Crispy Salmon and Avocado Spring Rolls
My mother taught me how to make cha gios 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! Video demo.
Serves approximately 2
Sauce:
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.
what a wonderful dinner these made with some mustard greens- oh yeah! I had trouble with the stuffing busting out on the sides while frying- any tips? I love your videos- informative and mellow.
Oh yeah I bet they would be good with mustard greens, and maybe something like kimchi to help cut the fat! I think with the stuffing bursting out, maybe the steam pressure is too much, try to get the stuffing as dry as possible or maybe not wrap too tightly….
Great work! I also have my own blog I just find it hard to write quality content like this.
I guess I really don’t have the time.
These would be good fresh but I would suggest putting in some mung bean sprouts and perhaps using sliced green onions and some mint or other Vietnamese herb instead of the white onions. Also feel free to leave out the Sriracha, which is a specific type of hotsauce that I really like. If you use just a tiny amount of it it doesn’t come out that hot as well, but it can be really hot if you put in too much.
You could also add a bit of lime juice but if you are gonna dip the spring rolls into the sauce you won’t really need anything.
Do you think I could serve these as fresh spring rolls, not fried? (The smoked salmon is already cooked and ready to eat.) What is Sriracha? My family does not like spicey foods, do you know of something I could substitute the hot sauce with?
This recipe looks great! Thanks for your help in advance!
awesome! i’m going to try this one for thanksgiving dinner treat.