Vietnamese Spring Rolls - My Take

The dipping sauce and the filling.

Rolled, but not yet fried.

Why do I prefer Vietnamese style spring rolls over Philippine lumpia, Turkish borek, or Chinese egg rolls? Memories of a city and a woman.  Let me take you back a few years to Paris, the capital of the Vietnamese universe.  I was roaming the back streets with a very special lady who’d never had Vietnamese food.  We were both ravenous, and as we turned a corner, the most delicious, spicy smells from a small, open-faced shop wrapped around us.  With my pidgin French, I asked for two of the crispy rolls, sitting in a large stack on the corner of the stove.  I earned a blank look.  My friend used her perfect French and if she’d ordered camel drool I probably would have lapped it up. Paris is that kind of city.  She was that kind of woman.

I still remember the lingering goodness of those spring rolls.  Crisp on the outside, a succulent blend of rubbery noodles, vegetables, shrimp, and fish sauce on the inside.  As I munched, a couple of splotches of hot oil dripped on my new shoes, scarring them forever.  I didn’t care.  Years later I would search in vain for the same taste.  Never found it until I decided to make my own.

The Recipes

Dipping sauce

1/4 Cup sugar

3/4 Cup warm water

1/4 Cup Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce

2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

Juice of one fresh lime

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Mix the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and let the sauce rest at room temperature for an hour or two.

For spring rolls

7 1/2 oz very thin bean or rice thread noodles

1/2 to 3/4 Cup thinly sliced green onions

2 garlic cloves, finely diced

1 Cup finely diced or grated carrots

1/4 Cup Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce

1/2 Cup chopped cilantro

1/4 Cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 lb shrimp in shell, peeled and de-veined

25 square, frozen spring roll wrappers, thawed

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

2 Cups vegetable oil for fying

Put the noodles in a bowl of warm water and set aside, stirring occasionally.  Give them about 15 to 30 minutes to soften.  If you look closely, you’ll see the strands of noodles have little white dots in them.  When these tiny dots disappear, the noodles are ready.  Chop the noodles into 2 to 3 inch lengths.

Sprinkle a little oil in a large frying pan and lightly cook the shrimp.  When they’re lightly pink, they’re done.  Do not over-cook them.  The rolls will be fried and everything will cook completely.  Give the cooked shrimp a medium chop and set aside, or lightly pulse in a food processor.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Let the ingredients sit for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.  If the mixture has too much liquid, drain the excess.

Separate the wrappers and cover with a moist tea towel. Select an individual spring roll wrapper, lay it flat and place line of filling on it.  How much filling you use is up to you, but I recommend less rather than more.  2 heaping tablespoons seems to be about right. Less filling makes for a crisper spring roll.

The rolling technique is simple:  roll, fold, finish rolling, seal.  The secret is to roll the wrappers as tightly as possible and seal them well. Use the egg yolk to seal the wrappers.

Heat the oil to 365ºF or 185ºC.  When you fry the rolls, watch them closely!

Now that you know how roll your own, all you have to do is pick the woman you want to share them with. Take it from me, if she speaks French the taste of the spring rolls will linger.

Paris All Day

The Symbol of Paris 

Our Lady

The Louve 

Strolling the left bank

Lots to see at Shakespeare & Co

Saying goodbye to the City of Lights

            No longer, as John Lennon wrote, do you have to be “Standing on the dock at Southampton, trying to get to Holland or France…” Now you can take a Day Trip to Paris by bullet train from London, or many other European locations, and be back at home that same night.  It doesn’t have to be expensive, but like any good traveler, I dig for deals.  A day trip to Paris can break the bank, or be no more expensive than a tank full of gas.   Hold on!  Maybe not THAT expensive.

We grabbed a train from the Kaiserslautern area at seven in the morning, stepped off the train in Paris two and a half hours later, spent the day, hopped another train from Paris at 7 that evening.

Even in Second Class seats, the ride is comfortable and FAST.  Second Class gets you there just as fast as First Class and you’re not sitting on benches, or giving up your cup of coffee, and view of the pastoral French countryside.  But, you have to look fast.  That countryside whizzes by faster than you can yell Lamborghini.   That’s 325 kilometers per hour, or a little over 200 miles per hour.

Trees sway and cattle panic, as you sip your coffee and plan your brief, but memorable Parisian vacation.  In a couple of words, here’s your plan:  Tour Bus.  For 29 Euros (approx $38), depending on the time of year, you can see Paris’ major attractions in two hours.  Even better, the tour buses are a hop-on, hop-off arrangement, with complimentary earphones that allow you to listen to a running commentary in English, or just about any other language.  I didn’t hear Swahili, but I may not have been on the right channel.

We abandoned the bus near Les Deux Magots, made famous by it’s many artistic patrons, such as André Gide, Picasso, Hemingway, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir,  and Stroud.  What does it cost to warm the seat these giants warmed?  More than the cost of the train ride.  For three continental breakfasts, we blew about $65.  So, if money means more to you than ego and bragging rights, you can forgo the $12 cups of coffee and grab a cup for $3 (that comes with a croissant!) at quaint places Hollywood never found.  Just in case you can’t resist, Les Deux Magots means the two figurines and they’re still there, high up on a wall.  So how in heaven’s long list of names do you pronounce Les Deux Magots?  Try this.  Grab the tip of your tongue, tug it with some strength and say, Lay-do-ma-go.  Now jump on one foot and whistle ‘La Marseillaise.’

Other stops included Napoleon’s tomb, the Army Museum, L’Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, a few department stores, Notre Dame, several coffee shops, and other places that generously offered to empty my wallet.  Too often I accepted their generosity.

Yes, dear hearts, Paris is expensive.  Feel like swilling down some $15 beers?  The ‘City of Lights’ is just the place.  But, Paris does not have to drain all your deposits.  After all, with a day trip you’ve saving the price of $200 hotel rooms.  Also, Paris abounds in reasonably priced museums, the most famous of which is Le Louve.  You know the one.  Mona Lisa – “Gosh, I thought it would be bigger.”  Winged Victory – “Momma, she ain’t got no HEAD!” Venus de Milo – “ Something’s missing here, but I just can’t get my arms around it.”

Browse this website for package deals on museums and such: http://parispass.com/how-it-works/paris-museum-pass.html?aid=30&gclid=CNLDzKr7-a4CFcVF3wodM1Xl0Q

Another place I could not resist is Shakespeare & Company, at kilometer zero, the very heart of la rive gauche, the Seine’s left bank.  S & C was the first to publish James Joyce and many writers have virtually inhabited the place, although….big although, it is not in its original location.  http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/

For those of you that don’t know, Europe is now Euroland.  Border checkpoints are a thing of the past.  (Although as an American in Euroland, I always carry my passport.) Many of the old customs houses have been sold and are used as private homes.   The really nice thing about the European Union is, there’s no need to carry four or five different currencies in your wallet.  A Euro is a Euro and right now the Euro is running about one to $1.32.  Not bad, considering last year around this time it was up to $1.45.

There are some exceptions to the Euro.  Denmark. England. Finland. Norway. Sweden. Switzerland.

When it comes to Paris, there’s just too much to write.  Matter of fact, there’s too much to see and do in one day, but there’s also something irresistibly sophisticated and debonair about saying, “Mais oui, mon ami! Madame and I raced to Paris for the day.  I simply can’t eat croissants from anywhere else.”  Of course, you should be wearing a beret, a scarf, and a suitably relaxed expression of distain when you say this.   Also, one hand should be on your wallet.