"real" vietnamese spring roll wrappers

[kangarool]

Just a quick question for anyone who knows: when you buy Cha Gio / Vietnamese, minced pork and veg fried spring rolls in Vietnam, are the wrappers they use the round, dried and rehydrated Rice Paper sheets? Or are they wheat-flour based, the way you might buy 'Frozen Spring Roll wraps' in your local Safeway freezer?

surely the former...?

thanks

[kangarool]

and while we're at it, can you give me your opinion of this recipe?

Looks good to me, curious to know if you think it would have any street cred in hanoi...

[Dejah]

Looking at the recipe linked, I'm surprised that the filling isn't cooked briefly first. I had 2 Vietnamese ladies in my kitchen when I had a restaurant. They always stir fried the filling briefly first. This makes it more flavourful than just by deep frying.

They and I have only used the latter wraps you mentioned. I just use the rice paper with "salad/summer" rolls.

I'd be interested in hearing what is "authenic".

[aprilmei]

When I've eaten them in Vietnam, they used extremely thin rice paper wrappers. I've never found them outside Vietnam so I buy heaps of them whenever i'm there (they keep for quite a long time). The ones I've bought outside Vietnam (both by Thai and Vietnamese producers) are much thicker and need to be soaked in water to make them pliable enough (here's a hint, dip them in cool water rather than hot, no matter what the recipe advises). I don't soak the type I purchased in Vietnam - you can fold them in half and make a crease - they won't break. When fried, the wrappers are very delicate and shatteringly crisp.

[kanzis_slave]

In the south, I've always eaten spring rolls made with rice paper.

They are made so many different ways (sizes, fillings, fried vs raw), but the little ones we make here in the USA are not often eaten whole and plain in S. Vietnam. Instead, after they are fried, they are cut up and added to soups, or, after they are chopped up, they are once again wrapped in rice paper with mint and other herbs, meat balls, boiled eggs, sliced star fruit and cucumber. Then they are dipped in fish sauce. Kind of like a twice-wrapped spring roll.

The way we eat spring rolls here, would seem odd to a vietnamese person, much like eating the sandwich meat and leaving behind all the bread, cheese, dressings and condiments would seem odd to us.

[Ce'nedra]

The rice paper version is traditionally Vietnamese while the wheat-based version is traditionally Chinese, although the latter is eaten by the Vietnamese also.

As to how it's eaten, kanzis_slave got it just right