Crispy Salmon and Avocado Spring Rolls

My mother taught me how to make cha gios or nem when I was young. She learned how to make them when she was working as a linguist in Vietnam during the war. It was our favorite food as kids and whenever we came home from boarding school for Christmas or summer holidays she would make us a huge dinner of crab meat-stuffed spring rolls, wrapped in crispy lettuce and dipped in the salty-sour so good sauce.

I have adapted the recipe here, using smoked salmon instead of crab meat, avocado instead of mung bean sprouts and honey instead of sugar in the sauce, but the results are every bit as delicious as the original so I suggest you try it as many ways as you can. You won’t regret it!

Serves approximately 2

Sauce:

• 1/4 c honey
• 1/2 c fish sauce
• 4-5 toasted coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 clove garlic, sliced
• 1 lime’s juice

Method:
Mix together well and taste. Adjust ingredients to suit your taste.

Stuffing:

• 4 oz smoked salmon, diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• finely chopped herb-mint, lemon verbena, kaffir lime leaves or any aromatic herb that you like
• Splash of Sriracha hot sauce
• salt
• 8-10 rice paper sheets, soaked in water
• 1/2 - 1 c oil or other fat
• pinch turmeric

Method:
Mix together the stuffing. Soak the rice paper. Gently fold the stuffing into the rice paper sheets. Keep covered with a damp cloth while preparing the rest of the spring rolls. Heat the oil and add a pinch of turmeric to help to counteract oxidization of the fats at high temperatures. Place the spring rolls in the fat with the seal side down. The oil should come up about half-way on the spring rolls. Do not try to deep fry these rolls as the stuffing will come out everywhere.

When golden and crispy on both sides remove from fat and let drain.

Serve with sauce and a variety of fresh herbs and salad greens to help to cut through the fat and assist with digestion.