2 weeks Ago By Digital staff
Duncan Lu is a home cook who specialises in Vietnamese cuisine. He appeared on ‘Plate of Origin’ as part of team Vietnam, the team came second place. For more information, head to his website here ! Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today PORK & PRAWN SPRING ROLLS Where land meets the sea or where the pen meets the tide.
A protein pairing synonymous to a large proportion of Asia. In this recipe they are treated separately but wrapped together in thin wheat based pastry with additional textural elements to create the perfect parcel. At a young age they were always a treat but also a reward for effort.
Making spring rolls was a task Mum and I shared. I would separate the many sheets of pastry while mum would mix the ingredients together and roll them. The preparation of the prawns can add another layer of complexity to the texture of spring roll and wonton like mixtures.
I find the tail end of prawns have a bit more bite to them, more of a pop. For that reason, more often than not I separate the tail third from the main body of the prawn and treat them independently during the preparation process. I cut the tail third in small bite size pieces and mince the remaining two-thirds to add a rich and creamy element that’s slightly chewy in texture to the mixture.
For this recipe I like to use Skull Island Tiger Prawns for their rich and sweet flavour and firm texture. Allowing patience, to mix the ingredients well is a critical step, it further breaks down the pork protein and also incorporates the pork fat homogenously; leaving you with a mixture that is bound, bouncy and slightly chewy in texture, rather than something soft and crumbly like the texture of ground pork meatballs. For this reason and also to save time, I prefer to use a stand mixer.
My preferred method of consumption was dipping them in a healthy serving of nước mắm chấm (Vietnamese fish sauce based dipping sauce), consumed by the dozen of course! The recipe below is a basic traditional recipe of pork mince, Australian prawns, sliced wood ear mushrooms and thin mung bean noodles. Serves: 4-6 Difficulty: Moderate - You’ll be right. Ingredients Spring roll mixture 25g rice vermicelli glass noodles 10 g dried wood ear mushrooms 1kg Skull Island Tiger Prawns 400g pork mince 1 medium carrot grated 1 onion grated 1⁄2 teaspoon anchovy salt 1 tablespoon oyster sauce 1 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper 1 1⁄2 teaspoon sugar 1 tablespoon cooking oil Spring roll making 1 packet of 30 large spring roll pastry 1 egg (egg wash) 300ml-400ml neutral cooking oil Vietnamese Dipping Sauce 3 birds eye chillies de-seeded 3 cloves of garlic 4 tablespoons of fish sauce 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar 4 tablespoons of sugar 6 tablespoons cold water 1⁄2 lime juiced Method: How to make spring rolls Duncan’s tip: Freeze any leftover mixture and add to your next Vietnamese vegetable soup.
How to cook spring rolls How to make Vietnamese dipping sauce: 1. In mortar and pestle, crush and pound chillies, garlic and sugar into a paste then add remaining ingredients and mix well until sugar dissolves and sauce becomes slightly viscous. Duncan’s tip: Don’t have a mortar and pestle? Mix all ingredients except garlic and chilli in a small mixing bowl until sugar dissolves then add finely chopped garlic and chilli.
Additional serving option: Serve with lettuce cups and Vietnamese herbs and Vietnamese fish sauce dipping sauce (nước mắm chấm) or with a bowl of beef noodle salad or Vietnamese noodle salad with marinated pork..
