the carrots; shred the jicama and squeeze the juice out of the jicama.
- Soak the vermicelli noodles in water until it softens (about 8 mins). Then discard the water, cut the noodles in half.
- Soak the dried mushrooms in water until it softens (about 8 mins). Then discard the water and give the mushroom a rough chop.
- Beat the egg or melt the butter, then set aside.
- Place the ground pork in a large bowl, add to the meat the salt, pepper and garlic. Mix well to combine.
- Then add the shredded jicama (with water squeezed out), shredded carrot, vermicelli noodles and mushrooms, . Mix well to combine all the ingredients.
Instructions for rolling the egg rolls:
- Lay one egg roll wrapper flat on a plate or the counter so that one of the pointy sides is pointing towards you.
- Place 1 tablespoon of the meat and veggies mixture on one corner of the wrapper.
- Start rolling by pulling the pointy side containing the meat mixture up and roll it forward and tucking the wrapper underneath the meat mixture.
- Fold in the right side…
- Then fold in the left side of the wrapper.
- Continue rolling forward stopping just before reaching the other corner of the wrapper. Take a brush and place a small amount of butter or beaten egg at the corner of the wrapper, then continue rolling forward until all the wrapper has been used.
- Once rolled, set it aside on a tray covered up with a towel to prevent the pastry from drying out.
- Repeat steps 6-9 until all the meat and veggies mixture is used up. One package of egg roll wrapper will make 25 egg rolls.
Instructions for frying the egg rolls:
- Heat up vegetable oil (350-375oF) and carefully place the egg roll in the oil (away from you) and fry until golden brown, then remove and let cool on a drying rack. Repeat until all the egg rolls have been fried…and ta da…you have fresh homemade egg rolls. Enjoy.
If you’ve made this recipe for a party, leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you like this post, feel free to share it on Facebook using the button below.
