Spring Roll – Chinese vs Vietnamese
This recipe is of a Chinese fried chicken spring roll. The difference between Chinese and Vietnamese spring rolls lies in the wrapper and stuffing. Ever dined or taken out from a Chinese restaurant? you would see Spring rolls without fail in every menu. They are so popular and have an ardent following. The stuffing is usually sliced or ground pork/chicken for meat and sliced vegetables for vegetable spring rolls. I am sharing the recipe for chicken fried spring rolls. The recipe details every way of making a spring roll – Deep-fry, Bake and Air-frying it. Chinese roll wrappings are made of wheat flour. It is the more popular of the two and is widely available. You can ask for Chinese spring roll wraps in nearby Asian stores. The wraps are thin and have gluten in them and that makes them easy to work with. Vietnamese wraps are made from rice flour. They are very thin, almost transparent and you can see the stuffing from outside. Not so widely available and a reason why many resorts to using Chinese spring roll wrappers. Vietnamese roll stuffing has usually the raw or pickled vegetable filling. It can go with cooked meat but grounded or minced. I haven’t had this version and am waiting for a chance to do so in an authentic joint. Another important difference is that while Chinese spring rolls are fried, Vietnamese rolls are made of thin rice wrappers and fresh veggies inside can be eaten fresh. Chinese spring roll stuffing has sliced vegetables and ground meat cooked in oil with sauces. That’s the one I have had and loved it.
Spring roll vs Egg roll
How to know which is what? Just look at them. Egg rolls have small bubbles on their surface. Spring rolls are smooth. The spring roll surface looks flaky like most pastries. Egg rolls are crunchy an chewy and thick. Spring rolls have thinner wrappers. They can be made of wheat flour (usually fried or baked) or rice flour (eater fresh). Egg rolls have thicker wrappers and are always deep-fried. When you order spring rolls or egg rolls in most Chinese joints in places other than Asia, this is what you get. The thick wrappers often feel soggy and spurt oil when you bite into them. Not a fan here. Egg rolls are made of wheat and egg hence the slightly chewy feel. They are the American adaptation of the roll if you can call it that. These thin pastry sheets size used is 8 x 8 inches. Traditionally they use flour, oil, water, and salt to make them.
All about fillings
A good spring roll is also about its filling. What to add to the stuffing to take it to the next level and beat your takeaway rolls?
Ground chicken – One of the workman ingredients in the kitchen. Easy to mix with other shredded vegetables and you get the chicken flavour in every bite. Shredded cabbage – I prefer Chinese cabbage instead of regular cabbage because of its sweet flavour. Mushroom – I have used sliced mushrooms to add some flavour. Sauce – Oyster sauce and soya sauce for umami. Pepper – It adds some heat to the otherwise neutral ingredients. Cornstarch – helps in soaking up moisture in the filling.
While deep-frying is about getting the temperature of the oil right to help reduce the bubbles that get formed on the crust, baking and air-frying are about spraying oil on the rolls properly and keeping some distance between each other so they get done evenly. For air-frying, you will need to flip the rolls midway so that the wraps get crispy and flaky evenly on either side. Make them with a good thin wrapper and it comes out with a shattering crispy wrapper and nicely juicy, cooked fillings. I feel it’s one of the best dim sum appetizers and deserves its popularity. The regular fried roll available everywhere is the deep-fried roll. I tried in the Airfryer to get a more healthy version of the typical fried roll. And boy has it turned out good? Deb and kid have turned fans of the air-fried version. He just loved the nice crispness (didn’t miss the crisp and crustiness of the deep-fried) and the roll just tasted great. So here you have two options every time you think about frying your spring roll – want a tasty yet healthier roll, take out your air fryer. If you do not plan to serve it soon, best to prep and make the rolls ahead and freeze it. Just fry/bake it when you would like to serve it.
Make the stuffing and the rolls. Arrange the rolls neatly in a tray and cover them with a sheet. Store in a zip-lock bag. Before an hour of serving, take them out of the freezer and thaw for an hour. Deep fry or air fry them as you wish.
