Chả Giò (Fried Rice-Paper Rolls)

Variations

• The name changes north to south. In the south they are chả giò, in the north nem rán. ko.wikipedia lists both under one entry, and this page uses the spelling common in Korean.
• Nem cua bể from Hai Phong is the crab version, and chả giò rế is rolled in a special net-like rice paper that fries into a lace surface.
• They pair with gỏi cuốn. Same wrapper, and the same service: wrapped in lettuce and herbs, dipped in nước chấm. Exactly one thing differs — those are wetted and eaten as they are, these are fried. The same starch film becomes a translucent chewy skin with water and a blistered brittle one with oil.
• Swap in a wheat spring-roll wrapper and it is a different food. Wheat browns smooth and goes leathery as it cools. Rice paper bubbles, shatters and stays crisp far longer. Wheat wrappers are easier to buy; what makes this dish itself does not come from them.
• Against mandu: stirring the filling one way until tacky and driving the water out of it are identical. What differs is what the wrapper has to survive — steam and a pan for mandu, 185°C oil here.
• Fillings: pork with wood ear and glass noodle is the base. Prawn, crab, tofu or all-mushroom versions are common, and jicama adds a crisp sweetness.

Tips

• Wet it, do not soak it. This is the commonest way it goes wrong. One second is enough, and a sheet laid down stiff softens exactly right while you place the filling and fold. Waterlogged paper tears, and in the oil it takes up fat and turns soggy instead of crisp.
• Put a little sugar in the dipping water. The rolls colour more evenly and taste better. Optional, but the difference is visible.
• Half the job is getting water out of the filling. Squeeze the wood ear and noodles; salt and squeeze the vegetables. Whatever is left turns to steam inside and pushes the wrapper apart — the same mechanism that bursts a dumpling.
• You need no glue. Rice paper sticks to itself. What you do need is to roll tight; loose rolls take in air and oil and the wrapper lifts away.
• Keep the rolled ones apart. Stuck together they tear, and filling leaking from a tear spits in the oil.
• Fry twice. 150°C to cook the filling, five minutes' rest, then 185°C to blister. In one pass the wrapper burns before the inside is done (deep frying).
• Use a neutral oil with a high smoke point, since the second fry is hot (cooking oils).
• Four or five at a time. Crowd the pan, the temperature drops and the wrapper drinks oil.
• Drain on a rack, not on paper. On paper the underside steams itself soft.
• They freeze well, uncooked. Freeze them apart on a tray, then bag them. Fry from frozen, into 150°C oil, with two or three minutes added. Thawed, the wrapper takes up water and will tear.